List Of Crap #76: Top 50 Novelty Songs Countdown

[Thrifty Version II]

#42 Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas
19 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #7 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jhUkGIsKvn0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/jhUkGIsKvn0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

"Kung Fu Fighting" is a disco song written and performed by Carl Douglas and composed and produced by Biddu. It was released as a single in 1974, on the cusp of a chopsocky film craze, and eventually rose to the top of the British and American charts, in addition to reaching number one on the Soul Singles chart. It received a Gold certification from the RIAA in 1974, won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Selling Single, and popularized disco music.  It eventually went on to sell eleven million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. The song uses the quintessential Oriental riff, a short musical phrase that is used to signify Chinese culture.

"Kung Fu Fighting" was rated number 100 in VH1's 100 Greatest one-hit wonders, and number 1 in the UK Channel 4's Top 10 One Hit Wonders list in 2000, the same channel's 50 Greatest One Hit Wonders poll in 2006 and Bring Back ... the one-hit Wonders, for which Carl Douglas performed the song in a live concert.

I'd heard the opening of this song dozens of times but never bothered to listen to the full thing until last year.  It's cute and catchy.  One thing I'll always remember about this song is this clip from The Simpsons.

[Compound]

#46 Gangnam Style by Psy
18 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #8 by Johnny Unusual

Well, this seems appropriate to post then:
VIDEO: Yemen wedding celebration to ‘Gangnam Style’ ends with three dead when dancer accidentally shoots AK-47

Is it fake? Eh, who knows? There's a video but it could be a set up there. (As who the hell dances while carrying a AK-47? And it was convenient that the gunfire came during a silent part of the song. And that the camera panned upward during the gunfire to avoid filming anyone getting shot.) But still a recent story.

[CJones]

I take it I didn't get my list in in time. I know I sent you one but it only had 14 entries. I definitely would have included Gangnam Style if my brain had been working.

[Thrifty Version II]

#41 Curly Shuffle by Jump 'N Saddle Band
19 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #7 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBiHysKnvGs?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/mBiHysKnvGs?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

"The Curly Shuffle" is a novelty song by the group Jump 'N the Saddle Band first released in late 1983, an homage to The Three Stooges film comedy team. Jump 'N the Saddle Band had one of the biggest novelty hits of the early 1980s with the song. In Canada, the song was simultaneously released by "The Knuckleheads" on Attic Records, while Jump 'N The Saddle's version was also available.

The song had the band's lead vocalist Peter Quinn mimicking many of Curly Howard's catch phrases. The song was distinctive enough to climb to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984, but the group never managed to produce another hit, partially because they fell into a dispute with their record label Atlantic Records when it came time to record a follow-up.

The original publisher of "The Curly Shuffle" was Swingtet publishing BMI. Owned by Dave Roberts one of the original founders of the group, and the piano player and background vocalist on the recording. This right was given by the author "Peter Quinn" and with the agreement of the band at the time of recording. After the song became a hit, the band, but not the author, relinquished their support of Roberts and re-registered the publishing with ASCAP under "Wiseguy" publishing. This dispute has never been resolved, and in fact royalties have been paid to both parties through their respective performing rights societies. Other song "hits" written by Roberts include "Leavin' Texas" recorded on multiple albums and featured on Jerry Jeff Walker's "Greatest Hits".

I heard this song on one of my Dr. Demento anniversary albums.  I like it.  It's got this kicky high energy and the impersonations of Curly are pretty fun.  The Three Stooges always make me think of Car Talk though.

[Thrifty Version II]

I take it I didn't get my list in in time. I know I sent you one but it only had 14 entries. I definitely would have included Gangnam Style if my brain had been working.

I think your list only had one entry that would have impacted the top 50, and it's a song higher up in the rankings that I didn't get to yet.

[Darth Geek]

The original publisher of "The Curly Shuffle" was Swingtet publishing BMI.

Are they on the way?

[Johnny Unusual]

See when I think of Kung Fu Fighting, I always think of "Once Upon a Honeymoon".

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dfYd9scVU20" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/dfYd9scVU20</a>

[Thrifty Version II]

Monday is my hectic day so I'm too wiped to do any more today.  I'll knock out a bunch tomorrow.

I'm still really surprised by the winner for #1.  Didn't see it coming at all.

[goflyblind]

I'm still really surprised by the winner for #1.  Didn't see it coming at all.

beethoven's ninth?

[Thrifty Version II]

#40 Yoda by Weird Al Yankovic
20 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #6 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/xMpDHEVaI1k?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/xMpDHEVaI1k?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

Yoda is a song on Weird Al's 3rd album "Dare to Be Stupid".  The song is a parody of the song "Lola" by The Kinks, and describes the events of The Empire Strikes Back revolving around the character of Yoda.  The song is told from the point of view of Jedi in training Luke Skywalker.  Yankovic originally wrote the song in 1980 during the theatrical run of The Empire Strikes back, but never set it to music until a friend of his suggested setting it to the tune of the popular Kinks song.

I was pretty crazy about this song when I first got into Weird Al in the early 90s, even though I didn't know who Yoda was and I had never heard the song Lola.

[Thrifty Version II]

#39 Detachable Penis by King Missile
20 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #6 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VDss8V2OME4?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/VDss8V2OME4?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

"Detachable Penis" is a song by avant-garde band King Missile. It was the first single from the band's 1992 album Happy Hour, and became a modest hit, reaching #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.  In the song, frontman John S. Hall recites a deadpan monologue in which he portrays the owner of the eponymous penis. Apparently a resident of Manhattan's East Village, the narrator awakens one morning with a bad hangover to discover that his penis is missing again. He searches his apartment, calls the location of the party he attended the night before, and queries numerous acquaintances, but is unable to recover his penis.

Depressed, he goes to the Kiev Restaurant for breakfast, and afterwards, while walking "down Second Avenue, toward St. Mark's Place," discovers his penis for sale "on a blanket next to a broken toaster oven." The man selling the penis wants $22 for it, but the narrator is able to "talk him down to seventeen." He takes his penis home, washes it off, and reattaches it. With his penis back in place, he is "happy again: complete".

I had never heard of this song before Johnny submitted his list.  I don't really like it. 

[Thrifty Version II]

#38 Trapped in the Drive Thru by Weird Al Yankovic
21 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #5 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SHnTocdD7sk?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/SHnTocdD7sk?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

Trapped in the Drive Thru is the final track on Weird Al Yankovic's 2006 album "Straight Outta Lynwood".  It is a parody of R. Kelly's popular hip-hop opera "Trapped in the Closet".  Although its 11 minute length makes it one of his longest songs, it is still shorter than the original R. Kelly song which, being an opera, is over an hour long (and is also torturously awful).  The song tells, in excruciating detail, the process of a character and his wife (both voiced by Yankovic) deciding what to have for dinner.  After some deliberation at home, they decide to go to drive thru at an unnamed fast food restaurant. 

[Thrifty Version II]

#37 Rock Lobster by the B52s
21 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #5 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/v2V2h_Bd_Gg?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/v2V2h_Bd_Gg?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

"Rock Lobster" is a song written by Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson, two members of The B-52's. It was produced in two versions, one by DB Records released in 1978, and a longer version, which was part of the band's 1979 self-titled debut album, released by Warner Bros. The song became one of their signature tunes, and it helped launch the band's success.

"Rock Lobster" was the band's first single to appear on Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 56. A major hit in Canada, the single went all the way to No. 1 in the RPM national singles chart. Its follow-up was "Private Idaho," in October 1980, which reached No. 74 in the US. It was well received by critics and was placed at No. 147 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

Its lyrics includes nonsensical lines about a beach party and excited rants about real or imagined marine animals ("There goes a dog-fish, chased by a cat-fish, in flew a sea robin, watch out for that piranha, there goes a narwhal, here comes a bikini whale!"), accompanied by absurd, fictional noises attributed to them (provided by Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson — Pierson providing the higher-pitched noises and Wilson the lower-pitched ones); the chorus consists of the words "Rock Lobster!" repeated over and over on top of a keyboard line.

I'd heard of this song before, but never listened to it until about now. 

[Pak-Man]

Oooh. If I'd thought of Rock Lobster as a novelty song, it would have been way up my list.

[Thrifty Version II]

#36 29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates
21 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #5 by Thrifty

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/H-gfxjAaZg0?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/H-gfxjAaZg0?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

"29/31" is a song by comedy-folk duo Garfunkel and Oates.  The song features Kate Miccuci and Riki Lindhome playing the same women, aged 29 and 31 respectively, both singing about love.  The younger Miccuci is peppy and optimistic.  The older Lindhome is angry, bitter, and desperate.  Over the course of the song, she belittles Micucci's optimism as foolish and reckless which Miccuci tries to defend her point of view.

I love this song.  Both ladies bring such different energies to the song that it makes it a really fun and humorous piece of work.