We were passively watching a music program on TV recently when we were shaken out of our stupor by a novelty song number titled “You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly”—! The uniquely pithy ditty turned out to be a duet originally performed by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.
We found it such an unexpectedly droll listening experience that we went on to look for more novelty numbers with in-your-face titles and lyrics.
We found out that many of them are country music songs. That made a whole lot of sense, because folk and country singers and songwriters are known for being and keeping it real, hence the “in-your-face” essence of their performances.
Rough and ready
Another rough and ready group of musical artists is made up of rockers, who are similarly not shy about sharing their innermost feelings, rages—and acid trips! Pithy proof of the “honesty” of their songs is gigglingly provided by Frank Zappa’s “toilet anthem,” “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?”
Viewed “pop historically and hysterically,” songs with funny titles hark back to “legit” theater, with fun examples like the strip number, “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” from the hit musical, “Gypsy!,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from “Mary Poppins.”
But, folk singers and the rockers have taken the musical category to a new “LOL” level with their crustily candid contributions and concatenations:
From Prince comes “Pretzelbodylogic.” From Panic At The Disco, “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking her Clothes Off(!).” Fall Out Boy has come up with the teasing, knowing and kiss-and-tell “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark.”
From Hozier comes “Angel of Small Death & The Codeine Scene.” Snoop Dogg’s sappily grinning contribution is “You Can Put It in a Zag, Imma Put It in a Blunt” (no translation needed for tooting trippers). For its part, I Killed The Prom Queen has come up with “Your Shirt Would Look Better With A Columbian Necktie.”
The Ramones? “Everytime I Eat Vegetables, I Think of You”—(how sweet—and green)! And, to conclude, Isaac Hayes takes his cue from Mary Poppins and comes up with his own kilometric play on words and syllables (which has become a soul classic)—“Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic”! —Try wrapping your lips around that!