# Songs that contain words not commonly found in song lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846 "2007-02-19T19:38:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/1 "2007-02-19T19:38:11Z")
For example- have you ever heard the word “gavotte” in your life, outside of “You’re So Vain?” And though it is a common written word, IIRC for a long time “Elenore” by the Turtles was one of the few songs that contained the word(s) “et cetera”. Also, the Steely Dan song “My Old School” contains the word oleanders- of all the songs that mention flowers, how many mention that one? Of course, excluding foreign words/phrases (et cetera I think has been absorbed fully into the English language that I don’t think of it as foreign.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/2 "2007-02-19T19:40:32Z")
Without listing song titles to prove it, I suggest looking through the lyrics of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart. They, along with others of the Tin Pan Alley era, made their names by way of odd phrasings, puns, double entendres, etc. Ira Gershwin, too. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/3 "2007-02-19T19:49:31Z")
I was always a little tickled at the line in _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_ when Joseph sings: “I shall now take them all for a ride; After all they have tried fratricide” Fratricide. Not a word used in everyday conversation, eh? OK, now that you’ve gotten the geekiest response possible to this thread, let’s commence with the non-Broadway examples. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/4 "2007-02-19T19:59:43Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I was always a little tickled at the line in _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_ when Joseph sings: “I shall now take them all for a ride; After all they have tried fratricide” Fratricide. Not a word used in everyday conversation, eh? OK, now that you’ve gotten the geekiest response possible to this thread, let’s commence with the non-Broadway examples. [/QUOTE] Too late…my example is from a musical, as well…actually, a couple of musicals. Tim Rice uses the word “tinpot” in _Evita_ as well as one other show, which I can’t think of right now. He is, as far as I have ever heard, the only person who uses this word ever, much less in song lyrics. Did he write the lyrics to _Joseph_? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/5 "2007-02-19T20:01:23Z")
The Beatles’ “When I Get Home” - the polysyllabic “trivialities” coming in an early Beatles rocker is a bit arresting. See also [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=402489), which includes the Steely Dan example. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/6 "2007-02-19T20:05:46Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] Did he write the lyrics to _Joseph_? [/QUOTE] Yep. He also had a few giggle inducers in\* JCS\*, but I can’t think of them right now. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/7 "2007-02-19T20:08:43Z")
The band They Might Be Giants probably wins this one in all categories, with words like “obsequious” (“Turn Around”), “argonauts” (“Birdhouse in Your Soul”), “monotreme” (“Mammal”) and so forth strewn all over their work. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/8 "2007-02-19T20:16:07Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yep. He also had a few giggle inducers in\* JCS\*, but I can’t think of them right now. [/QUOTE] That might be where the other _tinpot_ is, but I’m not sure. Never saw a successful lyricist so adept at jamming a word in to make it fit! ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/9 "2007-02-19T20:17:08Z")
The Beatles could have this thread all to themselves! _Polyethylene_ Pam “Lucy in the Sky” contains the word _plasticene_ . “Mr. Kite”–_hogshead_ . _Piggies_ --also the word _bacon_ . _Helter-Skelter_ “Happiness is a Warm Gun”–_hobnail_ I’m sure there are lots more, but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/10 "2007-02-19T20:18:01Z")
One of the unreleased B-sides from the Decemberists album _The Crane Wife_ (“Hurdles Even Here”) begins with the line, “It started in your ovaries.” I really wasn’t expecting to hear the word “ovaries” in a song, even one by the Decemberists. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/11 "2007-02-19T20:22:51Z")
“Warm smell of colitas…” from “Hotel California.” That last word has not turned up in any other song. There was a song by Live that contained the word “placenta”…the line was “Her placenta falls to the floor.” :eek: Thank goodness most stations didn’t air that part, which was the first part of the song. I find the word inexcusable in a song lyric anyway. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/12 "2007-02-19T20:23:34Z")
Public Enemy’s\* By The Time I Get To Arizona\* has the word “infrastructure” in it. For some reason, they are the only guys I could ever imagine using that word in a song. mm ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/13 "2007-02-19T20:23:59Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yep. He also had a few giggle inducers in\* JCS\*, but I can’t think of them right now. [/QUOTE] One Night in Bangkok: Tea, girls, warm and sweet Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite. How often is Somerset Maugham mentioned in any song? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/14 "2007-02-19T20:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] _Polyethylene_ Pam [/QUOTE] _Polythene_ Pam, that is. But the point stands. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/15 "2007-02-19T20:29:11Z")
Well, Placenta has already been mentioned, but _Rattlesnake_ by Live mentions "ennui’. “Big Black Nemesis…Parthenogenesis” - Shriek Back, _Nemesis_. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/16 "2007-02-19T20:32:00Z")
I have never heard the words “tourniquet”\* and “auto-da-fe” in any recorded song other than _Tent_, by the Bonzo Dog Band. \*I’ll be laughing like a lunatic That just got away I’ll be howling like a heretic At an auto-da-fe I’m gonna get you in my tent (tent…tent…tent…tent) Where we can both experiment (ment…ment…ment…ment) I hope that you won’t mind the stench (stench…stench) Of the sacrament.\* Great love song. \*The context for this is: _For my love she is as beautiful As a tourniquet_ Brings tears to your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/17 "2007-02-19T20:41:53Z")
The Kinkster has a ton of them. _Homo Erectus_ contains the word “Australopithecine.” _They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore_ uses “ethnocentric.” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/18 "2007-02-19T20:42:25Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] I have never heard the words “ **tourniquet** ”\* and “auto-da-fe” in any recorded song other than _Tent_, by the Bonzo Dog Band. [/QUOTE] > [@Pink Floyd](#): > > …I feel cold as a razor blade, > **Tight as a tourniquet** , > Dry as a funeral drum… [Full lyrics here](http://www.thewallanalysis.com/turns.html) My own contribution: the word “reivers.” I’ve never run into it anywhere but in this song: > [@Kansas / "The Devil Game"](#): > > You got to listen all you mugs and **reivers** , if you do any wrong > You make it right [From here](http://www.tsrocks.com/k/kansas_texts/the_devil_game.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/19 "2007-02-19T20:44:02Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] For example- have you ever heard the word “gavotte” in your life, outside of “You’re So Vain?” [/QUOTE] People who are into Baroque music have. A [Gavotte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavotte), spelled in several similar ways, was a dance in 2/4 or 4/4 time. Oddly enough, the lyric is strangely appropriate–the rhythm of a gavotte sometimes does make me think of someone who is too pleased with himself or herself. Of course, it’s a bit of a stretch to call “You’re So Vain” a love song, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/20 "2007-02-19T20:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] I have never heard the words “tourniquet”\* and “auto-da-fe” in any recorded song other than _Tent_, by the Bonzo Dog Band. [/QUOTE] Also in “One of My Turns,” Pink Floyd, from _The Wall_. Oops, on preview, **Noone Special** beat me to it. [QUOTE=Dan Norder] The band They Might Be Giants probably wins this one in all categories, with words like “obsequious” (“Turn Around”), “argonauts” (“Birdhouse in Your Soul”), “monotreme” (“Mammal”) and so forth strewn all over their work. [/QUOTE] XTC–another band that could dominate in this category–beat them to “argonauts” (“Jason and the Argonauts” from _English Settlement_, 1982). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846.md?page=2)