# Songs about unusual topics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952 "2011-11-05T13:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/1 "2011-11-05T13:27:49Z")
Most pop songs, hell, most songs in general, are about a few topics - boys/girls/love/sex, cars, loss and music itself. There are some that are about things that don’t usually get the lyrical treatment. Some examples: [Gary Gilmore’s Eyes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrwI1gKE4jI) - a song about getting serial killer Gary Gilmores eyes as an organ transplant. This is the one that inspired the thread. [Jeff wears Birkenstocks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4DtpEOpT8A) - Jeff don’t wear regular shoes. [Another Postcard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WmDe7apawE) - Someone keeps sending these postcards of chimpanzees- why? Your favourites? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/2 "2011-11-05T13:39:32Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > [Gary Gilmore’s Eyes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrwI1gKE4jI) - a song about getting serial killer Gary Gilmores eyes as an organ transplant. This is the one that inspired the thread. I have never heard this song before, but without even looking at the link I have a mental image of the song being sung to the tune of “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes. “He’s got Gary GIIIIILmore’s EYEEEEEESSSS…” There’s always that every-popular dittty from 1971 called “Timothy” that is about trapped cave miners resorting to cannibalism to survive. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/3 "2011-11-05T13:55:57Z")
Two of my all-time favorite songs are about non-conventional subjects by most standards, but the subjects are WHY I love them. ‘Shannon’ by Harry (Henry?) Gross is about an Irish Setter that drowned. Love it but can’t listen to it without tearing up. ‘Run for the Roses’ is about a Thoroughbred horse and the Kentucky Derby. I had heard the song several times before I _listened_ to the lyrics, and the moment the lightbulb went off for me (“The sun on your withers, the wind in your mane”) I was like… 'a _horse_! He’s singing about a _horse_! They used that song in a tribute to Secretariat when he died, and now it brings me to tears as well. Maybe I’m just a weepy bitch… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/4 "2011-11-05T13:58:23Z")
_Birdhouse in Your Soul_ immediately springs to mind when these questions are asked, it being about a nightlight talking to a painting of a lighthouse. Similar but less grotesque than _Timothy_, _New York Mining Disaster 1941_ by the Bee Gees is a pretty odd topic - no obscurity though, it does what it says on the tin. As far as I can make out, _So Says I_ by The Shins is about the inherent fallacies of Communism. ---
**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 5, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/5 "2011-11-05T14:02:39Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > - > > Similar but less grotesque than _Timothy_, _New York Mining Disaster 1941_ by the Bee Gees is a pretty odd topic - no obscurity though, it does what it says on the tin. Along the same lines-_The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald._ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/6 "2011-11-05T14:03:09Z")
**’39** by Queen is about time dilation and relativistic effects. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/7 "2011-11-05T14:22:01Z")
My current favorite is from John Wesley Harding: [There’s a Starbucks (Where The Starbucks Used To Be)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Eb-KxSTPE&feature=player_embedded) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/8 "2011-11-05T14:37:07Z")
Tom Waits, **[What’s He Building I There?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMqxNPsfN50)** ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/9 "2011-11-05T14:48:02Z")
I suppose I should have included [I Don’t Like Mondays](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yteMugRAc0) by the Boomtown Rats (based on a schoolyard shooting in 1979) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/10 "2011-11-05T14:51:12Z")
How could I have forgotten [(Nothing But) Flowers](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Nothing-But-Flowers-lyrics-Talking-Heads/630217B28F2ED0BF482568B0002F87FA) by Talking Heads, in which a man bemoans a bucolic future and wishes there were Pizza Huts where the flowers now are. I can’t work out if it’s ironic, doubly ironic or triply so. Awesome song though. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/11 "2011-11-05T15:22:20Z")
Speaking of eyes. Al Stewart, who often writes about historic subjects, had fun with [Eyes of Nostradamus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa89bt0GZvQ), about the so-called prophetic writings of said 16th century seer. And then there’s his [Small Fruit Song](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=small+fruit+song&aq=0&oq=small+fruit), about an apple hoping that the orange will “kiss me to the core.” In both cases, there are very long intros, something like 2:30 in the first, which is a 9 minute song, and 1:30 in the second, which is a 2 minutes song. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/12 "2011-11-05T15:39:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **'39** by Queen is about time dilation and relativistic effects. Great example. I’ve heard this a zillion times before, but never really realized what it was about. Now it gives me chills. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/13 "2011-11-05T16:12:46Z")
I always thought the topic of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” was a bit unusual, especially considering the sensation the song became… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/14 "2011-11-05T16:28:20Z")
A few that spring to mind are Thomas Dolby’s “One of our Submarines is Missing”, REM’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”, based on an incident in which Dan Rather was assaulted by a deranged man in New York City, and The Tragically Hip’s “Fifty Mission Cap”, concerning the disappearance of Toronto Maple Leafs player Bill Barilko during a flight in his light plane. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/15 "2011-11-05T17:04:06Z")
I always thought that Space Oddity by Bowie and Rocket Man by Elton John had an interesting subject choice. Someone mentioned Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might be Giants earlier. I think that’s a little bit of a cheat tho - most of their songs are about weird shit. Particle Man, Istanbul (Not Constantinople), The Statue Got Me High… Yeah, not so normal. What about Cake? Sheep Go to Heaven is a great song. Although in fairness, he’s another who tends to do weird topics/song subjects. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/16 "2011-11-05T17:22:52Z")
[Countdown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countdown_(Rush_song)) by Rush. About the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Rush has a boatload of unconventional topics in their music. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/17 "2011-11-05T21:16:58Z")
I could spend a lot of time responding to this thread; I know of two songs about liposuction, and three songs about being someone’s Yoko Ono. I’ll keep it to just one. How 'bout [Sign My Snarling Doggie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mgof86AMms&feature=related), about a guy who asks Mickey Mantle to autograph his dog. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/18 "2011-11-05T21:30:59Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > A few that spring to mind are Thomas Dolby’s “One of our Submarines is Missing”, Taking a small trip into Mondegreen territory, towards the end of the song I always thought he was saying “Do you wanna buy a submarine?” An interesting take on why the submarine is missing. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/19 "2011-11-05T22:40:41Z")
I would imagine anything by the Insane Clown Posse would be excluded since they have songs about having [crabs](http://www.metrolyrics.com/bugs-on-my-nuts-lyrics-insane-clown-posse.html), a person who steals or collects [dead bodies](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/icpinsaneclownposse/deadbodyman.html), and a game show in which the prize is getting to take a woman’s [virginity](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/9/icp/the_neden_game.html). Ok, so the last one was about sex. SFC Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952/20 "2011-11-05T23:29:19Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I could spend a lot of time responding to this thread; I know of two songs about liposuction, and three songs about being someone’s Yoko Ono. > > I’ll keep it to just one. How 'bout [Sign My Snarling Doggie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mgof86AMms&feature=related), about a guy who asks Mickey Mantle to autograph his dog. I only can think of the one: [The Barenaked Ladies - You Can Be My Yoko Ono](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5YIJ1pZEBc). If you tell me t’other two, I’ll know 3. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-unusual-topics/601952.md?page=2)