# Songs about strange things...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 29, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911 "2003-11-29T14:41:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ScilaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScilaX)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/1 "2003-11-29T14:41:00Z")
Can’t think of any others, but it’s come to my attention that _Growing On Me_ by _The Darkness_ is actually about pubic crabs… go ahead, listen to the lyrics, you’ll never think of it the same again!!!
Are there any other songs with strange subject matters?
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### Author:  [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/2 "2003-11-29T14:42:10Z")
Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/3 "2003-11-29T15:49:14Z")
MacArthur Park. Come on, who would leave a cake out in the rain? I worked so hard to make it. And I’ll never have that recipe again…Whoa…Whooooooooa.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/4 "2003-11-29T15:53:42Z")
Then there’s always the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater.
And the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka dot bikini
God, I am so _old_…
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### Author:  [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/5 "2003-11-29T18:13:33Z")
What about the Shiny flying purple wolfhounds that are supposed to tell me where you are? And the mountains that come out of the sky and they stand there?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/6 "2003-11-29T18:38:20Z")
“my ding-aling” by Chuck Berry comes to mind.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/7 "2003-11-29T19:25:26Z")
Since we’ve mostly got novelty songs here, I think it’s fair to pull the Weird Al collection out and see what we’ve got. “Spam” (to the tune of R.E.M.‘s “Stand”) is about the canned meat product. “Here’s Johnny” is about Ed McMahon. "Stop Draggin’ My Car Around" is about a guy whose car keeps getting towed. “I Want A New Duck” is about wanting a new duck, with lots of specific conditions on its behavior. (One that won’t molt too much, one that won’t smell too fowl. And so forth.) “One More Minute” is a listing of all the stomach-turning things he’d rather do than spend one more minute with his ex. “Midnight Star” is about supermarket tabloids. “Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White” is about an unusual recurring nightmare. “Theme from Rocky XIII” is about a former heavyweight champ, now gone to seed, who runs a deli. “Amish Paradise” is about partying like it’s 1699.
And so forth.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/8 "2003-11-29T19:42:49Z")
“Timothy,” a song from the early 70s, sounds on first listen like it’s about cannibalism. Eventually, it’s revealed that Timothy is the guy’s beloved pet dog. So it’s a bereavement song about a guy who ate his own dog. That’s pretty strange.
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### Author:  [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/9 "2003-11-29T19:45:29Z")
“[Er hat ein knallrotes Gummiboot](http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~fenja/texte/gummiboot.html)” was the first thing that came to mind. Some bits, roughly translated:
“He has a bright red rubber boat,
and with this rubber boat, we go about.
…
Kissing on board is forbidden,
I’ll tell you the story behind that:
This boat is so constructed
That kissing causes it to capsize.”
A friend brought this back with him from a recent trip to Germany.
Others:
“Where’s Captain Kirk?” by R.E.M.
“[King of Spain](http://www.fruvous.com/barglyr.html#spain)” by Moxy Fruvous
“[Sandwiches](http://www.singwithfred.com/track_7.html)” by Fred Penner (admittedly a children’s song)
And a song I heard on CBC Radio’s “Sounds Like Canada” titled “Put Me Ashes In Me Bike Pump When I Die”. As I recall, it was written by an old man from Nova Scotia and put to music by a young lady from Labrador… I can’t remember much else exept how it sounds.
Oh, and that song about Fish Heads. “Eat them up, yum!”, or something like that.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/10 "2003-11-29T21:07:40Z")
**wolfstu** , you beat me to the Fish Heads song! One of my all-time favorites.
And of course there’s
Does your chewing gum lose its flavor
On the bedpost overnight?
If your mother says don’t chew it
Do you swallow it in spite?
Can you catch it on your tonsils?
Can you heave it left and right?
Does your chewing gum lose its flavor
On the bedpost overnight?
Then there’s that lieder by, was it Schumann? All about a trout. Very melancholic lyrics as the singer describes how lovely the trout is, how sad he’ll be to catch it and kill it, and on and on in a chokingly sentimental vein. The chorus master in high school glee club had to give up on having us sing that – we couldn’t get through it once without the whole group bursting into guffaws.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/11 "2003-11-29T21:13:18Z")
“I’m Just Wild About Animal Crackers”
“Fido is a Hot Dog Now”
“O’Brien is Tryin’ to Learn to Talk Hawaiian”
“Yes! We Have No Bananas!”
“The Song of the Prune”
“I’m Gonna Bring a Watermelon to My Girl Tonight”
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### Author:  [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/12 "2003-11-29T21:28:48Z")
“Turning Japanese” by the Vapors,
about monkey spankery
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/13 "2003-11-29T21:29:26Z")
The 1941 New York Mining Disaster (The BG’s)
In the Year of 49 (Queen)
30,000 pounds of Bananas (Harry Chapin)
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/14 "2003-11-29T21:46:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Krokodil \*
> \*\*“Timothy,” a song from the early 70s, sounds on first listen like it’s about cannibalism. Eventually, it’s revealed that Timothy is the guy’s beloved pet dog. So it’s a bereavement song about a guy who ate his own dog. That’s pretty strange. \*\*
Cite?
According to [this interview](http://www.rupertholmes.com/interviews/fynsworth_ten_question_QA.html), he says this:
> [@](#):
>
> When I was asked to write a song for a struggling rock band named The Buoys in order to gain them some attention, I custom-penned a tune about cannibalism during a mining disaster. (I had seen Suddenly Last Summer the night before, was working on an arrangement of “Sixteen Tons” for Andy Kim and had The Galloping Gourmet on my TV when I wrote it — absolutely true.) The record was called “Timothy” and despite being banned in much of the country, it made Billboard’s Top Twenty and became my first genuine hit as a songwriter.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/15 "2003-11-29T22:00:50Z")
Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy
A kid’ll eat ivy too
Wouldn’t you?
a/k/a “Mairzy Doats”
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### Author:  [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/16 "2003-11-29T22:30:35Z")
AHAB THE ARAB by Ray Stevens
Hmmm, maybe it’s time for a revival. How PunC would that song be today?
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/17 "2003-11-29T22:32:42Z")
Some more information on _Timothy_, written by Rupert Holmes, from _The Wacky Top 40_:
> [@](#):
>
> Only when the record reached the Top 40 did the company bigwigs discover they had a winner. But rather than take advantage of the song’s controversy, they tried to whitewash it.
> “The copped out on the cannibalism,” said Holmes. "They started a rumor that ‘Timothy’ was a mule, so it wasn’t so bad that the survivors ate him. I was offended at the idea of this poor defenseless mule being eaten.
> "“And still to this day there are people who ask me, ‘Now you gotta tell me. Was Timothy a mule?’ I say, ‘No, Timothy was a man–and they ate him!’”
Some songs that really were about dogs – none eaten – include _Jet_ by Paul McCartney, _Sam_ by Olivia Newton John, and _Shannon_ by Henry Gross. _Wooly Bully_ was about Sam the Sham’s cat. Paul McCartney’s _Helen Wheels_ was about his Land Rover. Semisonic’s _Closing Time_ is about waitng for a newborn to be released from the hospital.
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### Author:  [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/18 "2003-11-29T22:33:02Z")
DID SHE JUMP OR WAS SHE PUSHED
by Richard and Linda Thompson
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### Author:  [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/19 "2003-11-29T22:34:57Z")
and not really a song, but perhaps the alpha rap hit:
THEY’RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY HA HA
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### Author:  [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/20 "2003-11-29T22:41:14Z")
I may very well be the dimmest bulb in the Lite-Brite™ because it took me well over twenty years to realize that the Pina Colada Song was about a guy cheating on his girlfriend (or maybe wife) by answering an ad in a singles column, and it turns out that his she _wrote the ad he answered_ (lyrics [here](http://users.cis.net/sammy/escape.htm), along with delightfully annoying midi).
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