The Greatest Novelty Songs

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In the pop world, Gershon is remembered for his album, Music To Moog By which consisted mainly of Beatles, Beethoven, and Simon and Garfunkel covers, AND the famous, Popcorn. Of course, in response to the song's popularity and perhaps the free advertising, the group was later featured there. The song is simple, to the point, and something we can all relate to whether you interpret it literally or as a political statement. Straight out of West Germany, this disco trio spent three weeks atop the charts in the holiday season.

We’ve also tended to be rather fond of the underdog and the one hit wonder so it’s hardly surprising that in the punkish year of 1978 Jilted John should win the nation’s heart with his eponymous anthem to doomed nerds ticking every box. ISBN 9781607329909, previously published as "Colonel Bogey's March through Folk and Popular Culture", Chapter 10 in Eric A. This means that each year a new selection of songs will become available for inclusion in the Great British Songbook.

The technique (which Dickie Goodman had also used on "The Flying Saucer") would inspire a number of other knockoffs, including The Nutty Squirrels and Russ Regan's one-off group Dancer, Prancer and Nervous. M, the electronic music project led by Robin Scott, reached the dizzy heights of Number 2 with their synth-pop anthem ‘Pop Musik. Sustained by one part mis-developed sense of irony and two parts awful taste, the UK charts have been a weird place for a long, long time now. Gershon went on to become a pioneer of electronic music through his discovery of the Moog synthesizer. From the television series came touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical.

With all the love and respect due to the British institution they absolutely are, the fact remains that they mostly do farmers' versions of vaguely popular songs.Granted, I don’t listen to a lot of modern music if I can help it, but nary a novelty song in the bunch, unless you count pure crap like WAP. Los Angeles indie pop duo The Bastard Fairies covered Brand New Key in a YouTube video accompanied by a band of ukulele players.

Jamaican teenagers Althea Rose Forrest and Donna Marie Reid caused a sensation when they hit Number 1 in February 1978 with ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.If I say “World Cup qualification”, what’s the first thing that springs into those brilliant young minds? He also apparently insisted that he be name-checked ( If you can do the Bart, You’re bad like Michael Jackson…) Jackson would also feature in an episode of The Simpsons a few months after this had been a hit single.

A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Who could resist the cheeky lyrics of George Formby’s Little Stick of Blackpool Rock (and pretty much everything else he strummed his uke to)?

For three weeks in the early 90s, the UK Singles Chart was topped by a three and a half minute anthem about a man in a large, clumsy, pink and yellow spotted costume. Covered a number of times by various artists, the latest cover version was in 2012 by Olivia Newton-John. His schtick is that he’s terminally clumsy, and anyone who comes in contact with him will end up flat on the floor and/or with a faceful of something sticky.