You youngsters. What about Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and its references to the Odyssey? The song was once as famous as anything from The Beatles.
From I Am The Walrus:
Eggman
Semolina (coarse wheat middling)
Pilchard (an oily fish like a sardine)
Yellow matter custard
There’s always the immortal “Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci / And lots of wavy hair like Liberace!”
They Might be Giants probably have a ton of of these. From “Birdhouse in Your Soul”:
“So the room must listen to me / Filibuster vigilantly”
The song also mentions Argonauts, but I guess that a proper noun and thus fails the Scrabble test.
And
"Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my surface hid"
from Tears of a Clown.
It took me years to understand who / what they were talking about in that line
The first that came to mind is from Bob Dylan’s “Ballad Of A Thin Man”:
You have many contacts among the lumberjacks
To get you facts when someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect, anyway they already expect you to all give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations
I think the only time that “tax-deductible” was used in a pop song.
The other is Mike Nesmith’s " Propinquity (I’ve Just Begun to Care)". I first learned the word “propinquity” there.
Also by The Police, "Don’t Stand So Close To Me "refers to “that book by Nabokov”. (Sting was a former teacher).
“Another Day” by The Rutles features a rare instance of “pusillanimous.”
Remember the OP is looking for “Scrabble rules” words - no names, no capital letters. So no Greek gods.
Another one that comes to mind is Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know?”
'Cause there’s this tune I found
That makes me think of you somehow an’ I play it on repeat
Until I fall asleep, spillin’ drinks on my settee
That’s not too unusual in the UK (its pretty common synonym for sofa). E.g. Carter USM:
“Return of the Giant Hogweed” by Genesis manages to work the scientific name of the plant into the lyrics: Heracleum mantegazzianum
Pop music refers to Pagliacci all the time. Consider “I’m Afraid the Masquerade is Over”.
I Guess I’ll Have To Play Pagliacci And Get Myself A Clown’s Disguise
And Learn To Laugh Like Pagliacci With Tears In My Eyes
I was going to suggest They Might Be Giants’ “Hate the Villanelle,” which not only contains the word “villanelle” (an ancient French poetic form), but is, in fact, a villanelle.
Well, if you’re going to do that, I’ll offer screever.
I’ll let Bert explain.
But I really came here to ask, has any other popular song used the word quipsters?
They say, Candy is dandy but liquor makes quipsters
j
Speaking of Disney films, “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin has nabob, baklava, and chargé d’affaires.
Don McClean, too.
McClean also performed “On the Amazon” with plenty of unusual words:
On the Amazon, the prophylactics prowl
On the Amazon, the hypodermics howl
On the Amazon, you’ll hear a scarab scowl and sting
Zodiacs on the wing
All the stalactites and vicious vertebrae
Hunt the stalagmites while laryngitis slay
All that parasites that come from Paraguay in the spring
More They Might be Giants – “Mammal”
So the warm blood flows
With the red blood cells lacking nuclei
Through the large four-chambered heart
Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have
ETA: Another TMBG song, “James K Polk”. That’s an odd subject for a pop song in and of itself, albeit a proper noun. But you can pretty much take your pick of unusual words for a pop song. How many other songs mention abolitionists, oratory, tariffs, manifest destiny, etc?
Red one’s The Witch Queen of New Orleans has gris gris and tana leaves.
Boney M’s Rasputin has kazachok.
Queensryche’s Empire has an entire spoken bit:
In fiscal year 1986 to '87, local, state and federal governments spent a combined total of 16.6 billion dollars on law enforcement. Federal law enforcement expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars and accounted for only 6% of all federal spending. By way of comparison, the federal government spent 24 million more on space exploration, and 43 times more on national defense and international relations, than law enforcement
Rapure by Blondie:
Back to back
Sacroiliac
Spineless Movement
And a wild attack
Neil Peart was a creative songwriter for Rush, often evoking mythology and history. In Xanadu, he talks about “Kubla Khan” (Kublai Khan), the river “Alph”, and “honeydew” (all in one song!):
To stand within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise
I am sure there are many other unusual and rare words in Rush’s lyrics (Cygnus X-1), but I will have to post more later.
Also, Pat Benatar mentioned a “meteorite” in All Fired Up.