I can think of Ringo Starr’s version of “You’re Sixteen”. What are some others?
Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”…his was called “Smells Like Nirvana”…had a section with kazoos in it IIRC.
Skyy did a song called Skyzoo. Sample lyric:
Whatcha gonna do?
I’m gonna play
I’m gonna play
My Skyzoo!
If anybody else but me remembers this song, please speak up. I’d like to be able to point this thread to some people I know so that they can stop calling me crazy whenever I mention this song.
Define “pop.”
Jug bands of the 1920s and 1930s usually featured a kazoo, and not for laughs either. Along with the mouth organ, it usually soloed and carried the melody.
Some of the most popular (with recordings still in print) are the Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers.
On Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album, there was a song with kazoos; I think it was called “San Francisco Bay.”
UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY by Paul McCartney (“Hands across the water”)
I think the Beatles also used kazoos in the weird part (hah) of Yellow Submarine.
It’s while since I’ve heard it (thank goodness), but I believe a kazoo was used in the chorus of Mould Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon.
It’s been a while…
“Cool, Calm and Collected” by the Rolling Stones off Between the Buttons has a pretty cool kazoo solo.
And good luck finding it, but “Stormy Petrel” by Thunderclap Newman has an amazing kazoo solo. It was one of their singles included on the “expanded” Hollywood Dream cd. Sadly, it now appears to be out of print.
Thanks Ike – my favorite of that genre is probably Tommy Johnson’s “I Wonder” – the only surviving record is in terrible shape but the sound of the kazoo and guitar is truly amazing.
This is stretching the definition of pop pretty far, but Leonard Bernstein’s Mass has a kazoo section for the children’s chorus.
“Lady Madonna” by the Beatles
That’s an alto saxophone, I believe.
“Happy Boy” by the Beat Farmers off the Tales of the New West album, with the late Country Dick Montana on lead vocals…
Are there good kazoos made of metal or something? The only kind I’ve seen are the cheap plastic toy ones.
Yes. You can find them in good music stores. The sound is much louder and punchier than the plastic ones.
Some interesting history:
It sure sounds like a kazoo after the choruses in “This Girls in Love with You” by Dionne Warwick, though it might be a saxophone. Quite a buzz on the mouthpiece.
Wasn’t there some group called “Kazoophony” back in the 1970s? I remember checking out a book from the library (when I was 8) called “How to Play The Kazoo” (!) that was written by the lead kazooist of that group.
“Corporal Clegg” from Pink Floyd’s Saucerful of Secrets album—at least I think that’s kazoo.
As to the metal vs. plastic debate, I’d have to say that the Hohner plastic kazoo is to kazoos in general like the Fender Stratocaster is to guitars and Ludwig Supraphonic is to snare drums. Plastic kazoos generally give a warmer, darker sound fitted for the studio as opposed to the metal kazoo which is fitted to live playing with its bright timbre.
Damnitt, ArchitectChore-I opened this thread to post “Corporal Clegg”! You’re right, it is a kazoo…in fact, a whole chorus of kazoos.
The other one I was thinking of was “Hungry Freaks” by Frank Zappa.