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A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song
Song

A song is a musical musical composition which contains vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and feature words , commonly accompanied by musical instruments ....
, performed principally for its comical effect
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered History of music publishings and songwriters who dominated the American popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century....
 to describe one of the major divisions of popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. The other two divisions were ballads
Ballad (music)

In jazz and popular music, the term ballad denotes a short song in a slow tempo, usually with a romantic or sentimental text, though the term is also used for instrumental pieces....
 and dance music
Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dance. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement....
. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 30s.

Novelty songs are often a parody
Parody

A parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation....
 or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance
Novelty and fad dances

Fad dances are dances which are characterized by a short burst of popularity, while Novelty dances typically have a longer-lasting popularity based on their being characteristically humour or humour-invoking, as well as the sense of uniqueness which they have....
.






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Encyclopedia


A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song
Song

A song is a musical musical composition which contains vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and feature words , commonly accompanied by musical instruments ....
, performed principally for its comical effect
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered History of music publishings and songwriters who dominated the American popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century....
 to describe one of the major divisions of popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. The other two divisions were ballads
Ballad (music)

In jazz and popular music, the term ballad denotes a short song in a slow tempo, usually with a romantic or sentimental text, though the term is also used for instrumental pieces....
 and dance music
Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dance. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement....
. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 30s.

Novelty songs are often a parody
Parody

A parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation....
 or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance
Novelty and fad dances

Fad dances are dances which are characterized by a short burst of popularity, while Novelty dances typically have a longer-lasting popularity based on their being characteristically humour or humour-invoking, as well as the sense of uniqueness which they have....
. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. The #1 , "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!
They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!

"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a hit 1966 in music novelty song by Napoleon XIV ....
", 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
Axel F

"Axel F" is the electronic music instrumental theme from the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop performed by Harold Faltermeyer. The title comes from the main character's name, Axel Foley , in the film....
", started as a mobile phone ring-tone.

History

An early novelty song was the 1942 "Der Fuehrer's Face
Spike Jones

Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells and ridiculous vocals....
", and the 1952 #1 single "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?
(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?

" That Doggie in the Window?" is a popular music novelty song written by Bob Merrill in 1952. It was adapted from a well-known Victorian era music hall song....
" became notable for extensive play and backlash because the song became annoying. Dickie Goodman
Dickie Goodman

Dickie Goodman is considered one of the earliest proponents of sampling in music, through a series of "break-in" records he created from 1956 to 1986....
, faced a lawsuit for his 1956 "The Flying Saucer
The Flying Saucer

The Flying Saucer is a United States, black-and-white science fiction film feature film, produced independent film by Colonial Productions Inc....
" novelty song which used sampling
Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an musical instrument or a different sound recording of a song....
. "Yakety Yak
Yakety Yak

"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for The Coasters and released on Atlantic Records in 1958 in music, spending seven weeks as number one on List of number-one rhythm and blues hits and a week as Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 on the Billboard Hot 100....
" became a #1 single on July 21, 1958, and is the only novelty song (#346) of the Songs of the Century
Songs of the Century

The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc....
. The first Best Comedy Recording Grammy was awarded to "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

"The Chipmunk Song " is a song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian , the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictional singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore....
", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate a chipmunk voice. In 1964, the Grammy for Best Country and Western Album
Grammy Award for Best Country Album

The Grammy Award for Best Country Album has been awarded since 1995. The equivalent award, the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Album was presented in 1965 and 1966....
 was awarded to Roger Miller
Roger Miller

Roger Dean Miller was an United States singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his mid-1960s country/pop hits such as King of the Road , Dang Me and England Swings....
'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
"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an United Statesn singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, comedian and satire. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts....
 won for Poodle Hat
Poodle Hat

Poodle Hat is the eleventh album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was released on May 20, 2003. The album debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200, and later went Music recording sales certification....
.

Examples of novelty songs


See also

  • Dr Demento


Bibliography

  • Aquila, Richard, That Old-time Rock & Roll: A Chronicle of an Era, 1954-1963. University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0-252-06919-6
  • Axford, Elizabeth C. Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8108-5027-3
  • Hamm, Charles (ed.). Irving Berlin Early Songs. Marcel Dekker, 1995. ISBN 0895793059
  • Tawa, Nicholas E. Supremely American: Popular Song in the 20th Century . Scarecrow Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-5295-0