| Novelty songs | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Popular music |
| Cultural origins | 1910s, United States |
| Derivative forms | Wizard rock |
| Other topics | |
Anovelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as agimmick, a piece ofhumor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap withcomedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and withmusical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s.[1][2] They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s.[3] The term arose inTin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions ofpopular music; the other two divisions wereballads anddance music.[4] Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.
Novelty songs are often aparody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as adance or TV program. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. For example, the 1966 novelty song "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!", byNapoleon XIV, has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on asnare drum, atambourine, and the bare sides of the musicians' legs.
A book on achieving an attention-grabbing novelty single isThe Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way), written byThe KLF. It is based on their achievement of a UK number-one single with "Doctorin' the Tardis", a 1988 dance remix mashup of theDoctor Whotheme music released under the name of 'The Timelords'. It argued that (at the time) achieving a number one single could be achieved less by musical talent than throughmarket research,sampling and gimmicks matched to an underlying danceable groove.[5][6]
Novelty songs were a major staple ofTin Pan Alley from its start in the late 19th century. They continued to proliferate in the early years of the 20th century, some rising to be among the biggest hits of the era.[7] Varieties included songs with an unusual gimmick, such as the stuttering in "K-K-K-Katy" or the playful boop-boop-a-doops of "I Wanna Be Loved By You", which made a star out ofHelen Kane and inspired the creation ofBetty Boop; silly lyrics like "Yes! We Have No Bananas"; playful songs with a bit of double entendre, such as "Don't Put a Tax on All the Beautiful Girls"; and invocations of foreign lands with emphasis on general feel of exoticism rather than geographic or anthropological accuracy, such as "Oh By Jingo!", "The Sheik of Araby", and "The Yodeling Chinaman". These songs were perfect for the medium ofVaudeville, and performers such asEddie Cantor andSophie Tucker became well known for such songs.
Zez Confrey's 1920s instrumental compositions, which involved gimmicky approaches (such as "Kitten on the Keys") or maniacally rapid tempos ("Dizzy Fingers"), were popular enough to start a fad ofnovelty piano pieces that lasted through the decade. The fad was brought about by the increasing availability of audio recordings by way of theplayer piano and the phonograph; whereas much of Tin Pan Alley's repertoire was sold in the form ofsheet music and thus had to be simple enough for an amateur pianist to play, novelty piano broughtvirtuoso-level performance to the home and to those who would not normally attend classical concerts.
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" (set to the tune of British ArmybandmasterF. J. Ricketts's popular World War I–era "Colonel Bogey March") was sung by British troops.[8] A 1940s novelty song wasSpike Jones' 1942 "Der Fuehrer's Face", which includedraspberries in its chorus.Tex Williams's "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" topped theBillboard best-sellers chart for six weeks and thecountry music chart for 16 weeks in 1947 and 1948.Hank Williams Sr.'s "Move It On Over", his first hit song, has some humor and novelty elements (about a man having to share the doghouse when his lover kicks him out of the house), but contemporaries (among themJerry Rivers) disputed this and noted that many men had been faced with eviction under similar circumstances. The 1953 #1 single "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" became notable both for its extensive airplay and the backlash from listeners who found it increasingly annoying.[citation needed] Satirists such asStan Freberg,Allan Sherman, andTom Lehrer used novelty songs to poke fun at contemporary pop culture in the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1951,Frank Sinatra was paired in a CBS television special with TV personalityDagmar.Mitch Miller atColumbia Records became intrigued with the pairing and compelled songwriterDick Manning to compose a song for the two of them. The result was "Mama Will Bark", a novelty song performed by Sinatra with interspersed spoken statements by Dagmar, saying things like "mama will bark", "mama will spank", and "papa will spank". The recording even includes the sound of a dog yowling. It is regarded by both music scholars and Sinatra enthusiasts to be perhaps the worst song he ever recorded. Sinatra would record a few others before he left Columbia and joinedCapitol Records in 1952.
Dickie Goodman faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song "The Flying Saucer", whichsampled snippets of contemporary hits without permission and arranged them to resemble interviews with an alien landing on Earth.[9] Goodman released more hit singles in the same vein for the next two decades including his gold record RIAA certified hit "Mr. Jaws" in 1975, which charted #1 inCash Box andRecord World and was based on the movieJaws.
Among the more far out songs of this genre were the two released in 1956 byNervous Norvus, "Transfusion" and "Ape Call".
The Coasters had novelty songs such as "Charlie Brown"[10] and "Yakety Yak". "Yakety Yak" became a#1 single on July 21, 1958, and is the only novelty song (#346) included in theSongs of the Century. "Lucky Ladybug" byBilly and Lillie was popular in December 1958.Lonnie Donegan's 1959 cover of the 1924 novelty song "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" was a transatlantic hit, reaching #5 on theBillboard charts two years after its release; it was one of the earliest top-5 hits to come from the United Kingdom in the rock era, preceding theBritish Invasion.
Three songs using a sped-up recording technique became #1 hits in the United States in 1958–59:David Seville's "Witch Doctor" and Ragtime Cowboy Joe,Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater", and David Seville's "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate three chipmunks' voices.[11] The technique (which Dickie Goodman had also used on "The Flying Saucer") would inspire a number of other knockoffs, includingThe Nutty Squirrels andRuss Regan's one-off group Dancer, Prancer and Nervous.
In 1960, 16-year-oldBrian Hyland had a novelty hit with the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", byPaul Vance andLee Pockriss, which topped theBillboard single chart.[12] The Trashmen reached the top 5 with "Surfin' Bird", asurf rock medley of two novelty songs originally recorded byThe Rivingtons. In 1964, theGrammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded toRoger Miller. Miller was known to sing novelty songs.
In 1965, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", a song written byTed Dicks andMyles Rudge, became a UK hit forRonnie Hilton.[13] The song spent a total of 13 weeks on theUK Singles Chart peaking at No. 23 in the chart of 17 February 1965.[14] The song's composers were granted anIvor Novello Award in 1966 forthe Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition.[15]
Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling" reached #1 on theBillboard Hot 100 in 1972,[16] andRay Stevens, known for such novelty hits as "Ahab the Arab", "Gitarzan", and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", had a #1 hit with "The Streak" in 1974.[17] Comedy actCheech & Chong recorded a number of musical bits that can be classified as novelty songs, including "Basketball Jones"(1973) and "Earache My Eye" (1974).Warren Zevon's lone chart hit was the novelty number "Werewolves of London".[18] Other novelty songs in the '70s are Jimmy Castor Bunch "King Kong"(1975),Rick Dees' "Disco Duck" (1976) andThe Fools' "Psycho Chicken"[19] (1978)."Weird Al" Yankovic would emerge as one of the most prolific parody acts of all time in the 1980s, with a career that would span four decades; he would joinCliff Richard in being one of the few acts to have at least one top-40 hit in the U.S. in four consecutive decades (1950s through the 1980s for Richard, 1980s to 2010s for Yankovic).
Randy Brooks wrote a Christmas novelty song and it was originally recorded by the duoElmo Shropshire and his then-wife Patsy in 1979, called "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". It tells the tragic-comic story of a family grandmother (loosely based on Brooks's uncleFoster Brooks) who meets her end on Christmas Eve. After having drunk too much eggnog and forgetting to take her medicine, she staggers out of her family's house late Christmas Eve, is run over by Santa Claus' entourage, and found trampled at the scene the next morning. It has become a staple ofChristmas music playlists on American radio since its original release.[20][21]
An underground novelty music scene began to emerge in the 1960s, beginning with the homosexually themed songs ofCamp Records and the racist humor ofJohnny Rebel, then in the 1970s and 1980s with X-rated albums byDavid Allan Coe andClarence "Blowfly" Reid.
Novelty songs have been popular in the UK as well. In 1991, "The Stonk" novelty song raised over £100,000 for theComic Relief charity. In 1993, "Mr Blobby" became the second novelty song to reach the covetedChristmas number one slot in the UK, followingBenny Hill's 1971 chart-topper "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)".[22] Many popular children's TV characters would try to claim the Christmas number one spot after this. In 1997, theTeletubbies who reached number one the previous week failed to gain it with their single "Say Eh-oh!".[citation needed] They came second in the charts toThe Spice Girls second of three consecutive Christmas number ones, with "Too Much".[citation needed] Later on at the turn of themillennium,Bob the Builder was successful in achieving a Christmas number one in 2000, with "Can We Fix It?". However, Bob the Builder did have another number one single a year later with a cover ofLou Bega's "Mambo No.5", and also had another less successful single in 2008 with "Big Fish Little Fish".
Some novelty music draws its appeal from its unintentional novelty; so-called "outsider musicians" with little or no formal musical training often will produce comical results (see for instance,Florence Foster Jenkins,Mrs. Miller, thePortsmouth Sinfonia,The Shaggs, andWilliam Hung).
After the fictitious composerP.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the "Best Comedy Album" Grammy from 1990 to 1993, the category was changed to "BestSpoken Comedy Album".[citation needed] When "Best Comedy Album" was reinstated in 2004,"Weird Al" Yankovic won forPoodle Hat.[citation needed]
Novelty songs were popular on U.S. radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into thetop 40.Freeform andalbum-oriented rock stations made use of novelty songs; some of the best-known work from progressive rockerFrank Zappa, for instance, is his extensive body of mostly adult-oriented novelty music. Zappa's "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)" was a smash hit in Europe despite its sexually explicit storyline, and "Valley Girl" was aTop 40 hit in the US, while his "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Dancin' Fool" also reached the top 100 in his native United States. Beginning in 1970,Dr. Demento's nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s, when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its terrestrial cancellation in June 2010.
In the 21st century, novelty songs found a new audience online; the hit song "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" by Norwegian comedy duoYlvis was featured on the kids compilation albumSo Fresh Pop Party 13 in 2014. Likewise, rapper Big Shaq[23]'s 2017 hit "Man's Not Hot", which depicts a man who refuses to take off his jacket, received widespread attention and inspired countlessmemes as a result of its success, with the man behind the song being British comedianMichael Dapaah. The children's novelty song "Baby Shark" received widespread attention when Korean education brandPinkfong'scover version from an onlineviral video reached the top 40 in the U.S. and several other countries.
In the United Kingdom, the novelty hit has mainly become a feature of the "Christmas chart battle"[24] (apart from a few viral hits found earlier in a year), with novelty actLadBaby[25][26] reaching Number One five times in a row,[27] with all five songs being parodies of other popular songs reworked to incorporate arunning gag that revolves aroundsausage rolls. More often than not, the UK Christmas novelty records were recorded for charity, with LadBaby's Christmas chart rivals in 2020 also including The Dancing Binmen (Jack Johnson, Henry Wright and Adrian Breakwell) with their song "Boogie Round The Bins At Christmas Time",[28][29] and "Merry Christmas, Baked Potato" from comedian Matt Lucas, with fellow chart contender "Raise The Woof!" being promoted as the first ever Christmas record for dogs.[30]
| Title | Artist | Highest charting | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Gimme Dat Ding” | The Pipkins | 9 | June 1970 |
| “Amos Moses” | Jerry Reed | 8 | January 1971 |
| “When You're Hot, You're Hot” | Jerry Reed | 9 | May 1971 |
| “Hot Rod Lincoln” | Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen | 9 | April 1972 |
| “Coconut” | Harry Nilsson | 8 | July 1972 |
| "My Ding-a-Ling" | Chuck Berry, first recorded byDave Bartholomew in 1952 | 1 | September 1972[48] |
| “The Cover of "Rolling Stone"”[dubious –discuss] | Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, written byShel Silverstein | 6 | March 1973 |
| “Uneasy Rider” | Charlie Daniels | 9 | July 1973 |
| “Spiders and Snakes” | Jim Stafford | 3 | December 1973 |
| "The Streak" | Ray Stevens | 1 | April 1974[49] |
| “Wildwood Weed” | Jim Stafford | 7 | July 1974 |
| "Convoy" | C. W. McCall | 1 | January 1976 |
| “Junk Food Junkie” | Larry Groce | 9 | February 1976 |
| "Disco Duck" | Rick Dees and his Cast Of Idiots | 1 | September 1976[50] |
| “Short People” | Randy Newman | 2 | December 1977 |
| “Barbie Girl” | Aqua | 7 | April 1997 |
| “White & Nerdy” | “Weird Al” Yankovic | 9 | September 2006 |
| “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” | Ylvis | 6 | October 2013 |
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