Humour in music

This never fails for me...

 

Danny Kaye

 

It also appears on the WB $2 2LP sampler 'All Singing - All Talking - All Rocking'.

 

Ah, but the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title was this:

Every ripple on the ocean
Every leaf on every tree
Every sand dune in the desert
Every breath you take with me
Every breath you take, every move you make
Every cake you bake, every leg you break

 

It might surprise some people, but David Bowie "Low" is a freaking hilarious album, side-splittingly funny in places, and from what I remember reading, they were all cracking up with laughter during much of the creation of it.

"Don't look at the carpet....I drew something awful on it....See" [weird synth noise, which to me always sounds like he's pointing at it, and scowling]

"I was driving around and around, the hotel garage"

 

That whole exchange with the waitress in the empty restaurant in "Highlands" is pretty funny -- listen carefully, that waitress is giving it back to Dylan as good as she gets!

 

Y

Yes, but you forgot to mention Bela And The Flecktones are amazing as well.

 

The Basher was the first to come to mind for me.

 

Madness...to a certain extent.
Plenty of black humour "cardiac arrest" along with the lighter stuff.
I think they were considered chancers in Britain because of the humour aspect, especially the look.
Underneath it, they made some brilliant and catchy ska pop.

 

As already mentioned, The Dead Milkmen!

 

Dylan and Morrissey are two of the funniest songwriter/performers around. Especially Morrissey these days. Even his song titles are often intentionally funny. He has a dry wit, and his funniest lines are sung with his usual deadpan delivery.

 

And "And now I know how Joan of Arc felt, as the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt"

 

I always have to laugh when Arlo Guthrie tells the singalong audience "That was horrible" during Alice's Restaurant.

Melanie's Psychotherapy has some funny lines, like "A thing is a phallic symbol if it's longer than it's wide".

 

A lot of Morrissey's humor in his Smiths era lyrics are lost on people who thought he was just a mopey guy.

 

I loved your opening post. But, you lose me here. Where is the humor in laughing at the girls?

 

Simon and Garfunkel, "A Simple Desultory Phillipc, or, How I was Robert MacNamara'd into summision"-Dylan spoof
The guy I'm listening to right now, ROGER MILLER, with MANY of his!!
Peter and Gordon's "Lady Gordiva" and "Knight in Rusty Armor"
Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" & "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat":
and all the usual suspects.

 

I may be in the minority, but humour in music (unless done by someone who's more of a comedian than a musician, and sometimes even then) often doesn't hold up on repeated listenings.

 

I may add to this Flight of The Conchords, New Zealand's 4th best music parody group, love both of their albums.

 

Yes, FZ and the Dan, as many of you already mentioned. And I've really been into 10CC lately.

 

Dylan? Donovan? Simon & Garfunkel? Morrissey??? You guys forgot to mention Kurt Cobain.

I had to double check the thread title. How about these:

Barenaked Ladies
Ray Stevens
Jimmy Buffett

 

I read through the entire thread looking for someone not mentioned and was ready to type Jimmy Buffett. Aargh!

 

I always loved Victor Borge, who combined excellent piano-skills with an anarchic humour. I think the humour of The Goons had a great influence on most of the British bands in the '60s; from The Who (Mary Ann With The Shaky Hands) to the Small Faces, Kinks and the Beatles. I totally dislike Frank Zappa's attempts at 'humour', but to each his own.

 

"As Rose collects the money in a canister/Who comes sliding down the bannister?/ the Vicar in a tutu ..." ; " I was looking for a job/And then I found a job/ Heaven knows I'm miserable now..." If Morrissey wasn't so funny--and really was as depressing as those who don't understand his --yes, schtick-- think he is, he'd be unlistenable.

 

Seconded, those guys are geniuses. I think this is their funniest song...

 

The Divine Comedy and Squeeze have some really humorous songs.
er, and also Ray Stevens (Bridget the Midget) I don't suppose that would ever get released today.
Actually, that would make a good thread, Which massive hit singles would probably never get a release today?