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Favorite Novelty Song


phil

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A long time ago, when disks were vinyl and you had 3-4 playing speeds, Tom Lehrer sat down at the piano and began writing and performing the funniest, smartest songs heard since Bob Newhart left accounting for comedy. An interesting one suggested a new urban sport: "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park." (This was before the birds were implicated in spreading diseases in addiiton to "whitewashing" statues.) However, a more interesting song put The Periodic Table of Elements on the hit parade:

"The Elements"

``There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium

And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,

And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,

Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium

And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium

And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium (inhale)

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

``There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium

And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium

And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,

And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.

``Isn't that interesting?

I knew you would.

I hope you're all taking notes, because there's gonna be a short quiz next period.

``There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium

And phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium

And manganese and mercury, molybdinum, magnesium,

Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium

And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,

Paladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, and

Tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, (inhale)

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

``There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium

And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium

And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium

And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper,

Tungsten, tin and sodium.

``These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,

And there may be many others but they haven't been discovered.'' :beatnik:

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Just off the top of my head...

"The Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Cryptkickers

"The Laughing Gnome" - David Bowie

"Doctorin The Tardis" - The KLF

"Atmosphere" - Russ Abbott

All thoroughly splendid, in their own sweet way...

The Laughing Gnome is a good call.

Anybody remember Soupy Sales??? How about his novelty hit "The Mouse"?? BTW, his boys ended up playing in Bowies band mid 80's, early 90's maybe.

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an american singer-songwriter, josh ritter, who has been sort of adopted by the irish scene, had this great song that i heard a few years back at a gig so i just looked up the lyrics. i always called it 'the photosynthesis song' but i just discovered it's actually called:

Since You've Gone

well theres one thing mama

I think you should know

it is not love

that makes the flowers grow

but a complex electron transfer process known as photosynthesis

when chlorofyll reacts to the light of day

but since you're gone

the light has gone away

well theres one more thing mama

I think you will find

it is not love

that makes the stars shine

but the spontaneous combuston of super heated super condensed gasses

in a process known as fusion

that creates new elements when the time is right

but since you're gone

the stars dont shine so bright

well theres another thing mama

I think I should confide

it is not love

that'll turn the tide

but the net difference in the gravitational pull

between the earth and the moon

as it is acted out upon the waves

but since youre gone

I feel washed away

I could've been a mathmatician

studied rockets for a livin

would've worked out better in the end

but to get more specific

I'd break every law of physics

to bring you back to me again

well theres one more thing

I'll tell you if I can

it is not love

that makes a non-stick frying pan

but a top secret trademark conglomerated

most likely carcinogenic polyeurothane compound

spreading of microthin substance over a negatively charged layer

of aluminum, copper, iron, lead, vhs, fyi, apple pie, FBI,

and some other elements too

but since youre gone

I wish I'd stuck to you.

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Is "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce considered one?

Speaking of Spinal Tap, how about "Big Bottom"? That song cracks me up!

"Rappin' Rodney" by the late, great Rodney Dangerfield

"Pac-Man Fever" & "The Double Dutch Bus"--don't remember who sang these, but they were early '80's novelty songs

"The Curly Shuffle"--again, don't remember the group, but it was a late '80's or early '90's song.

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"Pac-Man Fever" & "The Double Dutch Bus"--don't remember who sang these, but they were early '80's novelty songs

"The Curly Shuffle"--again, don't remember the group, but it was a late '80's or early '90's song.

Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia

Double Dutch Bus - Frankie Smith

The Curly Shuffle - Jump N' The Saddle Band

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