How Many Of These Novelty Songs Do You Remember?
While they often can be, novelty songs aren’t strictly comedy songs. They’re best described as unusual but often silly curiosities that capture the public’s attention due to a central gimmick or reference to pop culture or current events, only to be forgotten until the next generation wonders what was wrong with everyone.
In fairness, modern times sometimes have their own novelty songs, as even Ylvis were surprised that the world cared about their song “What Does The Fox Say?” in 2013. Yet, they’re typically regarded as relics of the past and while some wore out their welcome quickly, others have retained their retro charm.
Napoleon XIV – “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”
In 1966, Jerry Samuels released a song under the name Napoleon XIV that was known for its unique instrumentation that relied on an austere arrangement consisting of a snare drum, a bass drum, a tambourine, and hand claps. The rhythmic, catchy piece features Samuels talk-singing about the likelihood of being committed to a psychiatric ward after experiencing a breakup, only to reveal that it’s because his dog ran away (hence the picture).
This twist was written out of fear that Samuels would come off as insensitive to those with mental illnesses, which was well-founded because that’s exactly the backlash the song attracted. However, that didn’t stop it from reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Hollywood Argyles – “Alley Oop”
Released as a joke single from a short-lived studio band put together by producer and lead vocalist Gary Paxton, The Hollywood Argyles released “Alley Oop” as a light rock and roll song about meeting a caveman.
The reason for the song’s title is that it’s supposed to be the caveman’s name, as well as an excuse to sing “Alley Oop, oop, oop oop” in the chorus. Although that chorus seems unbearably silly in retrospect, “Alley Oop” nonetheless became a number-one hit.
Alvin And The Chipmunks – “The Chipmunk Song”
Using sped-up recording techniques to turn adult voices into incredibly high-pitched Chipmunk voices, Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. created the fictitious band Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1958, adopting the stage name David Seville to serve as their fictional manager.
Although this wont come as a surprise to those who know recognize the Chipmunks from other animated properties, the Christmas-themed “Chipmunk Song” not only spent four weeks at number one but proved successful enough to save Liberty Records from near-bankruptcy.
Allan Sherman – “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!”
Created by musician, satirist, and television producer Allan Sherman, “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” popularized the fictitious Camp Grenada and caught on due to Sherman’s humorous complaints about the camp from a child’s perspective in a grown man’s Brooklyn accent.
Lesser known, however, is the fact that it’s the 1963 song is a parody with a tune taken from “Dance of the Hours” in the opera La Gioconda.
The Royal Guardsmen – “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron”
Interestingly, “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” didn’t originally involve Snoopy at all, as Dick Holler simply wrote it about the actual World War I flying ace The Red Baron as part of a trend o historical hits in 1962.
After Charles Schulz’s famous comic strip depicting Snoopy imagining his doghouse as a plane to take down The Red Baron, however, producer Phil Gernhard rewrote the lyrics to include Snoopy and gave it to Florida-based pop group the Royal Guardsmen in 1966. Although Schulz sued for the unauthorized use of his character, he allowed the group to write further Snoopy-based songs after he and United Features Syndicate received the song’s publishing revenues.
Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers – “Monster Mash”
Easily the most famous Halloween-themed song of all time, Bobby Pickett’s enduring 1962 hit, “Monster Mash” combined the right mix of festive spookiness and family-friendliness to stay charming over 60 years after most novelty songs could ever hope to.
While Pickett was in another band called The Cordials, he found that audiences were delighted when he sang The Diamonds song “Little Darlin'” in a Boris Karloff impression. After his bandmate Lenny Capizzi encouraged him to write a full song using the impression, “Monster Mash” was born.
Steve Martin – “King Tut”
Although some may be aware that veteran comedian and actor Steve Martin released a song in 1978 about Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun that improbably became a top 40 hit, the context for why it exists was specific to the era.
From 1976 to 1979, the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibit travelled across America and Martin found its marketing and presentation tacky, so he parodied the exhibit with a song that was even more flippant about the Pharaoh and included lines like “Buried in his jammies.”
Ray Stevens – “The Streak”
Throughout the ’70s, country singer Ray Stevens was known for making comedic, lighthearted music but perhaps his famous example of this was the 1974 hit “The Streak.”
While it would hardly be the last decade that people would get a thrill from running around without wearing clothes at public events, it was such a banner decade for the practice that a streaker even interrupted the 1974 Oscars. Clearly, Stevens thought it was the perfect fodder for a funny song.
The Coasters – “Charlie Brown”
Although “Why’s everybody always picking on me?” would be a valid question for Charlie Brown to ask, The Coasters insisted that their song had nothing to do with Charles Schulz’s signature character.
Considering that the troublemaking subject of their 1956 novelty hit is described as a “clown” who calls his English teacher “daddy-o,” it’s easy to believe them because both of those descriptions would be pretty out of character for Schulz’s melancholic Charlie Brown.
Elmo And Patsy – “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”
Although band leader Randy Brooks wrote “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” the bizarre and uncomfortable nature of the dark joke song compelled his band to dissuade him from performing it, so he ended up giving it to the country duo Elmo and Patsy.
Then married, the duo recorded the song in 1979 as a jaunty novelty, and immediately received a polarizing response when their unusual Christmas song caught on with morbidly curious radio DJs. It’s still just as loved and hated decades later and has spawned an animated movie.
Tiny Tim – “Tiptoe Thru The Tulips With Me”
Lyrically, there’s nothing unusual about the 1968 novelty hit made famous by Tiny Tim, as it’s an innocently romantic love song. However, it became a novelty largely because of the singer’s highly unconventional warbling falsetto as sung it while strumming along on his ukulele.
Although it was never really clear to critics whether his eccentric personality was an act or not, it’s easy to underestimate Tiny Tim’s staggering popularity at the time. When he married 17-year-old Miss Vicki while visiting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on December 17, 1969, it nearly set a television record with the 40 million viewers the event attracted.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – “I Put A Spell On You”
In 1956, the man who would be known as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins fully intended to record “I Put A Spell” on you a straightforward and sincere blues song but when it was all over, he accidentally established a legacy that would influence shock rockers like Arthur Brown and Alice Cooper in the decades to come.
What happened? Well, the night of recording, the producer got Hawkins and the other musicians involved so inebriated that he didn’t even remember the actual recording session. The screaming, grunting version that resulted was shocking enough to the sensibilities of the time to prompt a radio ban but naturally, it sold over a million copies anyway.
Cheech And Chong – “Basketball Jones”
Whether people remember it when it came out or remember it from Space Jam, Cheech and Chong’s silly, falsetto song about basketball from 1973 has had some surprising longevity.
As for why it existed, Check Marin’s falsetto performance was inspired by the Brighter Side Of Darkness’s hit “Love Jones,” which hit number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ironically, “Basketball Jones” peaked one place higher.
C.W. McCall – “Convoy”
Marketing director William Fries Jr. had co-created the trucker character C.W. McCall for the bread company Old Home before improbably deciding to release country records as this character by 1975.
Capitalizing on the CB radio craze of the ’70s, Fries talk-sung in his authoritative baritone and told a story about truckers evading the police, with the twist being that his part of the song was spoken entirely in trucker slang. Between 1975 and 1976, his marketing instincts proved correct and “Convoy” hit number one on the Billboard hot 100.
Rodney Dangerfield – “Rappin’ Rodney”
Although songs like “Rapper’s Delight,” Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks,” and Run DMC’s “It’s Like That/Sucker M.C.s” had brought awareness of rap to the mainstream by 1983, it’s fair to say that the genre was still in its infancy by then.
Thus, the idea of Rodney Dangerfield of all people making a rap song was considered inherently amusing enough at the time to make “Rappin’ Rodney” a minor hit that was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Recording.
Weird Al Yankovic – “My Bologna”
Although Weird Al Yankovic has practically made his career from quirky but cleverly written song parodies, the one that brought him further than the listeners of novelty radio DJ Dr. Demento was 1979’s “My Bologna,” a parody of The Knack’s “My Sharona” that was recorded in a bathroom.
The song earned him a brief record contract at the behest of Knack lead singer Doug Fieger, which opened a door that would see him release song parodies and other major creative works for decades to come.
Sheb Wooley – “The Purple People Eater”
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Sheb Wooley was known as a cowboy actor (with actual experience as a cowhand) and songwriter who recorded a series of novelty songs.
His most famous, however, came in the form of 1958’s “The Purple People Eater,” in which Wooley describes the titular space monster coming to earth. Of course, the twist is that he’s just there because he wants to join a rock and roll band.
Chuck Berry – “My Ding-A-Ling”
“My Ding-A-Ling” was originally written and performed Dave Bartholomew in 1952, and as the title suggests, it was written as a clever way to get around outright saying what he wanted the woman he was interested in to play with.
While Chuck Berry clearly found the song amusing enough to cover it in 1972, there’s still something that feels wrong about the knowledge that — of all things — “My Ding-A-Ling” was the legendary rock and roll pioneer’s only number-one hit.
Rick Dees And his Cast Of Idiots – “Disco Duck”
Based on the name of his band, Rick Dees was well aware that a significant majority of the record-buying public would consider “Disco Duck” incredibly annoying. However, the Memphis radio DJ was known for his zany, self-deprecating sense of humor and decided to forge ahead and make a disco song with a raspy Donald Duck impression anyway.
According to MPR News, it took about a day for Dees to write the song but three months to convince anyone to record it with him. Nonetheless, even he likely didn’t expect the song to hit number one on the Billboard Top 100 as it did on Aug 14, 1976.
The Pipkins – “Gimme Dat Ding”
As this photo makes clear, the Pipkins were a quirky British act notable for being one of the three one-hit wonder acts that session singer Tony Burrows (right) notched unprecedented simultaneous hits with in 1970.
Although the other two bands — Edison Lighthouse and White Plains — released more straightforward bubblegum pop, The Pipkins recorded “Gimme Dat Ding” as an annoyingly high-pitched homage to classic ragtime music. The song made the top ten in the United States and Canada (and hit number one in New Zealand) after achieving similar success in the U.K.
