# Weirdest Top 10 Singles
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 9, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190 "2008-10-09T17:25:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/1 "2008-10-09T17:25:14Z")
Pretty self-explanatory - what are some of the weirdest singles that have made the top 10? Songs that, when you first heard, you thought, “This is pretty out there for a mass audience”? A lot of these probably don’t seem so weird now that they’re entrenched cultural signposts, but here’s my short list:
**The Beatles** - Strawberry Fields Forever
A great song, to be sure, but it would be weird even if it was released today. Not even so much “psychedelic” as sounding like it’s completely from another realm.
**Fleetwood Mac** - Tusk
I’m not a fan of their too-laid-back SoCal easy listening “rock”, but I have to cheer this one for its kitchen-sink bizarreness. A million miles from “Don’t Stop”.
**R.E.M.** - Losing My Religion
As I said, this doesn’t seem weird now that it’s a standard, but I remember, as a fan from the 80s, when I first heard this single on the local “modern rock” station and thinking, “Well, _that_ was a stupid choice as a bid for mainstream airplay”. Mandolin, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and a decidedly downbeat feel? Never happen.
I was going to include **Peggy Lee** ’s “Is That All There Is?”, but I see it only made #11 on the charts. But what the hell? I’ll include it anyway.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/2 "2008-10-09T17:38:32Z")
[The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald). Weird subject matter, weird song.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/3 "2008-10-09T17:59:46Z")
[The Tornados - Telstar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ybCjf6ras)
It still sounds peculiar after all these years, the jewel in Joe Meek’s weird crown.
Also, Maggie Thatcher’s favourite song apparently.
[Keith West - Grocer Jack, Excerpt From A Teenage Opera](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWVRg_LWEDI)
Just listen to it!
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### Author:  [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/4 "2008-10-09T18:11:56Z")
[“Timothy”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGNdvKvbxYQ) by The Buoys. Cannibalism. And repressed memories. At the end of the “innocent” sixties and the beginning of the disco seventies. Hard to get much weirder than that.
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### Author:  [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/5 "2008-10-09T18:13:30Z")
The Ying Yang Twins’ [“wait (the whisper song)”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDOC7JRDzYI) springs to mind. Nothing but a kick drum, finger snaps, and a guy whispering obscenities. It got to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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### Author:  [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/6 "2008-10-09T18:21:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> [The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald). Weird subject matter, weird song.
What’s so weird about it? Honest, I don’t get why you think that. It’s about a shipwreck. That’s not a typical subject for a song, but I don’t see it as particularly weird. And the song itself, musically, has nothing weird in it that I can hear, I actually quite like it.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/7 "2008-10-09T19:02:59Z")
“Desiderata” by Les Crane. Not even a song, really, just a overly dramatic recitation of a poem. Reached #8.
“They’re Coming to Take me Away, Ha Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV – A weird chant by a man going insane. Doesn’t even show up on oldies stations any more. Reached #3.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/8 "2008-10-09T19:09:41Z")
[Dominique](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUzY-W2klT4&feature=related) by the Singing Nun.
Because when you think of pop stars with Number One Billboard Chart hits, you automatically think of cloistered (and apparently closeted) nuns.😃
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### Author:  [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/9 "2008-10-09T19:17:46Z")
Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” hit #2 in the UK and is far weirder than anything else on this list.
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### Author:  [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/10 "2008-10-09T19:22:56Z")
It’s catchy as hell and really happy sounding, but The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” is one weird piece of music – constant stops and starts, numerous parts, and an instrumental lineup of drums, bass, manaical organs, electro-theremin, tack piano, and cellos sawing one note.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/11 "2008-10-09T19:27:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> “They’re Coming to Take me Away, Ha Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV – A weird chant by a man going insane. Doesn’t even show up on oldies stations any more. Reached #3.
That’s probably because it’s now considered politically incorrect.
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird]
I was going to include Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”, but I see it only made #11 on the charts. But what the hell? I’ll include it anyway.
[/QUOTE]
I think that song’s weirdness has more to do with the fact it was the charts in 1969. Imagine listening to a typical Top 40 station that year and hearing this Kurt Weilesque testament to mid-life ennui by a nearly 50-something former big band singer among the Rolling Stones and the Archies.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/12 "2008-10-09T19:28:25Z")
“My Ding-a-Ling” by Chuck Berry, 1972. “Those of you who will not sing, you must be playing with your own ding-a-ling.”
Good, Chuck. Encourage audience participation . . . and get them arrested for lewd behavior!
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/13 "2008-10-09T19:31:48Z")
> [@Mike\_Fun](#):
>
> Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” hit #2 in the UK and is far weirder than anything else on this list.
Yep, that’s a weird one, all right. Didn’t chart here in the U.S. at all, far as I can tell, but it would’ve definitely been on my list if it had.
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### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/14 "2008-10-09T19:42:57Z")
There’s a song I heard on regular pop radio the other day called “No Handlebars” by the Flobots. I don’t know how high it reached on the charts but I loved it and it’s definitely weird.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/15 "2008-10-09T19:54:07Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#):
>
> There’s a song I heard on regular pop radio the other day called “No Handlebars” by the Flobots. I don’t know how high it reached on the charts but I loved it and it’s definitely weird.
This is exactly what I was going to say. Except for the loving it part.
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### Author:  [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/16 "2008-10-09T20:26:21Z")
In the Year 2525 was pretty weird and the lyrics didn’t make a lot of sense either. It hit #1 for a few weeks in…I think 1969?
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### Author:  [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/17 "2008-10-09T20:30:10Z")
“Shut uppa your face” a bit of a fad song, but very popular at one time. Does anybody else even remember it?
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### Author:  [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/18 "2008-10-09T20:32:48Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#):
>
> “Shut uppa your face” a bit of a fad song, but very popular at one time. Does anybody else even remember it?
Absolutely…
_whatsa matta wcho..ya gotta no respect…_
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### Author:  [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/19 "2008-10-09T20:35:08Z")
Oh and I always thought “Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy was pretty darn weird.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/20 "2008-10-09T20:40:40Z")
"Hey, there Li’l Red Riding Hood’, by Sam the Sham. #2.
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