Top 100 novelty songs

Pretty good list, actually. Here's the criteria:

These songs were chosen for their originality, wit, humor, and lasting popularity. Novelty = "New or unusual". Most 'Novelty' songs are comic takes of current events, cultural fads, or holidays, along with parodies of established hit songs, and comedic narrations put to music.

That latter leads to the inclusion of comedy routines like "Santa Claus And His Old Lady", which isn't a song by any definition I'd recognize, but that's a minor quibble as most of the rest of the list is genuine music. Another interesting inclusion is "I Put A Spell On You", by Screamin Jay Hawkins. Certainly, this was a novelty performance, but I'd argue the song itself, stripped of those theatrics, is just a good old blues tune, one that has been given many serious interpretations from the likes of Nina Simone, Pete Townshend, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Anyway, as I said, it's a pretty good list, one that will likely have me poking through YouTube and iTunes to learn more about the unfamiliar names on it. Check it out and see what you think. Thanks to Matt for sending this to me.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 17, 2008 to Music