I think most of the songs that fit into this category were written by tongue-in-cheek geniuses. Then there's surf songs, girl group songs, and dead teenager songs. In the 60's, I was too much of an "intellectual" to appreciate that music. as time has gone on, I've learned there's a lot of fun in music like that. "Dead Man's Curve," "Leader of the Pack," and "Tell Laura I Love Her" are good examples of dead teenager songs. How 'bout Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" and its sequel, "Judy's Turn to Cry"? I used to thing "My Boyfriend's Back" was SO dumb, but now I think it's fun. "Surf City" and "409" and "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" are more clever than they seem at first, I think. Yeah, they all follow a formula, but they're sure a lot of fun.
We sang "Those Were the Days, My Friend" tonight and really hammed it up. We laughed so hard we couldn't get through the song.
-Joe Offer-