Nonsonguitur

Why is the song commonly known as "Teenage Wasteland" by The Who actually entitled Baba O'Riley? Neither a Baba nor an O'Riley is mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, nor is it clear that song has anything to do with either or with a Baba O'Riley, whatever that might be. It's all about a teenage wasteland... but that's not the title.

As it turns out (more info at songfacts.com), the title is a tribute to two major influences on Pete Townshend, Meher Baba and Terry Riley, and the song was penned as an opening for Townshend's next rock opera.

I can't find a suitable name for this type of pop culture constriction--a song whose title is not part of the lyrics--so I have invented the word "nonsonguitur." Needless to say, it is a corruption of the phrase"non sequitor" from the Latin meaning "it does not follow." In this case, a nonsonguitur is a song whose title does not follow from the lyrics, or more precisely, whose title is not found in the lyrics.

While Baba O'Riley is likely the most prominent nonsonguitur of the rock era, there are many other notable songs whose titles are not significantly part of the song lyrics, if mentioned at all.

Absolute Nonsonguiturs
One might even say there are shades of nonsonguitur. Some like Led Zeppelin's Black Dog or the Mamas and the Papas Creeque Alley, both like Baba O'Riley, wherein there is absolutely no apparent reason for naming the song. Black Dog (Hey hey mama say the way you move/gonna make you sweat gonna make you groove) was apparently named for a black dog that wandered into the studio as they were recording. Creeque Alley, an autobiographical song of the formation of the band, was named for a road in the Virgin Islands where the band had played.

Other songs that fit this category of nonsonguiturs are:

Neil Young's After the Gold Rush (Look at Mother Nature on the run in the nineteen seventies). See this article for some speculation on the meaning of both the title and the haunting apocalyptic lyrics.

Unchained Melody, perhaps one of the most popular love songs of all time (Oh, my love, my darling/I've hungered for your touch), first made famous by the Righteous Brothers, was named because it had been the theme song for the 1955 film "Unchained."

For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield (Stop, hey what's that sound/everybody look what's going down). See an analysis here of song and lyrics.

Danny's Song, written by Kenny Loggins, and charted highest by Anne Murray (Even though we ain't got money/I'm so in love with ya honey), never mentions a Danny in the lyrics. It was reported written by Loggins for his older brother Dan.

Logical Nonsonguiturs
Other nonsonguitirs are more logical, such as The Ballad of John and Yoko by the Beatles and Space Oddity by David Bowie. In these songs, the title implies the subject of the song, or some other reference to the story contained in the lyrics, even though the title does not appear verbatim. The Ballad of John and Yoko (Christ you know it ain't easy, you know how hard this can be/and the way things are going, they're gonna crucify me) details the marriage and honeymoon "bed-in" of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Space Oddity describes the adventure of astronaut Major Tom though his conversations with ground control.

Others in this group include

Life During Wartime by the Talking Heads, (This ain't no party/this ain't no disco/this ain't no fooling around) See this interesting link

A Day in the Life by the Beatles, known for it's opening line I heard the news today oh boy
interesting link

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, a most eclectic rock symphony.

Land of 1000 Dances was recorded most successfully by Wilson Pickett. Earlier versions had a verbal introduction that explained that the singer was going to take you to such a place. See the story here.

Non Nonsonguiturs
On the list of songs that I don't consider to be nonsonguiturs are songs which have a lyric used as a parenthetical subtitle, such as The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy) by Simon and Garfunkel or R.E.M.'s So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry).

Similarly, if a song title is reflected essentially in the lyrics, even though it is not verbatim, it really can not be a nonsonguitur, as the title does follow from the lyrics. Examples of this include Billy Joel's Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Abottle of red, a bottle of white) or Bobbie Gentry's Ode to Billy Joe (Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge).