# Weirdest songs to ever hit the Top 40 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927 "2006-10-10T14:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [October 12, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/81 "2006-10-12T12:45:56Z")
[QUOTE=BubbaDog] Richard Harris - **Macarther Park** [/QUOTE] Donna Summers - **Macarther Park** That has to be the weirdest song that charted twice. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/82 "2006-11-01T03:42:02Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] > [@Spoons](#): > > Along these lines, I also seem to recall that in about 1971 or 1972, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (a bagpipe band) had some success on the charts with “Amazing Grace.” Note that I’m unsure just how much success they had, but I do recall that they got a lot of airplay on my local Top 40 station. Shoot…I bought the album! [/quote] I still have it! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/83 "2006-11-01T04:09:24Z")
And my album cover is signed by some of the members of the band, along with the Coldstream Guards they were performing with! And I went out with one of the band members after the show. Alastair Robert Knox Currie, this girl from Kansas remembers you! ---
**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 1, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/84 "2006-11-01T04:20:21Z")
No, no-no-no. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” This needs no explanation, other than that it was a genuine hit during the rock era. This version reached number 13 in September 1959, and was on the chart for 11 weeks. Backed by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, it has been this famous group’s only top 40 chart appearance. ---
**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 1, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/85 "2006-11-01T04:44:11Z")
Man, some great choices here. I’ll throw in a few: “Ruby, don’t take your love to town”: Kenny Rodgers, I think. Disabled veteran moans about how he’d like to murder his cheatin’ wife. Real upbeat tune. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, “Sylvia’s Mother” Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science”. “Who Let the Dogs Out”, if for nothing else but the barking mad chorus. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/86 "2006-11-01T13:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Another one I just thought of, “Mother’s Little Helper” by the Stones- an upbeat ditty about recreational pill popping, featuring sitar as the lead instrument- at least I think it’s a sitar. [/QUOTE] “Upbeat”? Well, an up-tempo beat, sure… But overall it paints a dark and sarcastic picture of coping with middle-aged boredom via pharmaceuticals. The Stones song that I find the most genuinely disturbing (not only that they wrote and perform it, but that it gets consistent radio play to this day) is **Brown Sugar**. OK, it’s catchy. But damn, it’s pretty straightforwardly (and gleefully) about [antebellum whites raping a 16 year old slave girl](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/rolling+stones/brown+sugar_20117857.html)?! ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/87 "2006-11-01T15:34:21Z")
“Jenny (867-5309” by Tommy Tutone, about a guy getting a girl’s number off the bathroom wall, is a bit different. “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed, which should be subtitled “Ewww,” makes you feel like you’re hanging with Warhol and the superstars. I’ve always thought that “Black is Black” by Los Bravos was one of the weirdest sounding songs I ever heard, though maybe that’s because it kept running through my head one time when I had a high fever. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/88 "2006-11-01T15:45:50Z")
\*Deck of Cards \* by Wink (?) Martindale _Grandma We Love You_ by the St. Winifred’s School Choir _Bob the Builder_ _Agadoo_ by Black Lace _Eh-Oh Teletubbies_ That’s enough for now, before I lose the will to live ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/89 "2006-11-01T16:06:53Z")
[QUOTE=Reloy3] Rick Dees’ “Disco Duck” [/QUOTE] Or even worse, his follow up: Dis-Gorilla. I’m not sure it reached any charts, though. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/90 "2006-11-01T16:17:41Z")
Another UK one- “No Charge” by JJ Barrie ---
**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:** [November 1, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/91 "2006-11-01T16:44:56Z")
Scratch that last one- I had “most cloying” on the brain. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/92 "2006-11-01T17:24:06Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] What’s even stranger is that Meco’s disco version did better on the charts than John Williams’s original. My personal favorite Top 40 oddity: Jim Henson’s _Rubber Duckie_, #16 in 1970. Yes, the song from _Sesame Street_. [/QUOTE] Not to mention _Disco Duck_, by Rick Dees. What was that cut by some German guys (mid 80’s) where the entire lyrics were “Daa daa daa” repeated over and over on top of a repetitive bass line? [perusing Wikipedia] Ah yes Trio, with _Da Da Da._ ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/93 "2006-11-01T18:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] What was that cut by some German guys (mid 80’s) where the entire lyrics were “Daa daa daa” repeated over and over on top of a repetitive bass line? [perusing Wikipedia] Ah yes Trio, with _Da Da Da._ [/QUOTE] Ah, yes, I hated this song, particularly because my idiot moron boss at the time would say “da da da” all the time without the slightest clue what it meant. From [http://www.conknet.com/~mmagnus/Quotations.html](http://www.conknet.com/~mmagnus/Quotations.html), near the bottom of the page: “Having finished their studentship, the gods said: ‘Tell us something, Sir.’ He told them the syllable Da. Then he said: ‘Did you understand?’ They said: ‘We did understand. You told us “Dâmyata”, Be subdued.’. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘you have understood.’ Then the men said to him: ‘Tell us something, Sir.’ He told them the same syllable Da. Then he said: ‘Did you understand?’ They said: ‘We did understand. You told us “Datta”, Give.’. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘you have understood.’ Then the Asuras said to him: ‘Tell us something, Sir.’ He told them the same syllable Da. Then he said: ‘Did you understand?’ They said: ‘We did understand. You told us “Dayadham”, Be merciful.’. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘you have understood.’ The divine voice of thunder repeats the same, Da Da Da, that is, Be subdued, Give, Be merciful. Therefore let that triad be taught, Subduing, Giving and Mercy.” (sorry for the hijack) ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/94 "2006-11-01T18:52:56Z")
Miami Vice Theme by Jan Hammer ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/95 "2006-11-01T19:13:24Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] What was that cut by some German guys (mid 80’s) where the entire lyrics were “Daa daa daa” repeated over and over on top of a repetitive bass line? [perusing Wikipedia] Ah yes Trio, with _Da Da Da._/QUOTE] I believe the complete title was _Da Da Da I Love You You Don’t Love Me Uh-huh Uh-huh Uh-huh_. Was used in a VW ad in the mid-'90s. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/96 "2006-11-02T03:19:41Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] And my album cover is signed by some of the members of the band, along with the Coldstream Guards they were performing with! And I went out with one of the band members after the show. Alastair Robert Knox Currie, this girl from Kansas remembers you! [/QUOTE] Although it may seem odd that the piping version of Amazing Grace made it to the Top 40, the album’s real musicological significance is that it established Amazing Grace as a bagpipe tune, suitable for funerals. One of the regimental pipers arranged the tune for the pipes for the first time, and it took off. Prior to to 70s, Amazing Grace wasn’t considered a piping tune. Prior to that time, pipers tended to play “Flowers of the Forest” at funerals. (In fact, “Flowers” is so closely linked to funerals in piping culture that there are some odd superstitions about it, such as it should never be played through entirely _except_ at a funeral.) “Amzaing Grace” has supplanted “Flowers” in the popular image of bagpipes at funerals, but I’ve noticed that in the recent cases where the remains of dead Canadian soldiers are being brought back to Canada, the Armed Forces pipers often play “Flowers” instead of “Amazing Grace.” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/97 "2006-11-02T04:04:14Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] That has to be the weirdest song that charted twice. [/QUOTE] _Miami Herald_ humor columist Dave Barry once polled his readers on what the worst pop song of all time was. _MacArthur Park_ won by a long shot. I believe his responses were the basis for his book _Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs_. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/98 "2006-11-02T04:12:08Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] I’m not sure if it cracked the Top 40, but I do remember David Essex’ “Rock On” as being pretty popular. And pretty strange. [/QUOTE] **Spoons** , don’t take this the wrong way, but I love you. I’ve been trying to figure out who sang this song I used to hear on the oldies station back in high school was for about 12 years. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/99 "2006-11-02T04:18:52Z")
More than a bit strange is the haunting **Sally, Go Round the Roses** by the Jaynetts. A great discussion about the lyrics can be found[here](http://www.history-of-rock.com/jaynetts.htm) ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927/100 "2006-11-02T04:25:47Z")
Mull of Kintyre by Sir Paul. More bagpipes. And a pretty cool video, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-songs-to-ever-hit-the-top-40/375927.md?page=6)