Here’s Teenage Wasteland by Pete Townsend. It was intended for the Who album Lifehouse but that didn’t occur; it was reworked into Baba O’riley
Not quite the same thing, but I went most of a lifetime misreading the title of a Cat Stevens album before someone on these boards pointed out that it was not called Catch A Bull At Four:
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It’s not called Waltzing Matilda because there’s already a song called that. Which is quoted in the Tom Waits song.
There’s also a song called And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda which is also not Waltzing Matilda but also quotes it.
And, on that theme, we have REM’s Calling Jamaica…err, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight. [mondegreen/incongruous title mashup].
One that just came on my mp3 player: “My Back Pages” by the Byrds ("…I was so much older then…I’m younger than that now.")
(It’s another example of a Bob Dylan-written song with a title no one would ever guess.)
The 59th Street Bridge Song
(Feelin’ Groovy)
Also, I think we found @SunUp’s category, enough to sign up here.
“Jimmy Crack’d Corn,” traditional but popularized by Burl Ives, is properly titled “Blue Tail Fly.”
“Danny’s Song” by Loggins and Messina. Danny’s name isn’t even in the song. Always thought the song was “I’m So in Love With You Honey”.
That brings to mind John Denver’s “Annie’s Song,” which is somehow not called “You Fill Up My Senses.”
Or You Fill Out my Census.
There are a LOT of old songs that fit this thread. One that almost nobody knows the correct title to is Irving Berlin’s The Near Future (1919), written about the time of the ratification of the 18th amendment and looking forward to Prohibition. Most people know only a portion of the song as How Dry I Am.
The lyrics for that part of the song, at least appear to significantly predate Berlin’s, but he’s probably responsible for the music that is now invariably associated with them.
It’s a funny bit of Jungian synchronicity. (Ooh! The Police, “Synchronicity II” aka “many miles away”)
I’ve been thinking of some categories for a party game of “take turns naming something in this category or drop out” for when we get back to parties (basically just what this thread is, only with everyone in one room). I hit on the category “songs whose titles are not in their lyrics”, which has an awful lot of overlap with this thread. I like to try and figure out just how big the categories are before proposing them so that the game doesn’t end up too short or too long. As a bonus in this case, the songs become a playlist for the rest of the night.
So once I saw this thread, I figured it was time for me to stop lurking and get posting. There’s enough overlap between the thread topic and the category that I had a bunch ready to go with the first post.
I’m still trying to decide whether I should allow songs whose subtitles appear in the lyrics to be valid answers.
Are you going to allow instrumentals? 
A trick question is Strawberry Letter 23, because the narrator is singing about receiving “Strawberry Letter 22”.
The song IS Strawberry Letter 23, in answer to 22.
Sneaky! I’m darn glad I joined here, because some of the guests are going to be sneaky too.
So no Green Onions, Classical Gas, Music Box Dancer, or Wipeout (the latter for different reasons, of course).
I don’t see this in this thread yet: Creeque Alley by The Mamas And The Papas. The name refers to the place in the Virgin Islands where they stayed for a while, where presumably they composed the song. (Backstory here.) The words Creeque Alley don’t appear anywhere in the song.
This thread actually seems to be more about songs where the title does appear but not prominently, and other words in the song seem more likely to be the title. I will suggest: American Pie by Don McLean. While the words “American Pie” do appear prominently in the refrain, they tell us nothing about what the song is about. OTOH, every verse ends with the line “The day the music died” which is entirely what the song is about.
I’ve seen it mentioned somewhere that the true official title of the song is in fact “The Day The Music Died”, but that certainly seems to be a minority opinion. Does anybody here know if this is really so?
ETA: Similarly, Mary Hopkin’s Temma Harbor. This contains the line in the refrain “Sing a song of Temma Harbor” but there is nothing elsewhere in the song that mentions it, nor any indication of why this song is about Temma Harbor except for that one line that asserts that it is.
Wipeout would work for a different category:
“Songs with an instrumental part that everyone would play, except the pros”…
When Wipeout was dominating the Top40, EVERY kid in high school would do that drum solo on their desks… EXCEPT the actual drummers, who’d just roll their eyes.
And in college, every kid with an acoustic guitar would find a stairwell in their dorm and play the intro to Roundabout by YES… except the real guitarists.
(Meanwhile, the guys with an electric guitar were too busy trying to maintain their Badass Rock Star Sneer while doing the opening to Smoke On The Water…)
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So who wants to hear Wipeout? I can still do it!
(Speaking of, would love to hear SunUp’s “different reasons”…)
Don’t forget “Hocus Pocus!”
Someone mentioned “For What It’s Worth.” How about “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes?”
Is there anybody who doesn’t instantly recognize the song when they hear the title?
Bob Dylan’s 1965 classic: “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”. Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero (Official Audio) - YouTube