 sj |
||
|
||
Comical tune names
|
|
|
|||||||
|
Comical tune names |
Share Thread
|
||||||
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: catspaw49 Date: 19 May 01 - 09:07 AM Yeah Nathan, I know......Thanks! But where did he get the line anyway? Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: gnu Date: 19 May 01 - 09:18 AM Spaw ....and about a hundred others.... ? Got to be more than that ! |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: Blackcatter Date: 19 May 01 - 12:04 PM Zappa: Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch
|
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: Gypsy Date: 19 May 01 - 10:56 PM King of the Fairies! |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: Peter Kasin Date: 20 May 01 - 03:27 AM A Donegal fiddle tune: If There Weren't Any Women In The World. |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: Dunc Date: 20 May 01 - 10:34 AM A tune written for the birthday of a lady who was reluctant to divulge her age... Joy Mortimer's Twenty First Twenty First Birthday |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 21 May 01 - 10:24 AM I'm not an expert in what's funny (as you'll know if you've read my "jokes" in varous postings) but what folows is not my view but that of a columnist in the UK Independent They're not clever and they're certainly not funny 18 May 2001 No, it will be suppressed memories of smug Richard Stilgoe sitting at a piano, his facial expression saying, "Punch me," to a disgruntled nation, or Jasper Carrott (real name Rupert) singing about his "Funky Moped", or Joe Dolce, an American domiciled in Australia (possibly because of extradition arrangements) topping the charts for ever with "Shaddap You Face". Or the Goodies. As a form, pop music is simultaneously juvenile and pompous, a perfectly laudable contradiction but not one that lends itself to real humour. It's often funny Puff Daddy choosing an even dafter pseudonym (P Diddy) is funny; what's left of the deranged aerobics instructor Geri Halliwell is funny; Robbie Williams thinking he's funny is funny but none of those people has planned it thus. As wise old Terry Wogan once told David Icke, "They're not laughing with you; they're laughing at you." More relevant, no one ever got wealthy in the music business through overestimating the sophistication of the audience. Broad, dumb strokes sell, such as "Star Trekking", "Snooker Loopy" or KLF's shameless "Doctoring the Tardis". Novelty records, rather than outright jokes, prove more palatable. Spitting Image's "Chicken Song", a deliberate attempt to achieve such one-off status by announcing its intention, was more honest but equally awful. Even such great comic institutions as The Simpsons rarely sustain their sharpness during musical numbers. Oddly, South Park has consistently integrated music brilliantly, largely by bowing to older forms. The full-length movie version was the best attempt at an old-style musical in years, even winning an Oscar. Anyone who has seen Trey Parker's astonishing Cannibal the Musical (it does what it says) will recognise the movies he was brought up on. This Is Spinal Tap, written by a supremely talented cast with experience of the business and treated with a certain amount of subtlety, was another rare success. Heavy metal acts may appear a soft target, but Britain's Comic Strip team were miles off with their Bad News parody. Similarly, 1978's The Rutles largely based on the collaboration between Neil Innes, a musician who understood comedy, and his opposite number Eric Idle retold the Beatles story superbly, the songs often more perfect than their inspirations. Today's equivalents are sometimes beyond parody. On Channel 4's fake docusoap Boyz Unlimited, a tongue-in-cheek cover of Dr Hook's, er, steamy "A Little Bit More" was pre-empted when a "real" boy band put out their own version. There is a handful of genuinely recommendable "humour" records, though. 1985's Texas Funeral by Jon Wayne (a band rather than a person, apparently consisting of veteran C&W musicians playing very badly) is undoubtedly the funniest record ever made. You can find the title track on the soundtrack of From Dawn Till Dusk, but it's just a taster. For a start, seven of the 13 tracks feature the word "Texas" in the title. As he slurs it, Jon's life is a mess of run-ins with recalcitrant Arab petrol-pump attendants ("Mr Egyptian"), randy Mexican cellmates who want to get hold of his "majoshas" ("Texas Jailcell") and women who let him down ("She peed on the carpet, she shot my horse, and now things are going from better to bad to worse"). A quick scan on the internet shows that many Americans consider this definitive cult record to be an autobiographical work, rather than a joke. A follow-up finally appeared recently. What else is there? Chris Morris's Blue Jam hinted at a new form for sonic humour, and, more prosaically, Birkenhead's Half Man Half Biscuit still persist with their war on pap, last year releasing the brilliantly titled Trouble Over Bridgwater. Like music, though, humour is subjective. After all, Bob Dylan's songs are pretty funny if that's how you choose to interpret them... QUOTEThey're not clever and they're certainly not funny Comedy records can be irritating and juvenile but rarely make you laugh. Steve Jelbert names the guilty 18 May 2001 When Frank Zappa titled a live album Does Humor Belong in Music? and putting aside the equally pertinent question: does Frank Zappa belong in music? he raised an important point. For the two have rarely met to good effect. Ask most people what they associate comedy songs with, and the answer will rarely be "laughter". No, it will be suppressed memories of smug Richard Stilgoe sitting at a piano, his facial expression saying, "Punch me," to a disgruntled nation, or Jasper Carrott (real name Rupert) singing about his "Funky Moped", or Joe Dolce, an American domiciled in Australia (possibly because of extradition arrangements) topping the charts for ever with "Shaddap You Face". Or the Goodies. As a form, pop music is simultaneously juvenile and pompous, a perfectly laudable contradiction but not one that lends itself to real humour. It's often funny Puff Daddy choosing an even dafter pseudonym (P Diddy) is funny; what's left of the deranged aerobics instructor Geri Halliwell is funny; Robbie Williams thinking he's funny is funny but none of those people has planned it thus. As wise old Terry Wogan once told David Icke, "They're not laughing with you; they're laughing at you." More relevant, no one ever got wealthy in the music business through overestimating the sophistication of the audience. Broad, dumb strokes sell, such as "Star Trekking", "Snooker Loopy" or KLF's shameless "Doctoring the Tardis". Novelty records, rather than outright jokes, prove more palatable. Spitting Image's "Chicken Song", a deliberate attempt to achieve such one-off status by announcing its intention, was more honest but equally awful. Even such great comic institutions as The Simpsons rarely sustain their sharpness during musical numbers. Oddly, South Park has consistently integrated music brilliantly, largely by bowing to older forms. The full-length movie version was the best attempt at an old-style musical in years, even winning an Oscar. Anyone who has seen Trey Parker's astonishing Cannibal the Musical (it does what it says) will recognise the movies he was brought up on. This Is Spinal Tap, written by a supremely talented cast with experience of the business and treated with a certain amount of subtlety, was another rare success. Heavy metal acts may appear a soft target, but Britain's Comic Strip team were miles off with their Bad News parody. Similarly, 1978's The Rutles largely based on the collaboration between Neil Innes, a musician who understood comedy, and his opposite number Eric Idle retold the Beatles story superbly, the songs often more perfect than their inspirations. Today's equivalents are sometimes beyond parody. On Channel 4's fake docusoap Boyz Unlimited, a tongue-in-cheek cover of Dr Hook's, er, steamy "A Little Bit More" was pre-empted when a "real" boy band put out their own version. There is a handful of genuinely recommendable "humour" records, though. 1985's Texas Funeral by Jon Wayne (a band rather than a person, apparently consisting of veteran C&W musicians playing very badly) is undoubtedly the funniest record ever made. You can find the title track on the soundtrack of From Dawn Till Dusk, but it's just a taster. For a start, seven of the 13 tracks feature the word "Texas" in the title. As he slurs it, Jon's life is a mess of run-ins with recalcitrant Arab petrol-pump attendants ("Mr Egyptian"), randy Mexican cellmates who want to get hold of his "majoshas" ("Texas Jailcell") and women who let him down ("She peed on the carpet, she shot my horse, and now things are going from better to bad to worse"). A quick scan on the internet shows that many Americans consider this definitive cult record to be an autobiographical work, rather than a joke. A follow-up finally appeared recently. What else is there? Chris Morris's Blue Jam hinted at a new form for sonic humour, and, more prosaically, Birkenhead's Half Man Half Biscuit still persist with their war on pap, last year releasing the brilliantly titled Trouble Over Bridgwater.
Like music, though, humour is subjective. After all, Bob Dylan's songs are pretty funny if that's how you choose to interpret them... RtS
|
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler (slowly going off his hea Date: 21 May 01 - 10:27 AM ...and the brain fairy meant I repeated most of the text in the last post (oh dear, oh dear, oh dear) RtS |
|
Subject: RE: Comical tune names From: Geoff the Duck Date: 21 May 01 - 12:29 PM Are you suggesting "the last post" as a comedy title??? |
| Share Thread: |