"Tiptoe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim
"The Twist" by Chubby Checker
"Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon
"Yakety Yak" by The Coasters
The Twist was not merely a song but a social
phenomenon of the 60s. It was also the first dance
that many of us could actually do!
Photo by Rennie Ellis
All the above titles were just memorable songs.
All of them were outside of the main market fodder of
their time. Good on them that they didn‘t fit into some
cookie-cutter slot.
To me that is the whole POINT of writing. To
create something original. Something out-of-the-box.
A self-contained world of colour and uniqueness.
Some bone-headed music industry critics, who
have never written a REAL song in their life, and who
use these shallow terms to describe unique musical
ideas remind me of those monkeys jumping around
that big black obelisk in the movie 2001. Hoo hoo
hoo. What dat? Poke poke. Dat ain‘t no banana. Hoo
hoo hoo.
Anyway, it is always a matter of context as to
whether a song is even perceived by the myopic
music press as novelty or not. Just about everything
little kids are entertained by would be classified as
novelty in the adult context.
The Purple People Eater
Yellow Submarine
Bob the Builder
If you asked small children to check off which of
the above was a novelty song - they wouldn‘t know
what you were talking about.
Kids either like and understand something - or
they don‘t. They don‘t pigeonhole what inspires them.
Actually, truth be told, most adults are like that,
too. I personally never referred to any of the great
songs I grew up listening to as novelty songs. I didn‘t
even know what that term meant. The Yellow Polka
Dot Bikini, Alley Oop, The Monster Mash, Little Red
Riding Hood, Wooly Bully. To me they were just
great songs. And I still remember their titles to this
day. And their tunes. Which is more than I can say
about most of the so-called serious pop music fodder
that was on the radio at the time. Does anyone recall
the memorable songs of these big 60s acts: The Dells,
The Contours, Darlene Love, The Sonics, Tammi
Terrell, Johnnie Taylor, Archie Bell & The Drells,
Dyke & The Blazers, Gary Lewis & The Playboys,
Hank Ballard & Midnighters, Rufus Thomas, Jimmy
Hughes, Joey Dee & The Starliters?
Wait a minute – I remember! Joey Dee & The
Starliters released Peppermint Twist. (The Twist
again. Hah! I rest my case.)
We actually need more songs that stick in the
memory longer than a few months. Not more
disposable market fodder sickening emotive
sameness. Not more breathless little girls whispering
sweet nothings. Give me some more strange sour
somethings!
If the Beatles had only released the quirky Yellow
Submarine and nothing else, it would be classified as
a novelty song.
On the other hand, my own international Number
One hit song, Shaddap You Face, was classified as a
novelty song by the local music press, but, get this: it
was also covered by US black hip hop legend, KRSONE whose version went into the hip-hop category in
radio programming land – NOT the novelty song slot.
This is what I mean by context.
Yellow Submarine, in context of the Beatles’
catalogue, is just another Beatles’ song. Shaddap
You Face, in the context of KRS-ONE’s catalogue, is
just another hip-hop song.
The context determines the programming category.
Not the song.
Remember, the term novelty record, as a category,
was invented by radio station disc jockeys and music
programmers. Radio stations have to separate records