I'll start things off with this: After only 4-1/2 hours of sleep and three races within 14 hours on New Year's Day [yes, a U2 song title], my exhausted mind began coming up with a list of
Good Songs With Silly Titles
(The following are listed in rough order by ratio of song quality to silliness of title)
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" by The Police
The title actually makes sense in the context of the lyrics, which are concerned with shyness-induced inarticulateness.
"Na Na Na Na Naa" by Kaiser Chiefs
The title is also part of the lyrics, and is utter naa-nsense, but the song itself is an excellent anthem of indifference to a woman and her advances, and features a great soaring guitar solo.
"Sh-Boom" by The Chords
Some consider this 1954 doo-wop classic the first rock 'n' roll song. It sandwiches solid love song lyrics between the nuttiest gibberish ever recorded, but the great harmonies and incredibly rapid tempo make it one of the great songs of all time, rock 'n' roll or not. Sample lyrics:
"Hey nonny ding dong, alang alang alang
Boom ba-doh, ba-doo ba-doodle-ay...
...Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da
Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da
Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da, sh-boom
Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da
Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da
Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da, sh-boom"
Awesome!
"Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop" by Little Anthony and the Imperials
Another early rock 'n' roll song, with a large percentage of nonsense lyrics, about a single guy meeting a native girl in the jungle, and concluding with a verse instructing listeners on how to do the Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop dance. Pioneering DJ Allan Freed, who coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll", chose to play this as his final song as he went off the air for the last time.
"Solar Prestige A Gammon" by Elton John
This whole song is intentional nonsense, with the lyrics made up of random words that happen to fit the melody. Elton was tired of everybody overanalyzing Bernie Taupin's lyrics, so he asked Bernie to "go write any old meaningless rubbish". Still a great song.
"Radio Ga Ga" by Queen
The lyrics are a straightforward ode and tribute to the power of radio, but, I'm sorry, the title and chorus are still completely goofy:
"All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what's new
Radio, someone still loves you!"
The same theme is handled much better in Rush's "Spirit of Radio" and even "Mr. Radio" by E.L.O., but I still like this one too.
"Be-Bob-a-Lula" by Gene Vincent
The meaningless title appears in the chorus of this simple song about a girlfriend, but it's one of the great early rock classics.
