Flaming Lips: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1” (2002)
Like the Magnetic Fields’ “Andrew in Drag” (Songs You May Have Missed #162) Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi” follows a cardinal rule of pseudo-novelty songwriting: if it’s catchy enough, even the people who ought to think it’s too weird will find themselves liking it. “Yoshimi” actually made it into the video game Rock Band 3 and has been reworked for the TV show Friends (“Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots”)–pretty mainstream for a song so bizarre.
If you removed the lyric about a city employee charged with the task of defending citizens from…well, pink robots–and substituted more typical love song sentiments, the melody could have carried it to pop hit territory. But I like it better as a cult classic.
Every Moment Has A Song 
Sep 14, 2012 @ 00:00:24
A stupendously great song. Thanks, Ed, for bringing this one to us.
I’m hoping it gets played at my daughter’s wedding.
Nov 17, 2015 @ 19:37:55
Love it. It’s a favorite at our house