I'm not a big fan of novelty or "funny" songs. They're amusing the first time you hear them but after that, they just seem pointless and lame. The novelty wears off all too quickly for me. I don't mind it when (talented) comedians make up a song for a comedy act - like Bill Bailey or Flight of the Concords. I like some artists that skirt but never quite cross the border to Noveltysongland; you know, people like Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers), Jens Lekman, Darren Hanlon, and dare I say it... Anthony Rochester. They write silly songs but they're not written for strictly comedic purposes.
I don't like Weird Al Yankovic, The Bloodhound Gang, or that song 'Shaddap you face'. After they stop being funny (if they ever were), my mind doesn't know what to do with them; I can't take them seriously as songs and I can't listen to them as comedy.
It's pretty hard to write a decent comedy song. It's one thing to string a few rhymes together and make them fit into a familiar tune, but it's much more challenging to use wit and innovation as well as clever rhyming. Even if you succeed and end up with a popular, chart-topping novelty song - I will find it incredibly irritating after the third or fourth listen.
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22 comments:
Amen!
I agree Weired Al promises much but doesn't seem to deliver in then end.
Ween... are they a novelty band?
Oh gracious. I was a HUGE Weird Al fan in elementary school, but I think after age 12 or so, it just plain stops being funny. But you have to give the guy props for sticking with his accordion-based shtick for all these years -- he even has the same hairstyle!
Nah, I don't think Ween are novelty. Silly, yes but not novelty. Same with King Missile.
Laura, I'm not giving Weird Al any props! He'd probably write a stupid song about them.
LOL! The man is tenacious, though, ain't he?
Ooh, Pos, you can't call Ween a novelty band. They're a pastiche band for sure, but people who call them a novelty band are those who've only heard of 'Push th' little daisies'. I feel sad for bands like Ween and Frente who are pigeonholed as novelty bands just because consumers are dull enough to pounce on one song.
Oh, the novelty songs I endured when I worked at Sanity! The worst? Maybe that Hampsterdance thing.
PS Laura, I have a 45 of 'Like a surgeon' lurking in my record collection. We were too young to know better.
PPS As a toddler first learning how to play records, I used to play our family's copy of 'Shaddappa you face' ad nauseum, to the point where the record no longer played all the way to the end.
PPPS I think the secret to good humour-based songs is good musicianship to go with the humour. Poorly crafted humourous songs are an abomination.
Ooh, that was a long comment, sorry. And the humour has to be clever, too.
I once heard someone call 'Space oddity' a novelty song...
I'm finding it funny to read Pablo's comments in light of the fact that he is a cat . . . feeling sad for bands being pigeonholed as novelty . . . working at Sanity . . . owning a record collection . . . and best of all, learning to play records as a toddler!?! Sometimes I think he forgets he's a cat.
Pabs, are you having an identity crisis?
Back off, ladies... it's easier than having multiple Blogger identities...
Whenever Pablo posts a comment, I imagine him (not Kate) sitting at a computer, pressing delete continuously in frustration because his paws are too big to press one key at a time.
That's hilarious... I always picture him meowing next to Kate, dictating, while she types away.
I picture him perched on Kate's back, sending messages telepathically for what he wants her to type, swatting her on the shoulder when she gets it wrong.
Oh, and he's right about Ween, dammit.
Songs with prominent swearwords are definitely novelties - like that string in the 90s, including:
- Creep, Radiohead
- Closer, NIN
- Fuck the Police, NWA
- Jeremy, Pearl Jam
Most of which are great.
I don't think I could stop finding 'Asshole' by Dennis Leary funny.
'Martin Scorcese' by King Missile too, is awesome.
Pabs - I definitely agree with your mourning for Ween and Frente.
Oh and 'Killing in the Name Of' by RATM
aaaand
"Sober" by Tool... Oh man this is a list!
Maybe also 'Basket Case' - Green Day?
I don't think of those songs as novelty. But you're right about prominent swearing being big in the 90s.
'Asshole' is a novelty song I actually like, and would probably still like if I heard it. Forgot to mention them but I also like They Might Be Giants.
Der, tell me what you think of http://mumak.net/Alistair_Campbell-LHA_Part1.mp3
I like it. It's a very geeky song and I would probably hate it had it not been so well done! It's quite funny but it doesn't sound like it's trying to be too "novelty" either.
Who's Alistair Campbell? Not the one I'm thinking of, I assume...
No, he's a mate of mine based in Hobart. I really like the song so I'm passing it around among my friends (with his permission). Word of mouth & all that.
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