# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/121 "2007-02-23T15:40:35Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Joni was also the answer to one of my entries in the Rock Lyrics Game thread I linked to in post #5 (no one guessed). The words were **keyloids, sterilized, broadcasting,** and **hot-wire**. [/QUOTE] I admire anyone who can work **Zombies** and **Singapore Slings** into a single line. (_Bar and Grill_) **Biffy** , I missed the link in post #5, but you did _devastate my synaesthesia_ in post #29. 😉 ---
**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:** [February 23, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/122 "2007-02-23T17:44:35Z")
One of my favorites is Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”: “Remember when you win the game You lose the love you sought to gain In \*\*debentures \*\*of quality And dubious integrity The small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise, when payment due Exceeds accounts received At seventeen…” I love that verse. They don’t write 'em like that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/123 "2007-02-23T17:57:10Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] **BAD RELIGION** Also, the Police mention “scilla and charybdis” in their song “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” That has to be pretty rare. [/QUOTE] That song also mentions “Mephistopholes”, who doesn’t make frequent lyric appearances. And it’s from an album called “Synchronicity”, with not one but TWO songs by that title. ---
**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 23, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/124 "2007-02-23T18:21:20Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] you did _devastate my synaesthesia_ in post #29. 😉 [/QUOTE] Happy to be of service, my dear. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/125 "2007-02-23T18:37:07Z")
As goofy, crude, and juvenile as Bloodhound Gang is, they have a surprisingly high number of really off-beat references in songs like: Have you ever read Voltaire’s _Candide_? It says, “Live Life at Benny Hill Freak-Out Speed.” or You and me baby ain’t nothin but mammals So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. The latter quote comes from the song “The Bad Touch,” which includes the phrases, “Two-Hand Touch,” “Waffle House Hash Browns,” “Daylight Savings Time,” “Mr. Coffee,” and “The X-Files.” ---
**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 23, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/126 "2007-02-23T18:57:28Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] You and me baby ain’t nothin but mammals So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. [/QUOTE] Barring the TV reference, that sounds an awful lot like reworked Cole Porter: _They say that bears have love affairs, and even camels! We’re merely mammals, Let’s misbehave._ ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/127 "2007-02-24T16:03:17Z")
[QUOTE=Dr\_Paprika] “South America, Take It Away” by Bing Crosby also contains “sacroiliac”. [/QUOTE] As does Billy “Crash” Craddock’s _Rub It In_. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/128 "2007-02-24T16:41:42Z")
I can’t remember the name of the song by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, (probably because they all sound the same to me), but they did manage to squeeze the word “Pleides” in a song somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/129 "2007-02-24T17:48:34Z")
Def Leppard used the word **saccharine** a couple times in _Pour Some Sugar on Me_. > [@](#): > > You got the peaches, I got the cream > Sweet to taste, saccharine > 'Cos I’m hot, say what, sticky sweet > From my head, my head, to my feet That really surprised me when I figured out what they were saying. Also, someone mentioned Phish on the first page, but didn’t mention the song _Golgi Apparatus_. > [@](#): > > I look into the finance box > Just to check my status > I look into the microscope > See Golgi Apparatus They sing about Lysosomes later in the song. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/130 "2007-02-24T17:49:23Z")
The King Missile song ‘Dick’ manages to sneak in a ‘Raison de Etre’. Or did I see an OP prohibition on mentioning foreign phrases? Preview only goes to the top of the current page. Que sera. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/131 "2007-02-24T23:56:34Z")
Magnetic Fields. Song: Reno Dakota. Word: Pantone (292) The Books. Song: An Animated Description of Mr Maps. Word: Synaesthesia ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/132 "2007-02-25T00:31:40Z")
When I was a freshman in high school, we had a teacher named [Tony Xenos](http://www.tonyxenos.com) who played music and sang a lot at bars in a nearby college town. He still does - actually he has a decent regional following and gets some local radio play on the college stations and such. He had a song that used the word **schenectady** in a song called “Green Rubber Boots”. I don’t know if it counts, since he isn’t famous, but he is pretty well known in this area. plus, this gives me a chance to plug one of my favorite teachers/musicians! 😃 Brendon ---
**Author:** ![Blunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Blunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blunt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/133 "2007-02-25T00:46:37Z")
Bad Religion has been mentioned a few times in this thread, and they were definitely the first band that came to mind for me as well. There is even a [website](http://members.shaw.ca/brlexicon/) dedicated to words used in their songs. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/134 "2007-02-25T02:37:47Z")
Let’s take a trip back to 1979. Ray Stevens had a novelty hit with _I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow_ in which the ending is: > [@](#): > > _**I need your help, Barry Manilow, > Your songs can really comfort the unlucky, > Sing me a song, sing it sad and low, > I wish I didn’t have to feel so yucky!**_ Show me another song that uses **yucky**! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/135 "2007-02-25T03:24:33Z")
diseases The version of “Bella Ciao” that Chumbawamba sings includes the line “our sunlight is not for franchise.” [http://www.chumba.com/media/Chumbawamba-Bella\_Ciao.mp3](http://www.chumba.com/media/Chumbawamba-Bella_Ciao.mp3) Michigan & Smiley’s “Diseases”: Mind Jah Jah lick you with diseases The most dangerous diseases I talking like the elephantisis The other one is the polomylitis Arthritis and the one diabetes ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/136 "2007-02-25T03:31:55Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] How many songs rhyme anything with “eiderdown”? [/QUOTE] Elton’s _Amoreena_. The chorus: _And when it rains the rain falls down Washing out the cattle town And she’s far away somewhere in her eiderdown And she dreams of crystal streams Of days gone by when we would lean Laughing fit to burst upon each other_ ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/137 "2007-02-25T04:01:12Z")
Don McLean’s [On The Amazon](http://www.allthelyrics.com/song/504235/) contains ALL the weird words–or perhaps just all weird words, but it’s funny nonetheless. Robert Plant’s “Heaven Knows” features the line “with all the romance of the Tonton Macoute,” probably not too many songs sport that reference. Steely Dan’s “Cousin Dupree” has the fabulous line “the dreary architecture of your soul” which never fails to make me grin. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/138 "2007-02-25T05:19:23Z")
In the classic Mothers of Invention cut “Call Any Vegetable,” there is a lofty salute to a lyrics-neglected root vegetable: Rutabaga, Rutabaga, Rutabaga, Rutabaga, Rutabay-y-y-y… Followed by this helpful advice: (A prune isn’t really a vegetable… CABBAGE is a vegetable…) Ah, Frank - you’re missed. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/139 "2007-02-25T18:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] For example- have you ever heard the word “gavotte” in your life, outside of “You’re So Vain?” [/QUOTE] Yes — one of the songs in _My Fair Lady_ is the “[Ascot Gavotte](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/myfairlady/ascotgavotte.htm),” sung by the ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846/140 "2007-02-25T18:45:09Z")
**Warren Zevon** was the master of big vocabulary music. In 'Play it all night long" he mentions that the cattle have Brucelosis. One of his songs has a guy selling a Naugahyde Divan. But this one’s gotta win something for the most obscure use of chemical names in a song. This is the first stanza: 4-Aminobiphenyl, hexachlorobenzeneDimethyl sulfate, chloromethyl methylether 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, carbon disulfide Dibromochloropane, chlorinatedbenzenes, 2-Nitropropane, pentachlorophenol, Benzotrichloride, strontium chromate 1, 2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane The song is a lot cooler than it sounds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-contain-words-not-commonly-found-in-song-lyrics/392846.md?page=8)