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Novelty Songs & Car CD players
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: PeteCC Date: 14 Jun 02 - 06:26 AM I recall a few novelty songs, (of the nineties), but when pitted against some of the past masters, eg 'Convoy GB', (a parody of C W McCall's song), as sung by 'Laurie Lingo and the Dipsticks', they pale into insignificance. A partial list, giving UK or US chart positions are: Hale and Pace The Stonk UK 1See what I mean? But if you want to hear some really funny songs, please try http://www.draylons.co.uk Enjoy, PeteCC PS Sorry, I know little of these car CD players of which you speak. HTML line breaks and preformat commands added. --JoeClone, 14-Jun-02. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:12 PM But were there any silly songs in the top 40 in the 1990s? Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:10 PM Speaking of Shel Silverstein, I used to love his kids' poetry when I was little. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is a classic and I think it's about time I got my own copy. Alex, if you're going to bring up REM, I'm going to bring up the B-52s. They managed to make a pretty good living on weird songs and kitschy gimmicks. Now Target is using their songs for jingles. :-) |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Steve Latimer Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:07 PM I just thought of another one. "Uneasy Rider", which I think was the first hit for Charlie Daniels. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 13 Jun 02 - 01:55 PM Back to novelty songs -- how odd does a song have to be to be "novelty"? Last night on the radio I heard the song "Stand" by REM. Not a lick of sense in the whole song (Stand in the place where you live. Now face north. Think about direction. Wonder why you haven't before). Does it count as a novelty song? A little research showed it peaked in the charts at #6 in 1989. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Nigel Parsons Date: 12 Jun 02 - 06:24 PM I've got a CD adaptor in the car. Currently I'm listening to 'Filk' music (sorry for the thread drift) and the comedy of Les Barker: "A Cardi and Bloke" and "An Infinite Number Of Occasional tables" |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Stephen L. Rich Date: 12 Jun 02 - 06:18 PM "Marie Laveau" was written by Shel Silverstein. To hear it done well you need to track down Dr.Hook's recording of it. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 12 Jun 02 - 05:15 PM Wish he were still on in Seattle. KZOK was one of the first stations outside California to carry him. Sigh. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Jim Dixon Date: 12 Jun 02 - 04:45 PM Anything connected with Dr. Demento can be classified as a novelty or comedy record. He plays novelty records on his syndicated radio show. He publishes and sells compilations of novelty records as CD's. (A lot of them are made by "one-hit wonders"; you probably wouldn't want to buy their albums.) He publishes playlists from his radio show on his web site. And I don't know what-all else he might have. The one thing you CAN'T find out on his web site is what stations carry his program. He says, "Unfortunately we cannot provide a specific list of stations that actually air our show, due to the policy of the network that carries our program." What's up with that? But there seem to be lots of fan sites devoted to Dr. Demento. Maybe one of them has some information. Click here to do a Google search on "demento". Dr. Demento has been mentioned many times in the Mudcat forum, often in the context of discussing a particular song, so a SuperSearch might help you. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 12 Jun 02 - 01:07 PM Hey, does Bobby Bare's "Marie Laveau" count? I used to love that when I was a little kid. I can't believe I forgot to mention Mike Snider, old-time banjoist extraordinaire and regular performer on the Opry. He's the only one of them anymore that tells jokes & stuff on stage. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 12 Jun 02 - 10:12 AM This is an excellent thread. It should be promoted to PermaThread(TM) status. All these great new names to check out! I love novelty songs! I'm in skunk heaven. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 12 Jun 02 - 10:10 AM Pat Donahue is great. I hear him on Prairie Home Companion a lot. One of my favorite songs of his is the one about "I'm down in the basement, stealing from Chet." Or something like that. (That's Chet as in Chet Atkins, who also was a frequent guest on PHC.) |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Mudlark Date: 12 Jun 02 - 02:49 AM I've been to 2 concerts recently that had me rolling in the aisles: Pat Donahue and Michael Smith...both write wonderful parodies (often not recordable because of copyright)...not just funny, but well crafted and witty.. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Stephen L. Rich Date: 12 Jun 02 - 02:13 AM In a more "folkie" context, let's not forget Larry Rand. I, also, think that it's fair to say that Tom Paxton's sense of humor has kept us all going for quite a while. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST,ozmacca Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:32 PM BUY?...... Clinton, wash your mouth... Buy?????? I don't have a CD burner - which wouldn't record from tapes anyway. And why should I have to go out and BUY (gasp!) yet another piece of stereo gear just because the cheapskate builders decide to go one way and not offer any kind of choice. I'd like to see a choice offered - CD or Tape ... or both! Is the market driven only by what's new, or by what people actually want? |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GutBucketeer Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:31 PM What a great thread! Now I have to look up a whole new load of Novelty artists. I bought two portable speakers (non powered) from Radio Shack and plug them into my portable CD Player, and use the cigarette lighter for power. It works great, and I haven't had any problems with theft. 'Course half the time I leave the whole car unlocked hoping someone will steal it. It's a 91 Toyota Camry that's pretty beat up.
If you go back a few years there is also: |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Jun 02 - 10:49 PM One... show me ANYBODY who reacts with more than annoyance at the sound of some feck-whits car alarm going off... I'll be happy when the damn stupid things are banned... Really all they are is a yuppie, over-compensating, call... "Look at me.. I'm so self important, I own stuff that people HAVE to want to steal" get bent... I key these a$$holes cars... CD players... It's all too easy to go out and buy a stereo that'll play cassette tapes, even if the CD player comes standard... The big thing around the pacific rim (that I'm hoping will catch on here as well) is cars with Minidisc players in 'em... screw CDs... Besides, I wouldn't be carting my CD collection around with me... If I -had- only a CD player, I'd burn copies for the car... |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 11 Jun 02 - 08:36 PM Well, the nice thing about a CD that plugs in is that you can unplug it and take it with you so they can't break in and steal it. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST,ozmacca Date: 11 Jun 02 - 06:56 PM I note that most of our car makers in Downunderland have announced that they will not have cassette players in the next models to be released, but are switching to CD players instead. But how about all those people who like to listen to favourite tapes which won't be available on CD, and all the folk - like me for example - with a car full of tapes from radio broadcasts? In ten years or so, (when I'll be looking for my next car) even the second-hand cars will all have CD's but no cassette systems! And I'm willing to bet that there won't be any economical way of recording from cassettes to CD! Luddites unite.... You have nothing to lose but your tapes. It hasn't been the same since the wax cylinders disappeared..... and all my granny's old 78's with such gems as "Doo Wacka Doo" and "The Drage Way" |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST Date: 11 Jun 02 - 06:08 PM Kenny, That's fair enough, and no reason why that (if done carefully) should cause the alarm to go off. However, breaking a car window requires some force and will cause the car to move slightly. That should cause the alarm to go off. Not that I recommend testing it that way :-) Simply give your car a little push above the window, and I think you'll see what I mean... |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 11 Jun 02 - 06:04 PM Yeah, but radio is so fragmented these days. There's the early middle sub later classic rock station, the later late hyper early classic rock station, the sub-under oldies station, the newer new rap station, the middle new older rap station, the older heavy metal station, the newer new middle heavy metal station, the .... You get the point. And precious few stations for people with grown-up taste except in the really, really big or really, really small markets (saving of course college stations, and thank God for those!). In a different venue we just had a discussion about the good old days when you could hear a rip-snortin' rockin' number, then Barry Manilow, then a disco number, then a country crossover hit, back to back, all on the same station. Such a station could easily fit novelty tunes into its playlist. The modern, mass-market stations, programmed by computer (literally), have no room for anything out of the shallow but swift-moving channel they have moored themselves in. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 11 Jun 02 - 05:59 PM Well sure, there's Riders in the Sky ("Palindrome" is one of my favorites too!), and Pinkard & Bowden... but do you ever hear them on the radio? Ray Stevens was ALL OVER the radio back in the 70s, and so was "King Tut." I guess Riders in the Sky still do Riders Radio Theater, but their hometown public radio station hasn't broadcast them in several years. I wrote to WPLN and told them they should be ashamed of themselves and not to ask me for any more money until they got Riders Radio Theater back on the air. They haven't done either one as yet. If I get a CD player in the car I plan on hiding it when I go away. :-) |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kenny B (inactive) Date: 11 Jun 02 - 05:02 PM I just tested my factory fitted alarm with internal sensors by leaving a window open , setting the alarm and going into the glovebox close to the wing mirror. The alarm did not go off! How many other folks alarms would fail this test? How about yours Beau Geste? How many folks actually test their car alarms intentionally? Sorry for the thread creep. :>[ |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:53 PM Oh, and well said, Guest (re: the intruder alarm that can't tell a window's been smashed). Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:50 PM Oh, also in a more folky vein -- Riders in the Sky. Hilarious stuff. My favorite is their tale of a word-playing frontiersman named "The Palindrome." ["The Ballad of Palindrome"] Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:46 PM They must be pretty crap intruder alarms if smashing a window doesn't set them off! |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kenny B (inactive) Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:41 PM I hate to put a damper on anyone's desire to put a CD player in a car. But............ A word of warning The inner city kids where I work break the passenger window of cars with CD players in them, lean in without setting off the intruder alarm and steal the CD's out of the glove box. 9 break-ins in two weeks in the one street! |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:28 PM Now, this is my kind of thread. Kim - I have one of the personal CD's that attaches in the car. It really works well but it came all together in a package. I'm pretty sure that it is a Sony product. The Austin Lounge Lizards were great when they played here in Encino last year. Besides being really funny, they are great musicians too. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:26 PM And then there's Weezer. They looked like a one hit group, but their third album has gotten good reviews. One of my sons bought it and loves it... haven't heard it myself, but I bought their first album.
If you want to bemoan things truly gone, how about instrumentals that hit the top 40... Everything from 40 Miles of Hard Road and Walk Don't Run to kinda sappy stuff like The Poor People of Paris and all the Les Baxter stuff. Jerry |
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Subject: ADD: Cool It In Outer Space (Geezinslaw Brothers) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:11 PM The Geezinslaw Brothers (Sam & Son)have had a few wacky numbers... A Five Dollar Fine For Whining and this one... Cool It In Outer Space Recorded by: The Geezinslaw Brothers (Sam & Son) SPOKEN: A teenager on Mars looked up at his dad And he jingled the keys in his pocket Daddy said son, you must heed my advice Or I'll take the keys from your rocket And he said: [Rest of verses sung] CHORUS Steer clear of the Earth, my son Stay away from that horrible place If you can't find anywhere better to go Just Cool It In Outer Space Your grandfather vis'ted a long time ago Things were bad enough, then, I surmise They were fighting each other with sticks and stones Now it's worse, they've become civilized CHORUS I went there myself though my dad warned me not But I left here in spite of resistance I'll tell you what really endangers the place It's called peaceful co-existence CHORUS So if you want to see some real people from Earth Be patient my son and don't fuss Just stay here at home and look to'ards the sky They'll blow themselves right here to us CHORUS TAG: Just Cool It In Outer Space
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Jun 02 - 04:05 PM I almost saw them in concert a year and a half a go... But came down with a bugger of a throat infection the night they played... My chummers who went brought me back a signed videotape of them... So, ya.. they're still around and going strong.. and when in doubt... http://www.bowserandblue.com ;-)
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Steve Latimer Date: 11 Jun 02 - 03:36 PM Clinton, Are Bowser & Blue still active? |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Jun 02 - 03:25 PM Ummm... oh ya... Bowser and Blue Some really good satire in song... ;-)
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 11 Jun 02 - 03:23 PM Oh, and I almost forgot Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio! Probably best known for his sick Christmas parodies ("The Restroom Door Said 'Gentlemen'" comes instantly to mind), he does great parodies of pop songs as well -- his "I Am a Man Who Constantly Borrows" even parodies an old folk song from that movie! Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST Date: 11 Jun 02 - 03:15 PM
Pinkard & Bowden have a gift for writing "stupid" songs.
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: MMario Date: 11 Jun 02 - 01:29 PM I wish I had made more of an effort to see them at OLD SONGS - though I did catch part of one show. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Steve Latimer Date: 11 Jun 02 - 01:27 PM I've heard a lot of good things about Arrogant Worms, and I see they play around Toronto. I'll have to make a point of getting in there to see them. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Midchuck Date: 11 Jun 02 - 01:23 PM Austin Lounge Lizards!!!!!!!!!! They wrote my life! I use "oldblevins" as a handle on some other sites. Peter. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Jun 02 - 01:01 PM MMArio beat me to it! the Arrogant Worms are GREAT!!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: MMario Date: 11 Jun 02 - 12:52 PM Arrogant Worms! |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: mousethief Date: 11 Jun 02 - 12:50 PM Well there is Weird Al Yankovich, also They Might Be Giants and to a lesser extent Barenaked Ladies. Try also Moxie Fruvous (their Green Eggs and Ham Rap is killer!). There's a lot more that's not coming to mind. The novelty song isn't dead -- but it has gone sorta underground. Alex |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Steve Latimer Date: 11 Jun 02 - 12:43 PM Kim C, I'm with you on the Novelty song. "Amos Moses", "Dead Skunk", Homer & Jethro ("Pore Ol' Koo-Liger" being my favourite), "Basketball Jones", "Earache My Eye", "Troglodyte", just about anything that Ray Stevens did. If they're writing them these days I haven't heard 'em. Sure do miss 'em. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:57 AM Oh but of course.... silly me.... you would need power AND a speaker connection..... teeeheeeheee.... I should have figured that out. Duh! Thanks for clarifying that for me. :-) Now when I die, don't think that I'm a nut - don't want no fancy funeral, just one like ol' King Tut... |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: MMario Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM or both; mine plugs into the cigarette lighter for POWER; if I want to play through the heaqdset or the little tinny speakers themselves that is all I plug in. the CASSETTE adapter plugs into my cassette deck in the car and THEN the CD plays over the car speakers. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: GUEST,jonm Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM Re. in-car CD players: One connection is between the headphones output and the cassette, the other between the cigarette lighter and the power input. Both are required, unless you are running on batteries. They both generally come in the one kit, along with a sort of sprung platform to mount it on. Position the platform somewhere flat and horizontal and buy a player with a long anti-shock time, or the whole plot will be constantly skipping and jumping. Concrete motorway surfaces will make it do this anyway. |
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Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: nickp Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM The cig lighter provides the power for the personal player - ignore if you're happy just to use batteries |
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Subject: Novelty Songs & Car CD players From: Kim C Date: 11 Jun 02 - 11:35 AM There's two things on my mind this morning. First, whatever happened to the novelty/comedy song? I grew up on Ray Stevens' classics, and still have a special place in my heart for Steve Martin's "King Tut." Is it because there's just no market for it anymore, or because PC has got people afraid to try to make humor? I know some of Spike Jones' things in WWII would be considered impolite today. Second, what about the personal CD players with car adapters? I'd like to have one item that functions as both. I understand the adapters are either 1) a cassette, or 2) one that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Now, presumably the cassette adapter will run through the car stereo. But what about the cigarette lighter? Many thanks ----- KFC |
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