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Novelty song

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A novelty song is an unusual song, often a parody or humor song, and which may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may may not even be musical. The #1 Greatest Novelty Song, They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!, has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum and tambourine. One novelty song, a remix of Axel F, started as a mobile phone ring-tone.

History

One of the earliest novelty songs was the 1941 Der Fuehrer's Face, and the 1952 #1 single (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? became notable for extensive play and backlash because the song became annoying. Dickie Goodman, the godfather of the genre, faced a lawsuit for his 1956 The Flying Saucer novelty song which used sampling. Yakety Yak became a #1 single on July 21, 1958, and is the only novelty song (#346) of the Songs of the Century. The first Best Comedy Recording Grammy was awarded to The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late), which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate a chipmunk voice. In 1964, the Grammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded to Roger Miller's Dang Me/Chug-a-Lug, which had several novelty songs.

In 1985, The Stonk novelty song raised over £100,000 for the Comic Relief charity. After P.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the Best Comedy Album Grammy from 1990-1993, the category was changed to Best Spoken Comedy Album, and when Best Comedy Album was reinstated in 2004, "Weird Al" Yankovic won for Poodle Hat. DrDemento.com is building the premier on-line hub for novelty/comedic music.

List of novelty songs

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Performers notable for novelty songs

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References and Notes

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 00:21:41 PDT (GMT -0700)
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