Boy Named Sue?
Macarenna
“Burning Down the House” by Talking Heads (Billboard Hot 100 #9) is pretty freaking weird.
“Don’t Worry Be Happy,” an a cappella song featuring only the sound of Bobby McFerrin’s voice.
The US and UK #1 songs on my birthday were both pretty weird:
“Brand New Key” by Melanie
“Ernie (The fastest milkman in the west)” by Benny Hill
Strangely enough, Berry’s only #1 hit.
It had that cross-over market with closet ding-a-ling players, which helped a lot!
Maritime pop tunes are a little unusual now. I find this one a little less weird than the oeuvre of Roger Whittaker. More recognizably rock/pop songs in this genre might be Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” and the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B.”
Region-specific hits are a bit less common in the post-MTV age, but used to be friggin’ huge. Chicago blues, Philly soul and Cleveland Polka have taken serious body blows in the era of Clear Channel-type radio chains. I think maritime pop mighty have been an early casualty of media homogenization.
Helen Reddy’s “I Am Women” was even a weirder topic for a top 10 song. I guess it was in the right place at the right time.
Nobody has mentioned McArthur Park, which charted not once but TWICE? If that’s not a weird song, I do not know what one is?
Loved it the first time I hear it, thought “hey, I better remember who this is and find it at the local indie record store, I’ll undoubtedly never hear it again otherwise!” Little did I know… it #10 on US pop charts, #1 on modern rock. Which meant hearing it every half an hour on the radio for several months straight.
Like a few other songs listed here, the lyrics are way out there; the music is pretty bizarre, too.
Also “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” from Evita, a song about an Argentina dictator’s wife that most people had never heard of.
“Sing”, the song started out as a Sesame Street Song, the Carpenter’s recordeed it andd it hit Number 3 on Billboard, Number 1 on the adult Contemporary Chart.
It’s not necessarily a weird song, its circumstances just seem weird.
anyone remember “Midnight at the Oasis”? I always thought that was pretty weird. Again, I don’t know how high it got on the charts.
And speaking of “Tusk” what was the purpose of the marching band besides sounding frecking cool??
Og, I love this song! (But y’all knew I was strange, right?)
I’m also partial to that Flobot song, but only because it’s been connected with Doctor Who.
Whoa, I forgot about that one. Definitely weird, as far as lyrics go. A guy crooning mournfully about his cake being left out in rain and “all the sweet cream icing melting down!”. Yeah, I know, it’s supposed to be symbolic and metaphoric, but still, it’s weird. “I don’t think that I can take it, 'cause it took so long to bake it, and I’ll never have that recipe agaaaaaaaain!”
Please, don’t ask me why I remember those lyrics…
How has it been connected with Dr. Who?
Isn’t that enough? Lindsey Buckingham had a lot of great songs in him.
Too bad most of them featured a nasal nutjob on vocals.