OK, angsty - how 'bout humorous Songs?

[King_For_A_Day]

Another excellent thread here deals with depressing or angsty songs.

 

How about the other extreme - humourous, funny or "novelty" songs? I don't want to be a musical comedian, but a fair number of my songs are funny or have funny aspects to them; or at least I hope so!

 

Are funny songs harder or easier to write than "serious" ones? Can they have staying power? I find that they are excellent icebreakers. When people ask me to "Play something", a two minute funny ditty usually goes over a lot better than a seven minute heartbreak ballad. (I got them, too, if you want 'em.) However some people feel that a noventy song is less of a song somehow.

 

Anyway, enough of what I think.

What do you think?

[Elias Graves]

A lot of my favorite songs are funny. I have written quite a few with elements of humor in them. I find myself singing "Pamela Brown," "Fish and Whistle," "Life's Been Good To Me (So Far), "Down on The Farm," "Boy Named Sue" and others quite a bit. Check this out:

 

You Leave Me Blue

 

I first saw her at the park one day last July

She's the kind of girl who'd always catch your eye

I thought that I would sneak one tiny little peek

And be content to let her walk on by

Well the Fates had other things in store that day

My plans they all just gone another way

She was staring right at me

And Lord what did I see?

A look that said "I'm here to stay"

 

Chorus

What you gonna do with me baby?

Some witchy spell you put on me

What you gonna do with me baby?

You take me down by degrees

What you gonna do with me baby?

I'm losing control

What you gonna do with me baby?

Won't you ever let me go?

What you gona do with me baby? (x2)

What you gonna do?

 

She swiftly fanned our relationship from smoke to fire

Never knew a girl with such intense desire

She slowly broke my back

Gave me a heart attack

Now I'm kept alive with wires

I understood my situation to be insecure

Asked my friends to help me off the floor

Joe said "Dude, you gotta go

"Lift your feet, now don't be slow

"I don't think a man can long endure"

 

Chorus

 

Joe's wisdom heeded quickly, man, I moved away

I was blessed to live to see another day

So relieved to take breath

Without a threat of sudden death

And mighty happy to be on my way

The cobwebs in my mind grudgingly disappeared

I could move again without spasmodic fear

You ask me what I've learned

From these bruises that I've earned?

I like her better there than here

 

Chorus

 

You leave me blue

 

© 2008 Elias Graves

 

Elements of humor, but with a touch of pain.

Without humor, the world is not a very fun place.

EG

[Lee Knight]

One of my all time favorite funny yet poignant songs is Pink Thing by Andy Partridge of XTC. A boy discovering girls, so to speak.

 

Pink Thing

 

Anytime you rise, I'm here,

And I'm crazy for you pink thing.

You make me want to laugh,

You make me want to cry,

When I stroke your head I feel a hundred heartbeats high,

Pink thing.

 

I want to take you out and show you round the world,

Pink thing it'll be OK.

If I could only wake you from your slumber curled,

Pink thing what would straight folks say?

 

That man isn't fit to enter heaven.

That man is a sinner,

Ever burning in disgrace.

Pink thing, spit in my face,

I'd love you for it.

 

Anytime you call, I'll fall,

Into madness for you pink thing.

You make me want to live.

You make me want to die.

And when I stroke your head I feel a hundred heartbeats high,

Pink thing.

 

I want to take you out and show you to the girls,

Pink thing they're a whole new tribe.

If you could only see the way the way the gingham swirls,

Pink thing it's a whole new vibe.

 

That man isn't fit to be a father.

That man is a sinner,

'Fore they cast me down to die,

Pink thing, spit in my eye,

I'd love you for it.

Yes, I'd love you for it.

 

Anytime you rise, I'm here,

And I'm crazy for you pink thing.

You make me want to laugh,

You make me want to cry,

When I stroke your head I feel a hundred heartbeats high,

Pink thing.

Hundred heartbeats high,

Pink thing.

Hundred heartbeats high.

 

I want to introduce you,

Take you to the brink thing.

I want to introduce you,

Tell me what you think thing. I want to introduce you,

Make that missing link thing.

Don't you think it's time you met some female pink thing?

 

You make me want to laugh,

You make me want to cry,

So why is it I'm happy when there's tears down in your eye?

 

Little pink thing.

[blue2blue]

I think it's easier to write a (hopefully) funny song than a serious song a lot of times. For one thing, there may not be the emotional investment or a conflict between the artist's need to express himself and the desire to write the best song possible. (I've sometimes had a song that seemed to want to go one way -- when the original emotional inspiration was going another... Sometimes I redirect the song and sometimes I let the song have its own head. [Horse riding talk for letting the horse guide itself.])

 

Athough, that said, I find a lot of my songs mix heartbreak and humor...

 

I've got humorous songs about drinkin', fallin' from grace, money trouble, workin', personal accomplishment, teenage reckless driving, boredom, strip mall lounge vamps, trailer trash lifestyle, greed, breaking up (it's not always hard to do), hedonism, sibling rivals, dreaming about lost love, exploitation of personal history, heartbreaking loneliness (if you can't laugh at crushing loneliness, what can you laugh at?), bad girlfriends, metaphysics, greedy bad girlfriends, teen pregnancy among the National Enquirer crowd, biology and the battle of the sexes, lust, May-December romances, headbanging, crippling regrets, drug abuse, really bad girlfriends, the hot mom on the block, insignificance, the sexual politics of lust, emotional impotence, gambling with life, drugs and dissolution, media-driven, cookie-cutter alternative culture, the end of times, the loneliness and regret of Barney Fife, depression and the sense of futility, turmoil and trouble, the song itself, not so bad girlfriends who are, nonetheless, still a royal PITA, more trouble, love lies, interchangeable parts, er, lovers, airport lounge vamps, blatant and unbelievable love lies, love and betrayal among 60s underground radicals, and more drinkin'.

ALL IN ONE GO [stream playlist]

[Taylor Davis]

This goes over well at most places. I played this one at a biker bar and you should have seen all the big butted gals that came out of everywhere. ahahahah!BIGG BUTT hispeed link

 

BIG BUT

words, music and arrangement by r.l.s.july fourteenth 2005

 

My girlfriend

she got a big ol' butt

my girlfriend, my girl friend

she got a big ol' butt

but thas' alright, thas' alright, thas' alright

cause I love that stuff

 

my girlfrien'

she got a big ol' head

my girlfriend, my girl friend

she got a big ol' head

but thas' alright, thas' alright, thas' alright

she give it to me till I'm dead

 

My girlfriend

she seem to love me well

my girlfriend, my girl friend

she seem to love me well

with the way she wakes me in the mornin'

oh,oh,oh I can tell

 

This next one is about BOB AND TOM and chick and christie lee, you know, the syndicated radio show. only I did'nt wish to "say" bob and tom; I called them bill and ted and chet and kirstie lou in order to keep from being sued or somethink. see, that's the joke !

 

THE BILL AND TED RADIO SHOW hispeed link

[Elias Graves]

 

This goes over well at most places. I played this one at a biker bar and you should have seen all the big butted gals that came out of everywhere. ahahahah! BIGG BUTT hispeed link BIG BUT words, music and arrangement by r.l.s.july fourteenth 2005 My girlfriend she got a big ol' butt my girlfriend, my girl friend she got a big ol' butt but thas' alright, thas' alright, thas' alright cause I love that stuff my girlfrien' she got a big ol' head my girlfriend, my girl friend she got a big ol' head but thas' alright, thas' alright, thas' alright she give it to me till I'm dead My girlfriend she seem to love me well my girlfriend, my girl friend she seem to love me well with the way she wakes me in the mornin' oh,oh,oh I can tell This next one is about BOB AND TOM and chick and christie lee, you know, the syndicated radio show. only I did'nt wish to "say" bob and tom; I called them bill and ted and chet and kirstie lou in order to keep from being sued or somethink. see, that's the joke ! THE BILL AND TED RADIO SHOW hispeed link

 

 

That's funny!

 

EG

[Eclepto Funk]

i'd love to write humorous songs ... i think they're excellent ... alas ... i suck at it

[Stackabones]

Most of the songs from This Is Spinal Tap

 

AC/DC's Big Balls

 

Toby Keith's Hell No

 

Merle Travis' Smoke! Smoke! Smoke That Cigarette! (wrote it for Tex Williams)

 

Randy Newman tends to write in a various characters' voices that are often deeply ironic and darkly comic.

 

And Hugh Laurie's The Sophisticated Song

TBQAuw4NYLA

Shame about the laugh track.

[Elias Graves]

 

i'd love to write humorous songs ... i think they're excellent ... alas ... i suck at it

 

 

But, see, that's funny right there.

 

Some of the funniest stuff, maybe, are songs that are just so bad that they are funny. Just about anything from, say, Ratt or Poison makes me laugh. Wouldn't it be really funny if those two teamed up for the Ratt Poison Tour?

 

EG

[tspit74]

I had the idea of writing a song about a guy who revels in his laziness. This is what came out. I don't know if it's humorous in a hee-hee-ha-ha funny way. I thought it was kind of funny when I wrote it.

 

It's my feeble attempt at writing a jazz song. Don't judge the recording. It's just a quick demo, recorded on my lunch hour (literally). I recorded, mixed, and burned this to cd in less than an hour. Drove home at 11:25, turned on the gear, made tomato soup and sliced pears for my kids, recorded, mixed and burned this song, jumped in the car, pulled off for a slice of pepperoni, and got back to my desk at 12:31.

 

Of course, the song had already been written. I just had not gotten around to demoing it. I'd like to redo it at some point with Fender Rhodes, drums with brushes, and upright bass.

 

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7222655

 

ANOTHER BORING DAY

 

I've been accussed of being a bore

As a child, Mama said I could sleep through a war

There's not much to me, but less is more

or so they say

 

I just like to lie around

I'm uninspired and I'm unwound

I'm so laid back I'm lying down

To coin a cliche

 

I'd write a letter to a friend

If I felt like picking up a pen

But why do now what I can put off 'til then?

Adrift in my decay

 

It's just another boring day

 

I had a lover once upon a time

She was sophistocated and so refined

But she got tired of lying around all the time

And wasting away

 

So she ran down to Cabo with some other dude

Sent me a picture postcard of her in the nude

And wrote, "Life's been good. But how's it treating you?"

I just didn't have the nerve to say,

 

That my phone hasn't rung in 19 days

I've molded Devil's Tower out of mayonaise

But there's no aliens touching down on earth to share my space

No, like everybody else they all stay away

 

No hurry ups, just hesitates

There's no pretty playmates feeding me grapes

Just another rerun of Planet of the Apes

It's late...

 

And so it's true that I'm a bore

But it's nothing you haven't heard before

So just hit the light and close the door

Before walking away

Here I am, so here I'll stay

And by the way...

 

It's just another boring day

[Marko]

I had the idea of writing a song about a guy who revels in his laziness. This is what came out. I don't know if it's humorous in a hee-hee-ha-ha funny way. I thought it was kind of funny when I wrote it. It's my feeble attempt at writing a jazz song. Don't judge the recording. It's just a quick demo, recorded on my lunch hour (literally). I recorded, mixed, and burned this to cd in less than an hour. Drove home at 11:25, turned on the gear, made tomato soup and sliced pears for my kids, recorded, mixed and burned this song, jumped in the car, pulled off for a slice of pepperoni, and got back to my desk at 12:31. Of course, the song had already been written. I just had not gotten around to demoing it. I'd like to redo it at some point with Fender Rhodes, drums with brushes, and upright bass. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7222655 ANOTHER BORING DAY

 

Nice

 

You're very talented.

[tspit74]

Nice You're very talented.

 

Thanks Marko, for listening to the fruits of my hectic lunch hour today.

 

As for the talent? I don't know. But I do like how this place lights the occasional flame under my butt and triggers me to get some music down from time to time.

[Stackabones]

I think this qualifies as darkly comic ...

 

 

LOW EXPECTATIONS

 

What

[Elias Graves]

 

I think this qualifies as darkly comic ...     LOW EXPECTATIONS   What

[Marko]

 

I think this qualifies as darkly comic ...     LOW EXPECTATIONS   What

[Stackabones]

 

By the way, found one of those 5th Avenues used at the local GC used for $350. Might have to spring for it tomorrow. Let you know. Have you seen one? Pretty nice piece of wood for the money. An upgrade, I think, from my '48 Silvertone arch with the crooked neck.

 

 

I haven't seen one in person. $350?! WOW! You'll be lucky if it's there in the morning. Does it still have the case?

 

Did you see this recent thread over at HCAG? Good vids, some eye-popping photos, and plenty of discussion.

[rsadasiv]

Here's one that used to get some laughs when I played it live in the late 90's.

 

For literature

I read the Sunday Post

The Federal Page

And then right back to the sports

And if it's not in the National Gallery

It doesn't seem like art to me

That's right, I live in DC

 

For radio

I listen to NPR

Cokie Roberts

My favorite media star

And if I want culture

There's always some musical

Playing at the Center Kennedy

That's right, I live in DC

 

For television

I gotta watch CSPAN

Congressional Quarterly

I read it in the can

I'm a lawyer or a staffer of I lobby or consult

Or else I'm some kind of bureaucrat

That's right, DC's where I'm at

 

When I go out

Always bring my rolodex

Just talk about politics

Cause nothing is more boring than sex

It's New York without money

Hollywood for uglies

A democracy where nothing is free

That's right, I live in DC.

 

It's a capitol city, everyone.

[eeglug]

 

One of my all time favorite funny yet poignant songs is Pink Thing by Andy Partridge of XTC.

 

 

I love this song. It can either be about a child or naughty bits. Brilliantly written and it's gorgeously catchy too. I just had to go listen to it just now.

[rsadasiv]

Nice song - a little bouncy for jazz though. Looking forward to the full version.

[Elias Graves]

 

Here's one that used to get some laughs when I played it live in the late 90's. For literature I read the Sunday Post The Federal Page And then right back to the sports And if it's not in the National Gallery It doesn't seem like art to me That's right, I live in DC For radio I listen to NPR Cokie Roberts My favorite media star And if I want culture There's always some musical Playing at the Center Kennedy That's right, I live in DC For television I gotta watch CSPAN Congressional Quarterly I read it in the can I'm a lawyer or a staffer of I lobby or consult Or else I'm some kind of bureaucrat That's right, DC's where I'm at When I go out Always bring my rolodex Just talk about politics Cause nothing is more boring than sex It's New York without money Hollywood for uglies A democracy where nothing is free That's right, I live in DC. It's a capitol city, everyone.

 

 

Sounds capital.

 

Cogressional Quarterly in the can? Think I'll stick with the GC catalog.

 

I think this all goes to show that there is as much happy as sad in song.

 

EG

[Chicken Monkey]

I've written a fair number of humorous songs, and I'll tell you that a funny song that doesn't work bombs WAY harder than a sad/happy song that doesn't work. If you've got some deep mood piece that doesn't go over, you can always blame the audience, but if your song is supposed to be funny and isn't, you are a {censored}ing chump and you've got to put down the guitar for the night.