The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra on April 27, 2016, 04:41:57 PM
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I was going to post something about this some time ago....maybe I even did. One gets so forgetful these days.
Anyway...I have an instinctive 'oh no' reaction to comedy songs which is probably unfair - hell, nobody's perfect - and may stem from a few folk nights I participated in years ago where there was a funny fellow with an acoustic. Maybe he just wasn't very funny. Maybe I'm just intolerant. Maybe I, who whinge about others dismissing a genre wholesale based on scant knowledge of it, am just a hypocritical bastard.
But what qualifies as a novelty/comedy song? 'The Streak' must be one. 'Lily The Pink'. What about 'Yakkaty Yak'? Or 'Jilted John'? Or Billericay Dickie'?
Maybe part of the (my) problem is that, like a joke, they don't stand being repeated too often so, if the music isn't great (subjective!) - and this is music, right? - it wears a bit thin with time.
Let's take Louis Jordan. His stuff has comic tendencies - Fat Sam From Birmingham, for example - but I can listen to 'Messy Bessy' til the cows come home because I love the music.
I don't ever need to hear D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Billy Connolly again.
I won't ramble on but I'll leave you with a song that I like written by Billy Austin performed here by Dave Bartholomew.
Who Drank My Beer While I Was In The Rear (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utluhg4NOBg)
Be interesting to have your thoughts. And your favourite 'novelty' songs of course.
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Ooooh yummy. :D
(http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f399/phastasfuk/can%20of%20worms_zpsrj5lctto.jpg) (http://s51.photobucket.com/user/phastasfuk/media/can%20of%20worms_zpsrj5lctto.jpg.html)
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As an aspiring comedy songwriter, I have to reply!
I was going to post something about this some time ago....maybe I even did. One gets so forgetful these days.
Anyway...I have an instinctive 'oh no' reaction to comedy songs which is probably unfair
Not necessarily. It really depends on what you find funny. A sense of humour is a very personal thing.
But what qualifies as a novelty/comedy song? 'The Streak' must be one. 'Lily The Pink'. What about 'Yakkaty Yak'? Or 'Jilted John'? Or Billericay Dickie'?
If those are the best examples of comedy songs you can come up with, no wonder you don't like them! I've never heard of "The Streak", but the rest of them are pretty atrocious in my view - "Billericay Dickie" is probably the best of a bad bunch.
But you're really talking about "novelty" songs, which are the ones that you occasionally get in the charts. Most of the best comedy songs have never been in the charts. I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm a great admirer of the work of people like Flanders and Swann, Tom Lehrer and Noel Coward - I don't think any of them ever had a chart hit. The recent death of Victoria Wood showed that there was a lot of affection for her songs, but did people go out and buy them? No, they listened to her performing them on TV or on stage. A lot of comedy works best in live performance.
Maybe part of the (my) problem is that, like a joke, they don't stand being repeated too often so, if the music isn't great (subjective!) - and this is music, right? - it wears a bit thin with time.
That's true to an extent - if you've heard a joke once, it's less funny the second time because you know what's coming. But that doesn't mean that good comedy songs don't bear repetition. I can listen to Flanders and Swann over and over again and they still make me laugh, because a lot of the comedy is in the delivery rather than the actual song.
I don't ever need to hear D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Billy Connolly again.
I'm right with you there! How that ever got to number one I shall never know. The original deserved to be parodied but not in that awful fashion.
A rare example of a genuinely funny song that did well in the charts is "Bang Bang" by B.A. Robertson, from 1979. He seems to be forgotten now but it got to number two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pco3GJK22FI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pco3GJK22FI)
I'll think of others maybe...
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Yes you're right Guy. These are perhaps more novelty songs.
How did you manage to avoid hearing 'The Streak' by Ray Stevens?
I actually like 'Jilted John' in very small doses and 'Yakkety Yak' (great music again).
I confess I'm not familiar with anything other than the names of the people you mentioned which shows how unqualified I am to judge, but instinct tells me that I won't be interested, and life is too short....maybe I've heard a couple of Noel Coward things.
I appreciate what you're saying about part of the 'comedy' being in the performance and delivery so yes probably better live.
I do remember Bang Bang. Hard to believe it actually got to no.2. Just goes to show you how tastes differ!
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no doubt in my mind..
ernie, fastest milk cart in the west
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Great talking point VC, you rascal :)
I think a good test would be to strip out the lyrics and see if the music could stand up on its own.
And/or remove the music to see if the comedy could stand on its own.
Not many that I'm aware of would do too well, I fear.
Admittedly it's quite a harsh test...a lot of the music is signposting when you're supposed to laugh, I think.
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chickenfeet cramer!?... what are you a comedy artist? ;D
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Hmmm.. What's the diff between a "Novelty" song and a "Comedy" song?
Songs like the beatles "Yellow Submarine" - which type was it?
I'm thinking that any song that makes me grin ;D it's a novelty song, if I laugh it's a comedy song??
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Tina - Yes I'm going to have to come up with a signature tune making light of my affliction and turning it into an attraction like Fats Domino did with 'The Fat Man'.
Paul - Funny, I never really thought about Yellow Submarine....it's just a Beatles song. I have to say that I can live without it to be honest. Same goes for some of their other novelty songs.
I can grin though at songs that maybe aren't supposed to be either like 'Dance With A Dolly' by Bill Haley.
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I need to ponder on this some more. But initially I thought I'd have a quick look through the iPod to see what that reveals... What it revealed is that I don't listen to comedy songs. Quite a few of the artists I enjoy have a humourous streak to their lyrics - folks like John Prine ("Please Don't Bury Me", for example) - but they're certainly not comedy songsters. I think I do have a Tenacious D album somewhere, though.
Thinking about it some more - I love stand-up comedy but my heart always sinks a little when a comedian picks up a guitar or goes to sit at the piano. I'm sure there have been many great moments as a result, but I can't really recall any. Only Bill Bailey doing the Kraftwerk version of Hokey Cokey!
This certainly doesn't mean such songs can't be taken seriously - a good well written comedy / novelty / nonsense song is as valid as any other, and maybe they are harder to write in the same way as writing comedy without music is reputedly harder than writing unfunny stuff (can't think of many good comedy novels, either!).
There's definitely the inherent problem of once you've heard the joke, or the clever rhyme, or the funny imagery, then he next time, and the one after, the impact is lessened. I used to buy comedy DVDs and CDs but rarely do - once you've watched them once, what then? Though it may be just me - I know folks who watch them over and over! But again that probably adds to the weight of seriousness we should apply to the good comedy song / song-writer. Kudos to those who can overcome these issues!
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I watched 'Ernie' which I haven't seen or heard for a hundred years. Yes, I enjoyed it. Two ton Ted from Teddington made me laugh and that isn't really that funny!
I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much without the video although I would have still laughed at that line.
Probably be another hundred years before I go back to it.......
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I think a good test would be to strip out the lyrics and see if the music could stand up on its own.
No, that would not be a good test of a comedy song. In fact that would be an appalling test of a comedy song. The whole point about comedy songwriting is the marriage between the lyrics and the music so that the joke is delivered on the right note. Most comedy tunes are quite distinctive because they're designed to fit the rhythm of comic lyrics. The fitting of the lyrics to the music is much tighter than in many other genres. You can't have one syllable sung over several notes, or leave notes out, or play fast-and-loose with the rhymes (at least you can try but the comedy always falls completely flat in my experience). They have to fit together, absolutely hand in glove. I love the challenge of writing the stuff but trust me, it's hard work!
And/or remove the music to see if the comedy could stand on its own.
Some comic song lyrics might work as comic poetry, but the two are really quite different genres. I did recently perform a song which was actually a piece of light verse by Ogden Nash, to which I added a simple tune and chords. That seemed to work OK but they were very "song-like" lyrics.
Not many that I'm aware of would do too well, I fear.
Indeed they wouldn't - and why should they? You might as well say "a test of a good novel is to remove the characters to see whether the plot stands on its own, and to remove the plot to see whether the characters stand on their own". The thing is conceived as a single whole and if you chop it up into pieces then of course it's not going to work.
Admittedly it's quite a harsh test...a lot of the music is signposting when you're supposed to laugh, I think.
You've got it!
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perry well :)
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Can comedy be discussed philosophically?
Arse
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I think Mr Chickenfeet that you have tickled quite a few Chickenfeet toes :) Luv it. Chickenfeet is not an image I can sleep with without another glass.
Pompeyjazz
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iv taken this down bcos its me ranting about not being taken seriously simply bcos im often misunderstood as doing comedy ....i dont want to upset people so i will rethink what i want to say
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Jimmy Buffet has a collection of songs that I consider "comic songs" and they work perfectly. "Wasting Away Again In Margeuritaville" is a classic comedic look at a serious subject, and (imo) Buffet pulls it off perfectly. OF course, what makes it work is that the music is sooooooooooooooo good.
"Friends in Low Places" is very similar to "Margeuritaville." Wonderful music surrounding a comedic look at a very serious subject.
My thought is that for every "comedic song" that is done well, there are twenty done poorly. If there has EVER been a worse (or less funny) song than "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" I haven't heard it.
My suspicion is that most comedic songs are an attempt to gain musical attention by someone not talented enough to pull it off.
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How did you manage to avoid hearing 'The Streak' by Ray Stevens?
Well I have done now and all I can say is I wish I hadn't!
Here's some Tom Lehrer as compensation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE)
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Comedy songs only work if they're good songs, full-stop. If it is someone trying to tell a funny story but in a slightly musical way then it doesn't work for me. Take those New Zealand blokes whose name I can't remember. I don't consider them to be writing comedy songs as such, I think they're telling jokes accompanied by guitars. For me there's a difference.
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I think this best left to specialists and non-specialists need to resist temptation no matter how clever we think we are. Frog Chorus for example was a terrible aberration. Laughing Gnome too. Perhaps they're novelty not comedy but someone somewhere should have said "Wait a sec..."
Now, I am not averse to inserting a bit of wry humour ocasionally; but like a Martini needs to be very dry...
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do you think the B52s are a comedy band?
if i listen to them will i not be taken seriously?
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do you think the B52s are a comedy band?
if i listen to them will i not be taken seriously?
The difference between comedy and fun perhaps?
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For me it only works with any degree of longevity,if humorous lyric is used in a song,but the whole song isn't necessarily comedy. Some Leonard Cohen song lyrics make me laugh/smile.
Getting away with being relentlessly miserable in the context of a song is much easier than 3 minutes of 'now you must laugh'. Plus you can never tell the same joke to the same people twice,or they'll need to harm you physically and with great authority. :D
I know tinam doesn't wish to be regarded as comedy/novelty ( I read your post Tina,before the edit :P) to be fair to her,she'd probably not like to be pigeonholed as anything at all,but I like how she uses her offbeat humour to provoke a reaction and still preserve the integrity of the song. Further listens don't blow the joke or devalue the piece.
Anyway,that's just me,thank god we're all different,it'd be a dull world otherwise. 8)
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The screaming Blue Messiahs make me laugh. Songs like 'I can speak American' and 'Jesus Chrysler Drives a Ford' are timeless,imo.
'Too much Love' best durty rock song ever!
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Spinal Tap... Now there's some comedy material bearing repeated listening ;D
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The B-52's are quirky perhaps? Is it fun?
What about Madness? They were nutty like nobody else was.
My take on it now, which I might change my opinion on, is that if the music is good, you can get away with just about anything.
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Spinal Tap... Now there's some comedy material bearing repeated listening ;D
Agree,but there was so much going on there other than funny songs,in fact the songs were the least of it.
The Darkness were an attempt at the spoof Spinal Tap thing,but I could never warm to them.
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.. if the music is good, you can get away with just about anything.
If you have enough money behind you, you can get away with just about anything. :)
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Now, I am not averse to inserting a bit of wry humour ocasionally; but like a Martini needs to be very dry...
Funny you should say that - this (http://www.voetica.com/voetica.php?collection=1&poet=30&poem=1405) is the Ogden Nash poem that I recently set to music and performed. Sadly I don't have a recording of it, but do you think it works as a comic song?
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Yes it would definitely work as a comic song. Just reading it you can imagine it being sung...and it has a good punchline at the end of each verse. Very well-built, like a good cocktail.
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I think we may be off on a tangent when speaking of poetry. Great poetry is like any great art,there are so many facets and aspects to bring the listener/reader back so they may further muse upon other layers.
Because poetry is deep,the fun isn't over in one shot,even if the underlying theme is humour. For this very reason it should work in song form,though the music and performance has some considerable boots to fill.
This is different from comedy or novelty songs.
Cool poem,GB.
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so, i went to the web..
top ten british comedy songs
http://listverse.com/2007/08/31/top-10-british-comedy-songs/
1. The Fastest Milkman in the West – Benny Hill
2. ‘Ello John, Got a New Motor – Alexei Sayle
3. With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock – George Formby
4. Every Sperm is Sacred – Monty Python
5. The Chicken Song – Spitting Image
6. The Ying Tong Song – The Goons
7. Jilted John – Graham Fellows
8. Do the Funky Gibbon – The Goodies
9. Lily the Pink – Scaffold
10. Divorce – Billy Connelly
i reckon number 4 is a real gem id forgotten about
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Funny you should say that - this (http://www.voetica.com/voetica.php?collection=1&poet=30&poem=1405) is the Ogden Nash poem that I recently set to music and performed. Sadly I don't have a recording of it, but do you think it works as a comic song?
No. It's cute and clever, but not funny. There's the rub, isn't it? What is funny is subjective..
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2 words:
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
(http://america.pink/images/4/6/8/5/9/0/7/en/1-vivian-stanshall.jpg)
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Yes, the Bonzos.....they were good, but how many times do you want to listen to 'My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe'?
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thank you skub for taking on board some of what i said in my rant & i was very flattered by how you described my music :)
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Yes, the Bonzos.....they were good, but how many times do you want to listen to 'My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe'?
I listen to them periodically. Still. And I love them.
Also... "The Sound of Music" STILL makes me laugh out lout each and every time that I hear it, just like it did the first time.
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I don't really have anything constructive to add to this debate other than to say 'The Goodies - Nothing To Do With Us' album from 1976 is in my top ten albums of all time and I will fight anyone under the Queensbury rules who criticise it in any way ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Here's a track to rival Bohemian Rhapsody...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2_TpUbwxw1Q
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This is such a great thread, well done Chickenfeet! I think there are loads of really valid points. I think there are levels within everything, and comedy is perhaps more unforgiving as a medium; I think those who do satire well - Tom Lehrer, Flanders and Swann, no one's mentioned Randy Newman or Jake Thackray yet! - that stuff bears repeat listening. Great writers like John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Queen, often drop humour in but are not really 'comedy'.
But maybe comedy songs are not always best represented by recordings, but rather by live performance, so they don't have to be listened to over and over again. So often songs have turned up for one off performances on shows like TW3 or That's Life (or the Muppets), the equivalent of seeing Marie Lloyd in the music hall. Victoria Wood probably didn't sell many albums, I'm guessing? But people know her and love her for the stuff that they may have only been exposed to once or twice (apart from the immortal Freda and Barry, of course)! And I guess the best comedy songs do more than just make us laugh - possibly Benny Hill achieved this with the hard-done-by hero Ernie!
PS great first response by Skub!
PPS I think my next posting will be a children's song! Ay caramba!
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I think those who do satire well - Tom Lehrer, Flanders and Swann, no one's mentioned Randy Newman or Jake Thackray yet! - that stuff bears repeat listening.
"The purpose of satire, it has been rightly said, is to strip off the veneer of comforting illusion and cosy half-truth. And our job, as I see it, is to put it back again" - Michael Flanders from At the Drop of Another Hat
I agree entirely with what you say, though I have a problem with Jake Thackray. He's a very good craftsman, but I grew up with his performances on "That's Life" and I always found him unspeakably gloomy. Maybe I was too young to appreciate him as a child, but I've listened again more recently and he doesn't sound much better. And some of his stuff is appallingly sexist - "On Again! On Again!" in particular. You wouldn't get away with that now.
From that generation, let's not forget Richard Stilgoe, still with us at 73. And from an earlier generation, Paddy Roberts - the name probably doesn't mean much to many people nowadays but my mother absolutely loved him. Check out "L'Anglais Avec Son Sang-froid" if you don't know his work.
So often songs have turned up for one off performances on shows like TW3 or That's Life (or the Muppets), the equivalent of seeing Marie Lloyd in the music hall.
Indeed. Mitch Benn's songs for "The Now Show" on Radio 4 are a case in point - written for one-off topical purposes and irrelevant the following week. Jeremy Nicholas used to do some hilarious stuff on Radio 4's "Stop the Week" in the 70s and 80s, but does anyone remember any of it now? (Does anyone even know who he is now?)
Victoria Wood probably didn't sell many albums, I'm guessing?
Did she even record any? As far as I know all her stuff was on TV or video, or performed live.
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Surely the title of this thread is an attempt at ironic comedy in itself?
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I think a more salient matter of semantics relating to the thread is what is meant by 'taken seriously' rather than 'comedy song' or 'satire'.
Comedy songs can indeed be 'taken seriously' if that refers to being acknowledged for their genius and being universally known. The Ballad of Barry and Freda and Ernie are perfect examples - there is no doubting the sheer genius - musical and lyrical - behind these songs and they are tracks that everyone has heard and seems to know. However if by 'taken serious' we mean will they make a load of money today will they top the Billboard 100 and are they what A&R are looking for then the answer is probably no. There is money to be made from them for sure, but it's very niche and probably restricted to acts like Kevin Bloody Wilson and Roy Chubby Brown rather than megastar artists like Rihanna or Bruno Mars.
But hey if the end goal of writing is just for the fun and joy of it rather than 'making it' as a songwriter then comedy songs seem like the perfect artistic expression of this - fill yer boots I say.... :)
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Absolutely Martyn.
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This is similar to the "when does rock become prog rock"
It is very hard to explain or categorise but in my mind I can very quickly identify a "comedy" song, a "novelty" song and a "fun" song - but would find it very difficult to explain exactly why, and I am sure my own way of categorising may be different from the next person
Here are some examples of where I am coming from....
Comedy
The fastest milman in the west - Benny Hill
Every sperm is sacred - Month Phthon
The ballad of Barry and Freda - Victoria Wood
Novelty
The Chicken Song
The Yong Tong Song
'Ello John got a new motor
Fun
Love Shack - B52s
Time warp - Rocky Horror
Superman Dance (Black Lace)
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For me it only works with any degree of longevity,if humorous lyric is used in a song,but the whole song isn't necessarily comedy. Some Leonard Cohen song lyrics make me laugh/smile.
Getting away with being relentlessly miserable in the context of a song is much easier than 3 minutes of 'now you must laugh'. Plus you can never tell the same joke to the same people twice,or they'll need to harm you physically and with great authority. :D
This about sums it up!
For me, direct comedy/novelty songs don't work. I don't know why, it's just me I guess. I have never liked them and probably never will. I just don't look for laughter in music, I get that at other places. Not to say I don't appreciate a witty lyric because I absolutely do, but I believe that's an entirely different thing compared to a song written with the sole intent to make me laugh.
Oh, and to contradict myself immediately here's a song I DO like, being from Sweden I don't know the words or what it's about but it's very beautiful and I used to sing it to my oldest daughter when she was younger.
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i clicked on that youtube link you put up The S
it had over a million views!! with people screaming with laughter (in all the correct places)
omg theres a lot of money in comedy ...the only trouble was i didnt laugh once
maybe he was pulling funny faces i couldnt see or making funny balloon animals
a lot of people are taking that video seriously & calling him all sorts of grand godlike names
i think he must be a hypnotist ...
the only thing i can think of that they might be wetting themselves laughing at was that someone was strangling him
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@tinam: Sorry you didn't think it was funny, I think it is and it's one of few comedy songs I like. Mostly because first time you hear it it's very unexpected. Just picturing him singing this to his daughter in the middle of a divorce is wrong on so many levels it gets funny. To me that is.
See this proves my original point, comedy songs aren't for everyone! ;)
S
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I am sorry S …. I was concentrating on eating my lunch & typing & being cross & completely forgot you said you liked the video ….i didnt mean it to rubbish what youd said :)
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I'm at fault here completely, I mean, I haven't even told you I think you're wonderful have I?!?!
;) ;) ;)
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The S taking on tinam?
My money's on tina early in the first round. Remember that Tyson ear biting episode? It'll be nothing in comparison.. There'll be blood and snotters all over the place. :D
Run now S,this one has history... :o
"she wasn't dead so I thought I'd kick her
& I was bitter so I bit her".
*Skub vacates the building....
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skub your as good as a publicist :)
id rather have people talking about me than ignoring me
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[quote author=GuyBarry link=topic=11139.msg104385#msg104385 date=1462003605
..."though I have a problem with Jake Thackray. He's a very good craftsman, but I grew up with his performances on "That's Life" and I always found him unspeakably gloomy. Maybe I was too young to appreciate him as a child, but I've listened again more recently and he doesn't sound much better. And some of his stuff is appallingly sexist - "On Again! On Again!" in particular. You wouldn't get away with that now."
Well, this is continuing to demonstrate comedy is one man's meat, another man's poison! I kind of agree about 'On again, on again', but in Jake's mitigation, I don't think this is his best, and also he does refer to himself as a misogynist in the song, so to some extent he's inviting ridicule on the singer, as Randy Newman did in Short People. But for me, his deadpan delivery allows for perceptions of other people's lives to be made without judgment, and he turns the mirror on the listener, to make their own minds up. Best example for me is the Hair of the Widow of Bridlington...beauty and poignancy and tragedy and heroism, and a few laughs along the way. And quite the opposite of misogynistic here! The Blacksmith and the Toffeemaker similarly. If anyone wants to try it, here's a link...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xyNbd1czeyk
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Everyone should listen to Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant.
Worth 20mins of anyones time!
Tom.
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i clicked on that youtube link you put up The S
it had over a million views!! with people screaming with laughter (in all the correct places)
omg theres a lot of money in comedy ...the only trouble was i didnt laugh once
For me, the comedy in that one comes fairly clearly from the contrast between style and content. Funnily enough, my friend (and producer) recently played me another comedy "lullaby" song which is perhaps even sicker than that one, by Tim Minchin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFANzZTdYM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFANzZTdYM)
I'm never too sure what to make of this type of humour - sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cringe, and there are one or two places where I definitely think he goes too far. But it's certainly very well done.
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Best example for me is the Hair of the Widow of Bridlington...beauty and poignancy and tragedy and heroism, and a few laughs along the way. And quite the opposite of misogynistic here! The Blacksmith and the Toffeemaker similarly. If anyone wants to try it, here's a link...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xyNbd1czeyk
It's a very charming song, without a doubt, and it tells a good story. But it didn't make me laugh, I'm afraid. It's more like a modern re-creation of a folk song in my view (though the boundaries between folk and comedy can be blurred sometimes).
"Leopold Alcox" (is that the right spelling?) is vaguely amusing perhaps, but the tempo is so slow and plodding that a lot of the humour is spoilt. I know that's his style but if I were performing it I'd take it a good deal faster!
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I thought I'd resurrect this topic because last night I performed "I Like Trucking" from Not the Nine O'Clock News. It's probably a good example of why comedy songs don't often sell. It works pretty well as a stand-alone song in my opinion, but it was really the video that made it - people remember the squashed hedgehog or Pamela Stephenson fondling the gearstick rather than the song itself. Which is a pity, because there are some quite clever lyrics and it's surprisingly interesting musically - it took me longer to learn than I expected.
A couple of weeks ago I performed another comedy song from the same era that did have some commercial success, and coincidentally also from a TV programme, Spitting Image. It was "The Chicken Song", written as a deliberate parody of those irritating holiday disco songs like "Agadoo" by Black Lace. Ironically, it ended up at number 1 for three weeks while "Agadoo" was only able to reach number 2! Not sure why it did so well - everyone hated it at the time, but then you were meant to hate it, so I suppose it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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I decided a few weeks ago to leave comedy out of my lyrics - barring the odd (hopefully) funny line.
The "Ashley Madison" song I wrote a while back now kind of irritates me...I think I'll re-record it with some new lyrics...
I'd always hoped to be able to weave some comedy into my songs, but for me...I can't really make it work.
I get the feeling that it detracts from the music, unless the music lends itself to comedy too.
Out and out comedy or novelty songs are fine, I think (I'm happy enough with "Control-Alt-Delete") but a straight song with funny lyrics is something I'll be avoiding in future...
My contrary nature led me to believe that it could be used to kind of sucker-punch the listener and therefore have more impact...but I'm no longer sure that's even feasible...and it's certainly beyond me...
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I think tongue-in-cheek is the way to go.
People don't want to hear the same joke told a hundred times, but if there is just a "hint" that the song isn't to be taken seriously I think it works. I tried to do that in my song "Print me a New Girlfriend" - not sure I succeeded 100%. I got comments (from another site) that it should have been a lot funnier ;D ;D
Paul
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Interesting - I often like to write and record songs with humour, which when i think about it is quite different from a comedy song. Although i guess comedy is a broad church so comedic songs are too ???
:)
Neil
ps one of my favourites comedy records is on the B side of let it be - here the long version with Brian Jones on sax... check it out the gooning about, love the last verse. http://musicpleer.cc/#!361ad72a379faac736082f9d92fa1b68 (http://musicpleer.cc/#!361ad72a379faac736082f9d92fa1b68). Mind have you here their stoned version of 'and your bird can sing' on Anthology 2?
:-) Neil
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Here's a comedy song I haven't tired of yet ;D I think it's her expressions that make it, though.
Fascinating Aida "Dogging"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzaVOk_Ydk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzaVOk_Ydk)
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I decided a few weeks ago to leave comedy out of my lyrics - barring the odd (hopefully) funny line.
The "Ashley Madison" song I wrote a while back now kind of irritates me...I think I'll re-record it with some new lyrics...
Don't throw them away - they're brilliant comedy lyrics! I remember reading them before I heard your tune for them, and imagining a rather different tune. I agree that the tune probably doesn't match the spirit of the lyrics but that's not the fault of the lyrics. Would you object if I tried to write my own tune for them?
The only problem with that song, as with many comedy songs, is that it's a topical one and some of the references probably wouldn't mean much to many listeners any more. I'd actually forgotten all about Ashley Madison until I read your lyrics. But that's in the nature of a lot of comedy songwriting.
I'd always hoped to be able to weave some comedy into my songs, but for me...I can't really make it work.
I get the feeling that it detracts from the music, unless the music lends itself to comedy too.
It depends on what you're trying to achieve, I suppose. In most comedy songs the primary emphasis is on the words, and the music is a vehicle for delivering the humour in the right places. If your primary aim is to get your audience to enjoy the music then maybe comedy lyrics aren't the best thing. But I don't think the music in a good comedy song is in any way inferior to the music in other songs. I've still got the tune of "I Like Trucking" going round my head - it's pretty catchy!
Out and out comedy or novelty songs are fine, I think (I'm happy enough with "Control-Alt-Delete")
Yes, that was hysterical. If you can come up with more of the same I'll be delighted!
but a straight song with funny lyrics is something I'll be avoiding in future...
I don't quite know what you mean by "a straight song with funny lyrics". If a song has funny lyrics, then by my definition it's automatically a comedy song. I'd persevere if I were you, but I'm not of course...
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Hello Guy...thanks :)
You're more than welcome to the "Ashley Madison" lyrics...I'd love to hear a different interpretation of them...the one line I was torn with was choosing between
"Elizabeth's a game old bird from Buckingham"
Or
"Alice...a good-looking lass from Sunderland"
which gets the "Alice in Wonderland" thing in...plus a "through the looking glass" gag too...but may have not fitted as well...
Anyway...yours to do with as you wish...
When I said a "straight song" I just meant one without any comedic pointers...one that could have "serious" lyrics...I don't know if that makes any more sense :D
I think music for comedy songs would be at least as difficult to write as any other...quite possibly more so. But I honestly don't know!
I always loved Fred Astaire's "we saw the sea" it's quite pointed and almost mutinous...but done in a very light-hearted way...
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Anyway...yours to do with as you wish...
Thanks! I'll get a tune and some chords written and try it out. I don't have any recording facilities of my own but I can probably blag some time at the studio attached to my community centre - I do enough voluntary work for them!
When I said a "straight song" I just meant one without any comedic pointers...one that could have "serious" lyrics...I don't know if that makes any more sense :D]
It's a difficult one to pull off, I agree. Elsewhere on the forum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgHwwYK4k1U) I mentioned "The Ballad of the Shape of Things", sung by Blossom Dearie, which I think is a sublime example. Here's another one from my all-time favourites Flanders and Swann- "The Armadillo":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5IUkIu1Zx4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5IUkIu1Zx4)
Almost brings a tear to the eye!