# Songs about strange things... **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Theios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e8c25b/32.png) [@Theios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theios)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/21 "2003-11-29T23:00:47Z")
I’d say that a good third of The B-52’s songs is about silly stuff. Off the top of my head… Butterbeans (yes, it’s dedicated to butterbeans) Big Bird (all about a big bird flying over their house) ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/22 "2003-11-29T23:24:15Z")
Chicken Bone By Yoko Kanno and the SeatBelts a couple of lyrics: I like, you like, he likes, she likes chicken bone… Everyone loves like a crazy chicken bone… My dog, my cat, my mouse want chicken bone… I left my head over the chicken bone… and a [link](http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/cbebop/chickenbone.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/23 "2003-11-29T23:29:41Z")
“King Kong Song” - ABBA - about the big ape ---
**Author:** ![sweetfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@sweetfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweetfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/24 "2003-11-29T23:41:02Z")
How about all of The Flaming Lips’ songs? Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Psychiatric Exploration of the Fetus with Needles She Don’t Use Jelly Just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![sweetfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@sweetfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweetfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/25 "2003-11-29T23:43:06Z")
Oh, and I forgot Frank Zappa. Who are the Brain Police? Help! I’m a Rock Baby, Take Your Teeth Out Frogs With Dirty Little Lips Again, just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/26 "2003-11-30T00:14:25Z")
And who can forget: [Ben](http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Lyrics/1972/231972.html) by Michael Jackson - back when he was a black man. It’s a song about a rat! One of the top 100 songs of 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/27 "2003-11-30T00:17:24Z")
The winner of the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, a cute little song about a girl who loves [aniseed lollipops](http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Musee/1489/gainsbourg/texts/lessucettes.html). The girl who sang it never suspected the hidden meaning, and was very upset when someone explained it to her. When I was a teenager my big sister was really into The Kinks, she played Lola frequently. I once tried to explain to her what it was really about, but she didn’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/28 "2003-11-30T00:21:23Z")
Bedouin, you’re tribe’s ascending From the egg in to the flower Alpha information sending States within the heaven shower… _Slip Inside_, Thirteenth Floor Elevators ---
**Author:** ![peritrochoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peritrochoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peritrochoid)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/29 "2003-11-30T00:22:18Z")
**Detachable Penis** by King Missile. A dude wakes up one morning and finds his penis missing _again_ (“it happens all the time”) and goes looking for it. **The Submarine** by 2Nu. A guy builds a submarine, named _The Great Adventure_, out of empty beer cans he finds in his back yard. (Actually, almost every 2Nu song is about strange things.) **Die Welt Gehört Mir** by Blümchen. A girl sings about her drivers license and the freedom it opens up for her. Maybe not all that strange, but I found it an odd, though catchy, tune. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/30 "2003-11-30T00:28:15Z")
“Fish Heads” by Barnes and Barnes is odd. Look up Dr. Demento for others like that. “Detachable Penis” is very memorable, I LOVE that song. **peter morris** I can see 2 possible “hidden meanings” to that song, can you clarify please? (Really curious now.) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/31 "2003-11-30T02:05:06Z")
“Down at the End of Your Road” by Jethro Tull is about a real estate agent who terrorizes a neighbor by doing things like leaving dog poop in his mailbox, in order to get him to sell his house. “I am your neighbour, I seem most respectable– But underneath I’m an iniquitous toad…” ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/32 "2003-11-30T03:10:51Z")
**SpectBrain** You’re a Ray Stevens fan? Nice to see you’ve got cultcha. Talk about strange things in songs there’s (actual title) “Jeremiah Peabody’s Polyunsaturated, Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting, Pleasant-Tasting, Green and Purple Pills” And another one from Mr Stevens: “I Saw Elvis In a UFO” (He was sitting there with Howard Hughes" **Eve** Interesting record collection you have there. I find it amazing that the time period it represents coincides with a much-discussed topic here at SDMB. Did you know the **original** title of “Yes We Have No Bananas” was **"Yes We Have No 1920’s Style Death Rays"**? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/33 "2003-11-30T03:36:43Z")
A sampling from Kate Bush: [Wuthering Heights](http://www.alwaysontherun.net/kate.htm#af) [Experiment IV](http://www.alwaysontherun.net/kate2.htm#as) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/34 "2003-11-30T03:42:11Z")
“The Thing”-Phil Harris. Guy finds a box containing something that nobody want and causes him to be shunned by the whole world. [http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php;jsessionid=3A85D4A67CCEC1C28891CD2B2E9F27C3?hid=Ch9BJHrPdiE%3D](http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php;jsessionid=3A85D4A67CCEC1C28891CD2B2E9F27C3?hid=Ch9BJHrPdiE%3D) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/35 "2003-11-30T04:54:05Z")
**Runner** I like that song too. I think Rolf “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” Harris also did a version of that. Seems that link didn’t work. So let’s try: [http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=Ch9BJHrPdiE%3D](http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=Ch9BJHrPdiE%3D) ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/36 "2003-11-30T05:34:14Z")
“Detachable Penis” was the first one that I thought of but I see **peritrochoid** beat me to it. Several from Presidents of the United States of America’s first album: “Peaches”, “Boll Weevil”, “Kitty”, and “Dune Buggy”. Leonard Nimoy’s infamous “Balld of Bilbo Baggins” (it’s been linked enough times on this board you should be able to find the clip) Denis Leary’s “Asshole” song. “Camel Walk” by Southern Culture on the Skids “Oh Yeah” and “Domingo” by Yello Just about every song by Sigue Sigue Sputnik ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/37 "2003-11-30T07:18:13Z")
**Do You Like Boobs A Lot?** - The Holy Modal Rounders ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/38 "2003-11-30T07:29:08Z")
“Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might Be Giants, about a nightlight. Plenty of others by TMBG, but it’s late and that one popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/39 "2003-11-30T09:04:22Z")
How about John Trubee’s [Peace & Love (Blind Man’s Penis).](http://www.aspma.com/trubee.htm) > [@](#): > > I got high last night on LSD > My mind was beautiful, and I was free > Warts loved my nipples because they are pink > Vomit on me, baby > Yeah Yeah Yeah. > > A blind man’s penis is erect because he’s blind > It’s erect because he’s blind, it’s erect because he’s blind > A blind man’s penis is erect because he’s blind > It’s erect because he is blind Or Tom Lehrer’s [Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.](http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/pigeons.htm) > [@](#): > > When they see us coming, the birdies all try an’ hide, > But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide. > The sun’s shining bright, > Everything seems all right, > When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911/40 "2003-11-30T09:21:25Z")
No one has mentioned “Tennessee Birdwalk”! (Something like, “think of me, my darlin’, when spring is in the air, and the baldheaded birds are whispering everywhere, you can see them walking southward in their dirty underwear, it’s the Tennesse Birdwalk (cheep cheep).” By Jack and Misty somebody or another. Also, “The Eggplant That Ate Chicago” which featured a lovely kazoo solo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-strange-things/215911.md?page=3)