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"Weird" Songs That Were Hits
- Thread starter Bunk McNulty
- Start date
The whole time that was being played on the radio, I never really listened closely to the lyrics, and only found out the story line a couple of years ago.
-Tangentially, my brother was married to a descendent of one of the main families in the Donner Party. When he was with his wife at a family reunion picnic, at Donner Lake, his 15 second claim to fame was when he was interviewed on a local TV station, and explained "I'm just happy that they brought enough food." (Amazingly, this didn't end their marriage.)
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Oh yeah! Fearless Fosdick. That spin-off from Lil' Abner by Al Capp. I'd totally forgotten about it.
But yeah, same Dick Tracy/Jack Lord jaw line, and both comics within comics.
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The original studio recording is TalkBass member @Dave Richmond on a Burns Bison.
I'm not sure, but the version you linked to may be Herbie Flowers???
A few minutes research, or the rare and innovative method of asking someone older who knows something, would have made the newspaper piece something more than "Millennial Discovers Paul McCartney was in a Band Before Wings!"
Thank you all for educating me right away. About things I should know... And certainly love !
Still just listening is, I think, more than enough and good enough to 'know'.
Good is good...
The soundtrack of this Averty video sounds like the album I imagine, yet I'am not even sure... Sorry just not knowledgable. Thx again, you all.
Number on in UK for a few weeks.
Proto-Leonard Cohen?
ETA: B-side was "I talk to the trees" by Clint Eastwood. It's worse.
I remember a lot of terrible, seemingly quite cynical / mercenary novelty records from my childhood, but there were two hit records (at least here in the U.K.) in particular that I would describe as weird.
Exhibit A :
this is weird in its own right, but what's impossibly weird beyond all measure is that this is the official theme song to a Stanley Kubrick movie!
Ok, it was composed & produced by his daughter (working under a pseudonym, comprised of their pet cat's name, and the name of their countryside home), but still.
And it was a hit.
Exhibit B :
Just listen to this all the way through.
It was the theme song to the studio's tent pole movie.
How did this happen?
Ok, those two out of the way, I feel I ought to mention another strange hit record, from a few years earlier (not least because my friends uncle played bass on it) :
As for those terrible novelty records; if I never hear anything by Jive Bunny ever again, I shall remain a very happy man.
Exhibit A :
this is weird in its own right, but what's impossibly weird beyond all measure is that this is the official theme song to a Stanley Kubrick movie!
Ok, it was composed & produced by his daughter (working under a pseudonym, comprised of their pet cat's name, and the name of their countryside home), but still.
And it was a hit.
Exhibit B :
Just listen to this all the way through.
It was the theme song to the studio's tent pole movie.
How did this happen?
Ok, those two out of the way, I feel I ought to mention another strange hit record, from a few years earlier (not least because my friends uncle played bass on it) :
As for those terrible novelty records; if I never hear anything by Jive Bunny ever again, I shall remain a very happy man.
Actually you're right. That is the original.
The sound on that video is so blown out, and specialized, that I thought I was hearing a live version.
My bad.
Hmm, I must say this thread proves that some folks seem to define the idea of a "hit song" differently than I do. The mere fact that a weird song was released and possibly got a little airplay (perhaps regionally or within a limited area) does not make it a hit as I understand that term.
Example: I heard the song "Shaving Cream" often on the Dr. Demento radio show a few decades ago, but I would hardly suggest that qualifies it as a "hit."
Merely an observation, not an attempt at provocation or dispute.
Example: I heard the song "Shaving Cream" often on the Dr. Demento radio show a few decades ago, but I would hardly suggest that qualifies it as a "hit."
Merely an observation, not an attempt at provocation or dispute.
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He was a freak show, smack in the middle of some crazy times, but he had been performing for years beforehand in underground beatnik cabarets. The tune itself had been a typical sentimental hit decades before…He had a Tiny impact on my childhood, way before Sponge was in the picture. One hit in particular, ibid, but he did hang around. Maybe someone will be willing to explain that to me, someday
Lucas was one of the early guitar stars…
Nick Lucas - Wikipedia
