Novelty hits of the 70s

We were hijacking one of the 80s threads, so I thought i'd start a new thread about it.

This a where we left off on that thread:

Listen to it again with your head filled with the info I just gave you. You will hear it with a totally different perspective now.

This is why I love the 70s music. There were tons of parody/novelty songs. It was a time when people quit being so damned serious for a while and just had some dumb fun for a change.

I think the reason few people got "Run Joey Run" is because it came out in the fall of 1975, when pop music was getting serious. The only other novelty hit I can think of that was out during it's time is "Muhammed Ali (Black Superman)".

Some other novelty/parody hits of the 70s were:

Basketball Jones-Cheech & Chong
Shaving Cream-Benny Bell
Gimmie Dat Ding-Pipkins
Telephone Man-Meri Wilson
Energy Crisis-Dickie Goodman
Mr Jaws-Dickie Goodman
Amos Moses-Jerry Reed
My Girl Bill-Jim Stafford
Disco Duck-Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots
Framed-Cheech & Chong
Earace My Eye-Cheech & Chong
Sister Mary Elephant (Shaddup!)-Cheech & Chong
Trogladyte-Jimmy Castor Bunch
Bertha Butt Boogie-Jimmy Castor Bunch
I Ain't Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman-Joe Tex

 

Not to mention Steve Martin's "King Tut."

 

Ah yes, I actually owned the "Mr. Jaws" 45 when I was a kid (hee hee).

A couple of others that folks from Chicago might remember were the parodies by radio DJ Steve Dahl. He did "Ayatollah" to the tune of "My Sharona" and "Another One Rides the Bus" to the tune of yes, you guessed it, "Another One Bites the Dust".

 

Junk Food Junkie

 

Basketball Jones. Man I haven't heard that in 30 years.

Wasn't there a list of great musicians who actually played on that song? Mostly George Harrison and his usual line-up of cronies right? Wasn't Carole King in there too? Does anybody have the list handy?

 

Yes I remember those songs here in Toledo Ohio. They sounded low budget but I didn't know who did them -they were hilarious.

 

I love both "Basketball Jones" and the song that inspired it, "Love Jones."

"That basketball/was like a basketball to me."

 

"Another One Rides the Bus" was an early effort by Weird Al Yankovic. Did Dahl record it also? Speaking of, I still have my 45 of Dahl's "Do Ya Think I'm Disco?"

"Convention '72" by the Delegates was another "break-in" record in the style of Dickie Goodman.

 

Popcorn by Hot Butter. Terrible :thumbsdn:

 

"Basketball Jones", featuring Tyrone Shoelaces.

 

I still have all my Dickie Goodman 45's...for better or worse! Did any of these ever see a CD release, or are they caught up, understandably, in a licensing quagmire?


Dan

 

Hahahahaha this song is great, I just downloaded it.

I've been meaning to make a bad music mix for a while now, maybe this will get me off my butt to do it.

 

You're right, Jimbo. Maybe Undertow was thinking of "Bomb Iran" sung to the tune of "Barbara Ann." I just remembered that one.

 

The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead

 

That was a parody!?!?

 

Goodman's son put out a couple of compilation CD's several years ago, but unfortunately, both were kind of botched affairs. Mostly taken from worn, scratchy vinyl copies (do tapes even exist anymore?), and in some cases, edited and re-dubbed versions from the Mr. Jaws album, instead of the original full-length singles.

They're apparently still in print:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...6/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-2416534-1909546

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...6/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-2416534-1909546

 

"Short People" - Randy Newman

JEFF!

 

There's also a 2-CD set titled Politically Correct? that collected a bunch of tracks by Buchanan & Goodman and Goodman solo. IIRC, it ran into a bunch of legal problems and disappeared quickly from the market.

 

Pencil Neck Geek by Freddie Blassie
Gumball Wizard by whomever it was by :

 

I think you left off
The Streak - Ray Stevens (don't look, Ethel!)

Also on the Leader of the Pack and Run Joey Run connection, there is also another song in 1968 called Condition Red - by the Goodees (?) Also in the same vein as Leader of the Pack.
BTW, Shaving Cream was a song recorded in 1945.

 

Wasn't there a Runaway's song along those lines too? "Teenage Justice" or something like that?

Peace Love and Lita Ford
Marky

 

How about

BJ Thomas Raindrops keep falling on my head

BJ Thomas Rock and roll lullabye

 

Yes, you're right on that. I always thought it was Steve Dahl but it clearly wasn't.

 

I've only seen "Flying Saucer" from '56, not sure "Mr. Jaws" has been around.

Not sure why more of Goodman's hits haven't seen light of day--"The Touchables" from '61 is a scream--but even if we got them, he used needledrops quite a bit, and some cleaning up would have to be done.

As for "Run Joey Run," found that one at a Goodwill mint for a buck...it is pretty awful--the song, haven't played the album yet to find out if it's any worse, though I'm hopeful...

Problem is, I'm not sure this is really a 'novelty' number...sure, Goodman, Steve Martin, Cheech & Chong(or any comedian in general)can be labeled that, and certain topics lend themselves.

But if it sucks, I suppose calling it a 'novelty' will work....

 

I don't consider these novelty songs at all, in fact they are 2 of B.J. Thomas's best songs overall, IMO. "Convoy" by C.W. McCall is a classic of a novelty hit of the 70s, in fact, a collection of truckers songs, 70s novelty songs, and country music from the 1970s isn't complete without C.W. McCall's Greatest Hits, IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001FE3/