Novelty Songs & Car CD players

11 Jun 02 - 11:35 AM (#727578)
Subject: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM (#727582)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: nickp

The cig lighter provides the power for the personal player - ignore if you're happy just to use batteries

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11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM (#727583)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST,jonm

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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11 Jun 02 - 11:43 AM (#727584)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: MMario

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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11 Jun 02 - 11:57 AM (#727595)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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11 Jun 02 - 12:43 PM (#727634)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Steve Latimer

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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11 Jun 02 - 12:50 PM (#727643)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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11 Jun 02 - 12:52 PM (#727647)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: MMario

Arrogant Worms!

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11 Jun 02 - 01:01 PM (#727655)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Clinton Hammond

MMArio beat me to it! the Arrogant Worms are GREAT!!!!!

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11 Jun 02 - 01:23 PM (#727675)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Midchuck

Austin Lounge Lizards!!!!!!!!!!

They wrote my life!

I use "oldblevins" as a handle on some other sites.

Peter.

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11 Jun 02 - 01:27 PM (#727679)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Steve Latimer

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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11 Jun 02 - 01:29 PM (#727680)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: MMario

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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11 Jun 02 - 03:15 PM (#727777)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST

Pinkard & Bowden have a gift for writing "stupid" songs.
Satires like "Blue Hairs Driving In My Lane" ("Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain"),
"Mama She's Lazy" ("Mama He's Crazy"),
and "Somebody Done Somebody's Song Wrong" ("Hey, Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song")
"Help Me Make It Thru The Yard" ("Help Me Make It Thru The Night") "Daddy Played First Base" {"Daddy Sang Bass")
"Three-Mile Island" (Wolverton Mountain")
are a few examples--

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11 Jun 02 - 03:23 PM (#727789)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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11 Jun 02 - 03:25 PM (#727792)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Clinton Hammond

Ummm... oh ya... Bowser and Blue

Some really good satire in song...

;-)

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11 Jun 02 - 03:36 PM (#727798)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Steve Latimer

Clinton,

Are Bowser & Blue still active?

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11 Jun 02 - 04:05 PM (#727814)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Clinton Hammond

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:11 PM (#727819)
Subject: ADD: Cool It In Outer Space (Geezinslaw Brothers)
From: GUEST,Gene

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:26 PM (#727826)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Jerry Rasmussen

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:28 PM (#727827)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST,Just Amy

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:41 PM (#727833)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kenny B (inactive)

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:46 PM (#727835)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST

They must be pretty crap intruder alarms if smashing a window doesn't set them off!

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11 Jun 02 - 04:50 PM (#727839)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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11 Jun 02 - 04:53 PM (#727842)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

Oh, and well said, Guest (re: the intruder alarm that can't tell a window's been smashed).

Alex

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11 Jun 02 - 05:02 PM (#727849)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kenny B (inactive)

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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11 Jun 02 - 05:59 PM (#727897)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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11 Jun 02 - 06:04 PM (#727902)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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11 Jun 02 - 06:08 PM (#727908)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST

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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11 Jun 02 - 06:56 PM (#727936)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST,ozmacca

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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11 Jun 02 - 08:36 PM (#727998)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST,Just Amy

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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11 Jun 02 - 10:49 PM (#728048)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Clinton Hammond

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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11 Jun 02 - 11:31 PM (#728066)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GutBucketeer

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:

Cliff Edwards
George Formby
Frank Crumit
Benny Bell
Phill Harris
Helen Kane

The list keeps on going....

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11 Jun 02 - 11:32 PM (#728067)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: GUEST,ozmacca

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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12 Jun 02 - 02:13 AM (#728126)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Stephen L. Rich

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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12 Jun 02 - 02:49 AM (#728134)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Mudlark

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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12 Jun 02 - 10:10 AM (#728280)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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12 Jun 02 - 10:12 AM (#728281)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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12 Jun 02 - 01:07 PM (#728437)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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12 Jun 02 - 04:45 PM (#728643)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Jim Dixon

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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12 Jun 02 - 05:15 PM (#728653)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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12 Jun 02 - 06:18 PM (#728709)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Stephen L. Rich

"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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12 Jun 02 - 06:24 PM (#728715)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Nigel Parsons

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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13 Jun 02 - 01:55 PM (#729321)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

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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13 Jun 02 - 02:07 PM (#729330)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Steve Latimer

I just thought of another one. "Uneasy Rider", which I think was the first hit for Charlie Daniels.

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13 Jun 02 - 02:10 PM (#729336)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: Kim C

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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13 Jun 02 - 02:12 PM (#729338)
Subject: RE: Novelty Songs & Car CD players
From: mousethief

But were there any silly songs in the top 40 in the 1990s?

Alex

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