# Weirdest Top 10 Singles **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/21 "2008-10-09T20:43:10Z")
“Batdance” by Prince, hit #1 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/22 "2008-10-09T21:05:15Z")
“This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us” by Sparks (UK #2) wins, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/23 "2008-10-09T21:27:44Z")
“Spill The Wine” - War. (#3 - US). Very trippy. “Bohemian Rhapsody” - Queen (#9 - US). Sure, now it’s a classic rock staple, but in the era of disco and easy listening, it was pretty damn oddball. “Mack the Knife” - Bobby Darin (#1!) Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill top the charts? ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/24 "2008-10-09T21:42:21Z")
“Pass the Dutchie” hit #10 in 1982 ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/25 "2008-10-09T21:54:01Z")
Hm…[Chacarron Macarron](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsLiYhDz8Aw) got to number 20, so not quite. One hell of a weird song, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/26 "2008-10-09T22:04:17Z")
How about One Week by the Barenaked Ladies? The verses in that song are so strange that even after reading them I still have no idea what he’s going on about. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/27 "2008-10-09T22:17:20Z")
Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/28 "2008-10-09T22:20:25Z")
I’d say “One Night in Bangkok,” a song from a musical which makes no sense whatsoever outside the context of that musical. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/29 "2008-10-09T23:27:14Z")
What about “White & Nerdy” by Weird Al Yankovic which reached #9 on the Billboard charts? He is the personification of "weird’. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/30 "2008-10-09T23:29:31Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply. Weirdest song I ever heard, right there. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/31 "2008-10-09T23:33:52Z")
> [@duke](#): > > weirdest song i ever heard, right there. :d ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/32 "2008-10-09T23:35:28Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > What about “White & Nerdy” by Weird Al Yankovic which reached #9 on the Billboard charts? He is the personification of "weird’. Wow - that charted top ten? Good for him! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/33 "2008-10-10T00:33:43Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > “Shut uppa your face” a bit of a fad song, but very popular at one time. Does anybody else even remember it? > [@Foxy40](#): > > Absolutely… > > _whatsa matta wcho..ya gotta no respect…_ [2:29 - 2:52](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtjWj0ob7oc). ---
**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:** [October 10, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/34 "2008-10-10T00:37:03Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply. Apparently, that is what happens when you accidently hit the “post quick reply” button without clicking on one of the Quick Reply icons first. Live & learn. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/35 "2008-10-10T00:52:29Z")
“Gimme Dat Ding” by Pipkins (1970): An opening sort-of-rap followed by a sort-of-ragtime piano break “Hocus Pocus” by Focus (1973): Mixing rock guitar with flute wasn’t that weird, considering this was the age when Jethro Tull was at its commercial peak; but when they added yodelling… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/36 "2008-10-10T00:56:49Z")
[Ernie - The Fastest Milkman In The West](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z9zyyjXxZM&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/37 "2008-10-10T01:04:50Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > [“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. You get my vote. I think the weirdest thing is people ever claimed the song was _not_ about cannibalism. No, your link is even weirder. _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_? Cannibalism and Dickens? ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/38 "2008-10-10T01:50:31Z")
If we’re not limiting this to songs that charted in the U.S., I’ll nominate “Jeannie” by Falco. Almost unheard of in the U.S., but topped the charts in much of Europe, and even hit #5 in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/39 "2008-10-10T02:10:52Z")
_“Poke Salad Annie” or “Polk Salad Annie” is a 1969 song written and performed by Tony Joe White. It was recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL. Its lyrics describe the lifestyle of a generic Southern girl. Traditionally, the term to describe the type of food highlighted in the song is “poke salad.” Its 1969 single release peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100._ > **[Polk Salad Annie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polk_Salad_Annie)** > > "Polk Salad Annie" is a 1968 song written and performed by Tony Joe White. Its lyrics describe the lifestyle of a poor rural Southern girl and her family. Traditionally, the term to describe the type of food highlighted in the song is polk or poke salad, a cooked greens dish made from pokeweed. Its 1969 single release peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, the song made No. 10 on the RPM Magazine Hot Singles chart. Elvis Presley's version also made the song popular. > The song vividl... [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fRF24LY5pvw/hqdefault.jpg "Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRF24LY5pvw) Same guy who gave us “Rainy Night in Georgia,” in fact. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190/40 "2008-10-10T03:41:33Z")
The Beatles win this easily, both with songs with atypical subject matter (Paperback Writer, Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine), and with songs that are just plain weird (Strawberry Fields, I Am the Walrus). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-top-10-singles/467190.md?page=3)