List Of Crap #76: Top 50 Novelty Songs Countdown

[Compound]

...


Okay, I wasn't going to comment further until afterwards, but Youtube guy? (Not Thrifty, the guy who made the video.)





The USS Pueblo. Captured by the North Koreans in 1968 and its crew held captive for a year. In 1971, this would have been an event in the recent memory of the listeners. Nothing to do with burly frontiers folk. (Shakes head) Damn kids. Get off my lawn.

[Johnny Unusual]

Johnny I apologize for my outburst yesterday.  That was uncalled for.

No worries, it happens.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ShLzz9ZvpmU?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ShLzz9ZvpmU?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

[/quote]

This one is odd but it makes MUCH more sense in context (which I learned from Pop My Culture).  The premise is that this is a spoof about an old radio gag in which the DJ would pretend to interview a singer and they would edit in song snippets as the responses.  The joke here is that Albert Brooks says "Well, I can't afford the song clips so I'll make my own."  So he makes his own song snippets that fit in well, thus messing with the premise and making it overly meta.  This is actually the first time I heard it, but it's really clever.  I really like Brooks (although I must admit, I'm not that familiar with him outside some clips and his stellar work on the Simpsons.  Apparently, he's the only guy who worked on the show who is encouraged to improvise.)

#32 A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash
22 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #4 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-1BJfDvSITY?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/-1BJfDvSITY?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

I love this song.  Silly but sweet.

#30 Poisoning Pigeons in the Park by Tom Lehrer
22 points on 2 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #13 by Thrifty

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

Never heard of this one before, but I like it.

While I wouldn't say they are similar, it reminds me of Liam Lynch's "Burying Your Cat".

[Thrifty Version II]

#28 The Grunge Song by Radio Free Vestibule
23 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #3 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/G5Cnc7wm-dg?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/G5Cnc7wm-dg?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

I couldn't find much information about this song or the group.  "The Grunge Song" is a general parody of the grunge song style  that arose around Seattle in the mid 1980s and was popularized by bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  The song is performed in the grunge style and in turn describes grunge music. 

It's a cute song.  I love these sorts of generalized sardonic parodies.

[Thrifty Version II]

#27 Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton
23 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #3 by Pak-Man

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

"Still Alive" is a song featured in the 2007 video game Portal. It was written by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain while portraying the Portal character GLaDOS. The song originated in a meeting between two Valve developers and Coulton about him writing a song for the company, which Coulton accepted as he was a fan of the Half-Life series. It is the end credits song, and plays after GLaDOS is defeated by Chell (the game's protagonist and player character), with the lyrics suggesting that she (GLaDOS) is "still alive". The song received significant praise for its humour and the quality of its performance. It has been featured in multiple venues, including at the 2009 Press Start -Symphony of Games-, a yearly Japanese concert event to showcase the musical works of video games. It was also featured as a free downloadable song for the Rock Band series, originally released on April 1, 2008. A rerecorded version, with Sara Quin on lead vocals, appears on Coulton's 2011 album Artificial Heart. The sequel to Portal, Portal 2, also ended with a song written by Coulton and sung by McLain called "Want You Gone".

I've heard of Portal, but never played it.  It's a catchy song.  I probably wouldn't have considered it a novelty song, but that's just me.

[Thrifty Version II]

#26 Four Chord Song by Axis of Awesome
23 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #3 by Compound

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

The Axis of Awesome is an Australian musical comedy act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis. The trio cover a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original material and pop parodies.  "4 Chords" is a medley of 36 pop songs that all, apparently, contain the same four chord structure (I don't really know what a chord is, I'm just paraphrasing what Wikipedia says and inferring this from the name of the song).  In 2008, the group performed at the Edinburgh Fringe where it received wild critical and popular acclaim.  Soon after, 4 Chords was played on BBC Radio 1, and the song went viral on YouTube, launching the group's career.

I've never heard of this song before but now I love it.  It reminds me of Weird Al's polka medleys.  Something about the persistence is just too funny.  They seamlessly hop from one song to the next without breaking the rhythm.  The video is pretty funny too.

[goflyblind]

#28 The Grunge Song by Radio Free Vestibule
23 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #3 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/EwujU8nra2o" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/EwujU8nra2o</a>

i <3 cole.

radio free vestibule was a comedy sketch/music group out of, probably, toronto or montreal. they've also got a good bit about "blinded by the light" that was on just for laughs.

[Thrifty Version II]

#25 Carrot Juice is Murder by The Arrogant Worms
23 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #3 by Thrifty

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KmK0bZl4ILM?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/KmK0bZl4ILM?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

The Arrogant Worms are a Canadian musical comedy group that parodies a wide variety of musical genres.  They came together in 1991 and have toured in Canada, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.  "Carrot Juice is Murder" is in the style of a protest song.  The song protests the consumption of vegetables and advocates vegetable rights.  By the end of the song, the man is imprisoned for murdering several farmers for harvesting vegetables.  He is unrepentant yet insistent that his imprisonment is unjustified.

I like this song because it's got a lot of humor and power to it.  I feel like, aside from being funny it does a good job of lampooning protest songs, extremist activism, and vegetarians.

[Thrifty Version II]

Ok that's all for today.  We'll get to the 24 and 25 point entries tomorrow. 

[Johnny Unusual]

Lots of Canadian love today too.  Neato.  I loved the Arrogant Worms and Radio Free Vestibule when I was a kid and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who remembers them.

I like stuff like Four Chord.  Always fun.

[ColeStratton]

i <3 cole.

radio free vestibule was a comedy sketch/music group out of, probably, toronto or montreal. they've also got a good bit about "blinded by the light" that was on just for laughs.

We had the Vestibules at SF Sketchfest in I want to say our 2nd or 3rd year -- they sent us a VHS tape of their stuff and we we're just blown away. They have this fortune teller sketch that kills me -- it's short and it's on their album that's on iTunes, so I recommend the download.

Here's a pic of them taken by my old shitty camera at the fest!

[Thrifty Version II]

#24 If I Had $1000000 by Barenaked Ladies
24 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #2 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LHacDYj8KZM?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/LHacDYj8KZM?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

If I Had $1000000 is a song by Canadian musical group Barenaked Ladies from the first album.  It is one of the group's best known songs despite never having an official music video.  A line in the song inspired fans to begin throwing Kraft Dinner at the band during concerts. It initially began as a single box at a 1991 show at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto.  It quickly grew by word-of-mouth, and the number of boxes being thrown rapidly increased. It became so bad that eventually hundreds of boxes were pelted at shows; the band and their instruments were often the target. Especially unpleasant were open cheese packages, which would create a putrid aroma when sitting on stage under hot spotlights. Some diehard fans would go one step further and throw cooked pasta. Eventually, BNL requested that fans cease the Kraft Dinner throwing ritual, and instead donate the food via bins set up in the lobbies of their shows for local food banks.  Security occasionally checks incoming concert-goers for boxes, though the practice almost entirely subsided by the late 2000s. The campaign spawned the fan slogan, "those in the know don't throw".

BNL is my favorite group and I've heard this song dozens of times, but I never thought of it as a novelty song.  It's just a quirky song like a lot of their stuff.

[Thrifty Version II]

#23 Timothy by The Buoys
24 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #2 by Thrifty

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

"Timothy" is a song written by Rupert Holmes (the guy who wrote that awful Pina Colada song) and recorded by The Buoys in 1971, presenting the unnerving story of three men trapped in a collapsed mine, two of whom apparently resort to cannibalism against the third (the eponymous character Timothy). The song managed to reach the Billboard Top 40 chart on April 17, 1971, remaining on the chart for eight weeks, peaking at #17, as listed in The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn.  According to his own account, Holmes and a colleague had discovered the Buoys and convinced Scepter Records to sign them to a one-single contract. Since the deal did not call for the label to promote the single, the band would have to find some other way to get themselves and their song noticed. Holmes suggested a novel solution to this problem: to purposefully record a song likely to be banned, thus generating publicity for the Buoys under the time-honored axiom that "there's no such thing as bad publicity".

I heard this song and thought it was catchy at first.  It wasn't until several years later, when I learned it was about cannibalism, that I really loved it.

[Thrifty Version II]

#22 The Superbowl Shuffle by the 1985 Chicago Bears
24 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #2 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/V5UFI0Xkbg8?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/V5UFI0Xkbg8?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

"The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a rap song performed by players of the Chicago Bears football team during 1985. It was released 3 months prior to their win in Super Bowl XX.

The 1985 rap hit recorded by the players of the Chicago Bears known as the “Super Bowl Shuffle” instantly became a mainstream phenomenon. The single sold more than a half-million copies and reached No. 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100, making the Chicago Bears the only American professional team of any sport with a hit single.

The Bears finished with a 15-1 record for the 1985 season. Randy Weigand and Skylar Borchardt, die-hard Bears fans, and music lovers, had the idea to write, produce, and choreograph a rap song for the Chicago Bears. Weigand's girlfriend, cheerleader Courtney Larson, introduced them to Willie Gault who put them in touch with other Bears players and the “Super Bowl Shuffle” was born. The lyrics related to each player and his craft on the field, and fame in the community.

“The Super Bowl Shuffle” fell in line with the Bears high-media attention as they completed their one-loss regular season. The Bears backed up their musical strutting by dominating their playoff opponents and hammering the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl by a score of 46-10, the most lopsided victory in Super Bowl history at the time (the record was broken just four years later when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos by a score of 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV).

The 1985 Chicago Bears were the first sports team to have their own rap video. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1985 for best rhythm and blues performance by a duo or group, eventually losing to "Kiss". The 20th Anniversary DVD was released in 2004, including the making of the video, outtakes, and the music video itself. Julia Meyer has kept the copyright to the video. Over $300,000 in profits from the song and music video was donated to the Chicago Community Trust to help needy families in Chicago with clothing, shelter, and food.  This was consistent with Walter Payton's rap lyrics in the song: "Now we're not doing this because we're greedy, the Bears are doing it to feed the needy."

This is just one of those songs that should suck, because it has amateurs rapping, and it's so corny, but the whole thing is so weird that I can't stop laughing.

[Thrifty Version II]

#21 Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
24 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #2 by George Harrison

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/cdVVLbe1rfY?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/cdVVLbe1rfY?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

"Li'l Red Riding Hood" was a 1966 song performed by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. It was the group's second top-10 hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1966 and No. 2 on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. It was certified gold by the RIAA on August 11, 1966.

It is a prominent plot element in the 1993 film Striking Distance with Bruce Willis, and is featured in the film Wild Country in 2005 and a cover by Laura Gibson in a 2012 Volvo commercial for its S60T5.

The song is built around Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood", adapted by ending before the grandmother makes her entrance, and explicitly using the ambiguity of modern English between "wolf", the carnivore, and "wolf", a man with concealed sexual intentions. The effect, whether intentional or incidental, is to strip away the fairy tale's metaphorical device and present the relationship between the two characters without literary pretense.

The singer remarks on "what big eyes" and "what full lips" Red has, and eventually on "what a big heart" he himself has. An added element is that he says (presumably aside, to the song's audience) that he is disguised in a "sheep suit" until he can demonstrate his good intentions, but he seems to be having a hard time suppressing his wolf call in the form of a howl, in favor of the baa-ing of a sheep, at the very end of the song when Sam repeats the word "BAAHED" a few times during the song's fade. One of its signature lines is "you're ev'rything that a big bad wolf could want".

Well, it's not a funny song but it sure is a creepy song.  I think I heard the tune for this used in promos for a Nero Wolfe TV series several years ago.

[Thrifty Version II]

#20 Star Trekkin' by The Firm
24 points on 2 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #8 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/FCARADb9asE?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/FCARADb9asE?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Star Trekkin' is a weird little song that tells the tales of the crew of the original Star Trek series.  As the song continues, the tempo speeds up and the voices, I swear, get squeakier.  It's a weird and cut song, but the video is really silly.