Young Turks by Rod Stewart is a great song, but the title seems odd. Turks? The refrain goes: "Young hearts be free tonight..."

Any other strange titles for songs out there?

Noun: Young Turk yśng turk
1. A young radical who agitates for reform

2. A member of one or more of the insurgent groups in Turkey in the late 19th century who rebelled against the absolutism of Ottoman rule

I guess this defintion could somehow be related to the lyrics....

Yep, "young turk" is a colloquial expression to be a rebel or up-start .

uh, smells like teen spirit? baba o'reily? etc.

Enter Sandman. Sandman is mentioned in the song, but not Enter

The chourus is:
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to never never land

Are you saying just because they don't state the Sandman entering explicitly, it's a bad song title?

Kurt named it Smells Like Teen Spirt after hearing someone say the phrase. He was crestfallen after releasing the song because he realized he named it after a brand of deodorant!

Most of the songs on Who's Next were intended to be part of a concept album, Lifehouse. It is possible Baba O'Reily was a character in that story.

IMO, the song is perfectly named. It always struck me as very sarcastic and ironic. It surprises me that Kurdt didn't plan it that way.

A few favorite titles off the top of my head:

"A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work" - Tortoise
"Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Outlooking" - His Name Is Alive
"Lullaby For Liquid Pig" - Lisa Germano
"Frou-Frou Foxes in Mindsummer Fires" - Cocteau Twins
"Cow Cud is a Twin" - Aphex Twin
"Girl in Old Blue Volvo Disowns Self" - Julianna Hatfield

The Cocteau Twins and Aphex Twin both have so many odd ones I just picked the first to come to mind. BTW, as the story goes, it was Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill who Kurt overheard use the phrase "Smells Like Teen Spirt".

You could include many Joy Division songs, they would often swap the name of one song with another. And of course the most famous of all odd name songs Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Women Volume 12 & 35.

Bauhaus - Crowds

The Orb - "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" - Not THAT weird, just a mouthful. Chalk it up to drugs.

Autechre - Hell, just pick anything. They seem to use their own language.

Wire - "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" - Hell of a thing to name your first single off your third & final album (at the time).

Mission of Burma - "All World Cowboy Romance" - Nothing weird on its own, just seems a bit out of step with the rest of their titles.

Phil Collins - "Sussudio" - The less said about this song the better. Moving on...

A pretty clever one from a friend's band:
Stillwell - "The Monet Shot"

I'm sure there's some pretty bizzare ones I own, but I can't think of any at the moment, or can't type them on a public forum.

Pink Floyd "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict"

"Valotte" by Julian Lennon

This is what I thought of when I saw the thread title.

Just read this in Rolling Stone:

"The song takes its name both from Townshend's spiritual guru, Meher Baba, and minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose work inspired the track's repetitive electronic textures."

I never understood this one:

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin

"Lick My Love Pump"

Didacts and Narpets

"Boogie Til You Puke" by Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band always comes to mind.

My favorite single of all time - Berserker by Gary Numan. The word is never mentioned in the song, and no one goes berserk. In fact, it's the title track of the album, and there is no mention of a berserker anywhere on the album. Gary just liked the Fred Saberhagen novels.

Have we all forgotten In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida?

The Greatest Songs Ever column in this month's Blender deals with "Black Dog." The explanation for the title from Jimmy Page is "there was a black dog hanging around Headley Grange" (the house they recorded IV in).

Also in this month's issue is "33 Things You Should Know About Nirvana": "In 1990, Kurt was dating Tobi Vail of riot grrrls Bikini Kill. Her roommate, singer Kathleen Hanna, taunted him by scrawling 'Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit' on his bedroom wall. Teen Spirit was the deodorant Vail used."