Subject: RE: Songs that are so bad they're brilliant From: GUEST,Mary Knickle Date: 06 Jun 21 - 07:33 AM Squished Through the Garlic Press of Life is being recorded as we speak. I recently revived it with a 3 female trio called Foxfire and will be releasing it soon. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Lash LaRue Date: 06 Aug 10 - 10:43 PM "Nothing" by the Fugs was translated/adapted from the original Yiddish "Bulbes" ("Potatos") by band-member, the recently-departed Tuli Kupferberg, O"H. muntig bulbes, dinstig bulbes mitvokh un donershtik, bulbes . . . (Monday, potatos; Tuesday, potatos. Wednesday and Thursday, potatos . . .) Lash LaRue |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Lash LaRue Date: 06 Aug 10 - 09:23 PM Saw and heard the songwriter Paul Craft (if memory serves) perform "Drop Kick Me, Jesus" at Convocation Hall, U. of Toronto. Cannot remember what year; late 'Seventies? He opened for (a stage-frightened?) JJ Cale, who sat and played a very funky, customized guitar almost entirely out of sight -in the back line with the amps- of the audience. Lash LaRue |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Dave Roberts Date: 03 Aug 10 - 06:30 PM Regarding 'Patches' by Dicky Lee - I used to have a copy of an English release of this. I can't recall the label, but it was one of those white label promotional copies with a big red A on the A side. This versin omitted the last verse (which I have never heard until now) so that, in effect, Patches does not kill herself but her boyfriend merely goes to see her despite parental disapproval. This editing was done, presumably, to make the story more acceptable, although it certainly lessens the impact. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: ruairiobroin Date: 03 Aug 10 - 09:09 AM Apologies for above, I'm fairly sure I could do with typing lessons and that Shay Healy wrote Old Seaside Town Far Away which was recorded by Billy Connolly |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: ruairiobroin Date: 03 Aug 10 - 09:06 AM I'm faitly sure Shay Healy "Old Seaside Town Far Away" that was recorded by Billy Connolly |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Patsy Warren Date: 03 Aug 10 - 06:30 AM >Frank Mills from Hair. Hysterical teenage angst. "I love him But it embarrasses me To walk down the street with him< How many of us can identify with those words? I was just thinking that about my teenage son, lol! |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Joe_F Date: 02 Aug 10 - 06:18 PM Larry Saidman: Yep, that's the one. The line actually appears as a question, as I quoted it. It is a question that invites easy wise-ass answers, such as: "No. There is documentary evidence of Baltimoreans whose love affairs have resulted in long-lasting, happy marriages. And if you are insinuating that the likes of you would have better luck in Philadelphia or New York, you are almost certainly mistaken." |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Alaska Mike Date: 02 Aug 10 - 07:50 AM My selection. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Patsy.Warren Date: 02 Aug 10 - 06:00 AM Gene Pitney's '24 hours from Tulsa' listening to it as a little girl and even now makes me so angry that the song implies that while travelling home he couldn't resist the charms of woman he met on the way home(bull!). The song must have planted seeds of doubt in the minds of women everywhere about what their man was really up to when working away, doing overtime etc. It makes me mad but I do like singing along to it. Dusty Springfield I believe had a version of it too. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 02 Aug 10 - 03:54 AM Just a couple clarifications: How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away isn't actually a country song. It was recorded by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks and is more of a "hippie swing". Definitely doesn't have a C&W melody. And Joe F's reference to That's the way it always is in Baltimore" is probably a reference to "Those Dance Hall Girls" by Fraser and Debolt, off their first lp (which is apparently quite hard to find). |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,I'm not here, right? Date: 01 Aug 10 - 03:24 PM "They took you away I'm glad, I'm glad" by 'Josephine', on a CD I've just bought (The Answer To Everything). It's in reply to "They're coming to take me away ha ha" by Napoleon XIV. It's even more bonkers than the original. but it made me laugh. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: olddude Date: 31 Jul 10 - 04:44 PM Flying purple people eater |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 31 Jul 10 - 04:35 PM I don't care for songs that get their humour out of looking at the surface of a genre (eg. C&W), then putting it down. Most of the so called C&W parodies I find quite boring, and they indicate a superficial understanding of country and western music. That being said, one song I think might fit the "so bad it's brilliant" category is Mickey Newbury's "Just Dropped in To See What Condition My Condition Was In". Kenny Rogers & The First Edition's version of it was OK, but Mickey Newbury's is brilliant He even has a Vanilla Fudge dirge like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" line thrown in. The song is very funny--yet such an incredibly accurate depiction of the "psychedelic experience" depicted in many songs of the late 60's. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 31 Jul 10 - 02:58 PM Here's the author singing Patches in 1999 . Over the top, but in a restrained manner, an odd combination you only seem to find in that genre of music. I can see why people liked it, and evidently still do. In fact I found myself quite liking it, and I'd never heard it before, so it wasn't nostalgia. Can't see anything too improbable in the story. Young lovers have been killing themselves because of parental opposition since long before Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Celtaddict Date: 31 Jul 10 - 12:29 PM Taconius, you are right, that is breathtakingly awful. 'Patches' was madly popular when I was a kid at Girl Scout camp; I did not realize it was a (relatively) contemporary 'pop' song (didn't listen to the radio) but it was ultimately banned by the leaders, as was 'Brandy'--not 'Brandy, you're a fine girl' etc. but one that with a chorus 'Brandy, o-oh Brandy, Brandy my own' about 'a little Bahama girl' who 'had a baby just for me' and 'baby died and Brandy cried, cried so hard she was soon to die' and just typing this really causes me to identify with those Girl Scout leaders. And Steve, I have only heard the Country Western Supersong ending 'in a seaside resort called Bray' sung by an Irish singer. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Taconicus Date: 31 Jul 10 - 11:48 AM And since someone mentioned Tay Bridge Disaster, one of the best in the genre of wonderfully bad poetry, I can't resist reciting my own "good bad poetry" submission, inspired by the truism (or so they want you to believe...) that there's no English word that rhymes with orange. ______________________________ I ate a tasty orange And sucked upon a lozenge, Then took the golden syringe And dreamed of Stonehenge. - Taconicus ;-p |
Subject: Lyr Add: PATCHES (Dickey Lee) From: Taconicus Date: 31 Jul 10 - 11:40 AM I actually do remember hearing Dropkick Me Jesus on the radio when it first came out. This was before folk music stations regularly played on the East Coast, but I was living in St. Louis where they did. It was a real song, but I'm sure the authors (and the audience) understood the campy, tongue-in-cheek slant was done purposefully. Another in this vein was the wonderful Country hit How Can I Miss You, When You Won't Go Away? But there have indeed been songs I remember whose lyrics were so bad--they were such howlers--that to me they'll always be classics. Most of them, predictably, were written by immature songwriters at the dawn of the rock 'n roll era. One in particular that comes to mind was Patches, a 1962 "tragic" pop ballad by Dickey Lee. It was a real groaner about a guy who wouldn't date a poor girl because his mom and dad wouldn't let him -- so of course she kills herself. (Riiiight.) __________________________________ PATCHES by Dickey Lee (Royden Dickey Lipscomb) Down by the river that flows by the coal yards Stands wooden houses with shutters torn down There lives a girl everybody calls Patches Patches my darling of Old Shantytown. We planned to marry when June brought the summer I couldn't wait to make Patches my bride Now I don't see how that ever can happen My folks say No, and my heart breaks inside. Patches oh what can I do I swear I'll always love you But a girl from that place would just bring me disgrace So my folks won't let me love you. Each night I cry as I think of that shanty And pretty Patches there watching the door She doesn't know that I can't come to see her Patches must think that I love her no more. I hear a neighbor tellin my father He said a girl name of Patches was found Floating face down in that dirty old river That flows by the coal yards in Old Shanty Town. Patches oh what can I do I swear I'll always love you It may not be right But I'll join you tonight Patches I'm coming to you. __________________________________ He wouldn't date her because Dad wouldn't like it, but of course, he's quite willing to kill himself when she does - typical maudlin teenage boo-hoo sentimentality. HERE it is, if you want to howl along. In a related vein, my memory holds a treasury of individual fat-headed lyric lines and other groaners. An example is the Beatles' "Fun is the one thing that money can't buy." (Oh, really?) Then there were other lines that are bad on their face, but in context are very clever and I think they're great, like The Turtles' "Eleanor, gee I think you're swell, And you really do me well, You're my pride and joy, et cetera." Love it. :-) |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Tattie Bogle Date: 21 Jul 10 - 06:34 PM For Harold Shipman (who killed off many of his patients): Hey ho, Hey Ho, it's off to work I go, With my stehoscope and my bag of dope, Hey, ho, Hey ho, hey ho, etc.... (The verses are worse) |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Joe_F Date: 21 Jul 10 - 05:51 PM I have mentioned this on a couple of other threads, but for sheer bathos, IMO the line "Is this the way it always is in Baltimore?" is sufficient to put an entire song under the rubric of this thread. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Tim Leaning Date: 21 Jul 10 - 05:03 PM I know a song that'll get on your nerves get on your nerves get on your nerves I know a song that'll get on your nerves get on your nerves get on your nerves I know a song that'll get on your nerves get on your nerves get on your nerves I know a song that'll get on your nerves get on your nerves get on your nerves etc etc. |
Subject: Lyr Add: COUNTRY AND WESTERN SUPERSONG (Connolly) From: Steve Shaw Date: 21 Jul 10 - 12:47 PM Billy Connolly's "Country and Western Supersong." It really does have to be sung (or half-spoken) by Billy! Yes, my granny is a cripple in Nashville, friends. This story I tell you is true. One day she went out on her wheelchair Never knowing it had a loose screw. Well, a wheel came off of that wheelchair, friends, And on three wheels it trundled away, And it trundled right over the edge of a cliff In an old seaside town far away. (Country and Western noises) Now, the boy who was pushing the wheelchair Was a little blind orphan called Joe, And he said, "Oh, where is my granny, And where did that damn wheelchair go?" Well, he ran off to search for that wheelchair, friends, But his sightless eyes led him astray, And he ran right over the edge of the cliff In that old seaside town far away. (Country and Western noises) Well, somebody sent for a doctor, And an ambulance too, it was called, And the people who lived in the neighbourhood Stood around and they cried; how they bawled! Well, the doctor and the ambulance came rushing, friends. They were rushing from two different ways, And they crashed with a BIFF and shot over the cliff In that old seaside town far away. (Country and Western noises) Well, they sent for brave Father Maloney To pray for the poor souls' repose, And he said, "Well, now that we're gathered here, good people, We might as well pray I suppose." But too many people had gathered, And the edge of the cliff gave way, And they dropped with a yell and they all shot straight to hell In that old seaside town far away. (Country and Western noises) |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Rusty Dobro Date: 21 Jul 10 - 12:05 PM When I've written more than the title, I think my epic 'I've Been Getting Rid Of Everything That Reminds Me Of You (So I Suggest You Give It Ten Minutes Before You Go In There) should qualify. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Gurney Date: 20 Jul 10 - 08:21 PM Country songs are well represented here! Another one was sung by Mr J. Cash. There's a story in our town 'bout the prttiest girl around. Hair of gold, and eyes of blue, how those eyes could flash at you! Boys hung 'round her by the score but she loved the boy-next-door, who worked at the candy store. It doesn't get any better. By the end, you're joining in with "bloody candy store." |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: SINSULL Date: 20 Jul 10 - 08:08 AM Frank Mills from Hair. Hysterical teenage angst. "I love him But it embarrasses me To walk down the street with him..." Gotta love it. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Patsy Warren Date: 20 Jul 10 - 07:03 AM M m m my Sherona!! don't know what it means but always puts me in such a good mood. Rock around the Clock it's an old one that keeps cropping up at family and festive functions but never fails to make me want to get up and have a go even though I cannot do Rock and Roll to save my life. Leader of the Pack by the Shangri La's who were so chavvy before it became fashionable, but I still think of them with fondness. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: L R Mole Date: 10 Nov 00 - 08:40 AM "Fish Heads" was written at least in part by Billy Mumy from "Lost in Space" (also the creepy kid from a couple of old "Twilight Zones"). For the football/creator metaphor, though, you can't beat "Let's give Jesus Christ the football, let him even up the score/Let him run it through the crossbars, half of which He's seen before".Martin Mull, I think. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,D_hand Date: 10 Nov 00 - 07:49 AM what about 'Work your fingers to the bone, What da ya get? Boney Fingers Boney Fingers'!!! or 'Are you in the top 40 of the Lordy, Lordy, Lordy? Will you be a hit in heaven Like you were on Earth?' GREAT !!! |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: John in Brisbane Date: 09 Nov 00 - 11:45 PM Don Meixner wrote adove "Mother The Queen of My Heart" by Jimmie Rodgers ... She said son son't start drinkin and gamblin, swear that you'll always go straight...
Lots of people know that I'm part of the small band of people trying to find missing tunes in the database. So when I found a dusty collection of Jimmie Rodgers songs, there it was, the original score for this song. With my sophisticated 21st century musical tastes I scoffed inwardly while I notated it, I read the corny words and had a quiet snigger to myself. Then I played it..and played it. I love it - it's simple but has a lot going for it in terms of possible interpretations. I wanted to play with the arrangement somewhat, but decided to leave it alone. I've sent the MIDI of the complete score to MMario for inclusion on the Mudcat MIDI Page. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Molly Malone Date: 28 Jan 00 - 10:25 AM Ok, Fisherman's Blues I know, but I'm not familiar with "Hank". Guess I'll have to borrow that CD.:) Honestly, I've never heard a cd of any of irish songs...it's all been live. (I lead a sheltered life.) :) |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Midchuck Date: 27 Jan 00 - 10:13 PM Re the mention of Has Anybody Here Seen Hank, when my daughter was at Williams in the late '80s/early '90s, she told me that that record was popular, but her fellow students were confused by that song. They didn't have any idea whom it was about! Talk about the intellectual class being out of touch with their own country.... Peter. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Lonesome EJ Date: 27 Jan 00 - 10:07 PM Molly... the Waterboys are the perpetrators, on their album Fisherman's Blues. The title song is the one that kicked off the opening of Waking Ned Devine, and the rest of the album is a keeper as well.
"I don't care what he did with his women |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Mbo Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:31 PM EJ, I love "Brandy" it's such a sad song...I also think "MacArthur Park" has one of the best melodies of any song ever. And don't dis Neil Diamond--I love "Kentucky Woman" and "Sweet Caroline." It always makes me feel at home here in North Carolina. --Mbo |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Molly Malone Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:19 PM oh, don't get me wrong. I love the song! But come on. Everytime I hear that song (at least once or twice a week) I have laugh at that line. Who wrote that anyway? |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,LEJ Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:11 PM Above post mine |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Johnny the Medicine Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:10 PM ANY NEIL DIAMOND SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESP YOU DONT BRING ME FLOWERS ANYMORE AND FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!THEY ROCK- LISTEN TO THEM STONED |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:09 PM Hey, Molly! Careful now... that's one of my favorite songs.
"It started up in Leeds... it ended up in tears Of course, my opinions are all tempered by the well-known facts that 1) I am a big fan of MacArthur Park, and 2)I think Jim Morrison wrote some of the most perceptive lyrics in popular music and 3) Brandy, You're a Fine Girl moves me to tears. Yes, I'm serious. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Johnny the Medicine Date: 27 Jan 00 - 06:08 PM ANY NEIL DIAMOND SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESP YOU DONT BRING ME FLOWERS ANYMORE AND FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!THEY ROCK- LISTEN TO THEM STONED |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Molly Malone Date: 27 Jan 00 - 05:43 PM Bang on the Ear. I'm sorry, but' "I can see her to this day, stirring chicken soup"???? Talk about hard up for lyrics! |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,BillyBoy Date: 27 Jan 00 - 01:29 PM Not sure whether anyone south of the line ever heard of this, but in Canada we had Terry Jack produce one of the ALL TIME NO. 1 HITS IN CANADA with "Seasons in the Sun", which I swear is the most revolting piece of crap you've ever heard in your life: "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time"(??????????) ...and so on. The thing is, though, it's got this insipid melody that you just cannot shake and you actually find yourself humming the bloody tune. I guess that is the mark of a truly "great" commercial tune. And if that's not enough, the B side is about some kid, his dog and a porkchop...honest. BB |
Subject: Lyr Add: DEAD PUPPIES (from Ogden Edsl) From: Terry Allan Hall Date: 27 Jan 00 - 11:02 AM OK, here's one...learned it from Doctor Demento's Show...don't recall the author...people actually request this, BTW!
DEAD PUPPIES
Dead puppies, dead puppies,
They don't come when you call.
My puppy died late last fall.
Mom says puppy's days are through.
Dead puppies, dead, dead, dead, dead puppies, Come on everybody out there, sing along, okay?
Dead, dead, dead, dead, puppies, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, puppies, One more time for Roman Hruska!
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead puppies, * * * Cute, in sick sorta way...
|
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Seamus Kennedy Date: 27 Jan 00 - 05:05 AM Rick Fielding, I can't believe you would question the motives of John Herald and the late great Ralph Rinzler in recording "We need a whole lot more of Jesus", or was it Frank Wakefield, I forget? How about "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian" by Fred Koller and John Prine? Concrete Road about the NJ Turnpike is a good one too, I know, I recorded it. |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE WRECK OF THE OLD SOUTHERN PACIFIC From: GUEST,Auxiris Date: 27 Jan 00 - 03:54 AM Hello, everyone. Don, I can see that your contribution to this discussion is from last October, but if you see this and you've got a complete version that's different from the one below, could you please post it? Thanks! Cheers, Auxiris
THE WRECK OF THE OLD SOUTHERN PACIFIC
Out of the Sierra Mountains came an SP passenger train.
Now the fireman was a cowboy, but do not think it strange.
Now the train was way behind time, and the passengers were wild,
"My God!" the engineer shouted, as he slammed on all the brakes.
Up stepped the cowboy-fireman, and a gallant lad was he:
He quickly dropped a fast loop round a pole beside the track,
Oh, we will long remember that 45th of May, |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: Melbert Date: 26 Jan 00 - 04:26 PM How about "Peeping through the knothole in Grandma's wooden leg"? or "If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it all over you". |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 25 Jan 00 - 08:01 PM I thought he was from a Persian family rather than Arabic. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 06:53 PM Yes, "Bismillah" is actually an Arabic word. All ties in if you know that Freddy Mercury was of Arabic heritage--his real name was Farouk Bulsara. --Mbo |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: JamesBerriman Date: 25 Jan 00 - 06:02 PM Lonesome EJ wrote of Bohemian Rhapsody "MISS MILLER(she will not let him go)". The word is actually Bismillah, which means "In the name of god". I, too, heard "Miss Miller" for years until I saw the lyrics printed somewhere! ( :-]) James
|
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: GUEST,Mbo Date: 25 Jan 00 - 05:01 PM I can't think of any! Really! --Mbo |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: kendall Date: 25 Jan 00 - 05:00 PM Take back your heart, I ordered liver. |
Subject: RE: Song that's so bad it's brilliant From: tradsteve Date: 25 Jan 00 - 04:54 PM Gotta go with "Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart" by Johnny Cash |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |