Musical Jokes--The Funniest Jokes Known to Man

Cafe Society
1

Well, maybe you might disagree. Anyway, this idea came up when I was playing a fan-made sequel to Zak McCracken last night. Within the first ten minutes of playing the game, I had recognized the stargate’s theme from Stargate (I’m not really quite sure what to call it, but I think that it’s a fair description.) It also had the Imperial March, the love theme from the Monkey Island series, and so on.

You might argue that these aren’t musical jokes but musical references. While that’s true, I busted out laughing when I heard them because whoever made the decisions to put those particular bits in hit it just right.

Similarly, PDQ Bach. While a little PDQ Bach goes a long way, Schickele’s composing as PDQ is great in that the stuff is musically right but weird. It’s also often peppered with little references to other works.

This was brought up by Diogenes’ thread over in the Pit about the use of God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch and Mtgman’s post in that thread, where I thought this would be a bad hijack but a decent thread.

So, what do you think? Are musical jokes incredibly funny, or are they the non-verbal equivalent of puns?

2

Depends on who’s doing them. Spike Jones or The Bonzo Dog band can have you in stitches with some of their instrumentals. Listen to the Bonzo’s “Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold” or “Dr. Jazz” – hilarious jazz instrumentals. Jones’s “Dance of the Hours” is very funny, too, and his “Cocktails for Two,” though a song with lyrics, is funny because of the music, not the lyrics (which are played completely straight).

There are also some amusing musical quotes. One of my favorites is the last four notes of the Doors’s “Touch Me.” The reference is completely forgotten now, but back when it was released, everyone knew exactly what they were: the last four notes of the Ajax Laundry Detergent jingle (“Stronger than dirt.”)

Matthew Fisher recorded “Going for a Song,” about how tired he was of playing the same song concert after concert because it was their biggest hit. He worked in a quote from “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Fisher had been with Procul Harum when the song was released.

Martin Mull quoted from several classic riffs in his song “Licks Off Of Records,” a song about a musician who could only play what others had recorded. Mull’s “Dueling Tubas” was another hilarious instrumental.

The Beatles’s use of “The Marseillaise” at the beginning of “All You Need is Love” is also a great musical quote.

3

It’s not just the notes: the words “stronger than dirt” are heard, too. :slight_smile:

Along the same lines, at the very end of Captain & Tennille’s Love Will Keep Us Together the listener hears “Sedaka is back,” followed by applause. A reference to Neil Sedaka, one would imagine, though I’ve never bothered to find out what he had come back from…

4

I’ve been told a friend who was a music student that the little jazz interlude on Zappa’s “Nanook Rubs It” on Apostrophe between:

Well right about that time, people,
A fur trapper
Who was strictly from commercial
<interlude here>
(Strictly Commershil)

…was a well known jazz piece Frank was poking fun at.

5

I find musical jokes highly amusing. A good snippet of a song can add that certain je ne sai quois to a moment if it is the right song at the right time. The example which may have inspired this thread would be playing a snippet of “I Fought the Law and the Law Won” as a player is being ejected from a baseball game.

Or it can create a moment if it is the wrong song at the right time. I’ve spent a good amount of time working in live performance venues and there is very little that can crack a group of people up faster than a good musical joke. Lots of these have a basis as practical jokes and it is hard to get into the ones which are too thought out. Imagine a talent show performance where someone has worked out a lip-synched dance routine to a song that starts out with a big booming serious intro. The DJ, during a rehersal, swaps that soundtrack out with “I’m a little teapot” or something equally light and frilly. The look on their face is usually just priceless. A friend and I did a karaoke duet of “Beauty and the Beast” at a mutual(male) friend’s wedding. The look on his face when he recognized the song was pretty good.

Other examples involve some more planning and much more subtle jokes. Musical directors picking pop music for their soundtracks can be really funny. The “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” sequence from Spider-Man 2 was worth a grin. Others just make you keep coming back to them and thinking about how they work on so many levels. I’d say they have at least as much range as puns, probably far more.

Enjoy,
Steven

6

And at the very end of the song, as the Marseillaise theme returns, you can hear one of them sing “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah” in the background.

7

I’ve seen that mentioned, but I’ve never noticed the words. The tune is more than enough. :slight_smile:

ELO’s “Roll Over Beethoven” quotes extensively from the first movement of his fifth symphony.

In the song “It’s a Grand Old Flag,” George M. Cohan quotes directly from “Auld Lang Syne.”

8

IIRC, it’s Paul.

9

Sugarloaf’s “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You,” a funny song about a band getting the brushoff from a record executive they’re trying to impress, includes some jocular snippets of the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine.”

10

This one is glaringly obvious to all…

In TTT, Legolas is shooting off his arrows at invading orcs at Helm’s Deep. The music is in full crescendo, heartstirring battle theme.

Then he steps on a fallen’s soldier’s shield and slides down the walkway–skateboarding!–as he keeps shooting… and the theme from “Back to the Future” plays for only a few seconds.
I’ll think of a better one soon.

11

The thread title made me think of a scene in Fast Times at Ridgmont High, when Damone tells Rat that when he goes to make his move with Stacy, he must be playing side 2 of Led Zeppelin IV. Cut to Rat and Stacy in his car, and “Kashmir” from Physical Graffiti is playing on the tape deck.

John. And if you listen closely, you can also hear snatches of “Greensleeves” and
“In the Mood” in the fade-out.

12

I stand corrected.

13

My roommate in college was playing a computer game that was playing music which I recognized. After a few moments thought, I realized it was the Ballad of Sir Robin from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In the game, you can have a bard which plays music that has different effects. The effect of this song was to cause fear in enemies.

14

In “The Big Chill,” which was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, the screenwriter of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” there’s a scene in which the women are screaming because a bat is loose in the house. Kevin Kline grabs a tennis racket and goes after the bat, singing out the Indiana Jones theme music.

15

Frank Zappa’s musical references deserve a thread or a book of their own. The song with probably the most is “Rhymin’ Man,” about Jesse Jackson. Of course, FZ’s favorite song to quote was “Louie Louie.”

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There’s a professional musician named Steven Saxon who brings his trumpet to Oakland A’s games (see his web page here ). The Trumpet Guy gets off some pretty good musical puns during the course of a game. Here are some I have heard:

When Josh Phelps came to bat, he played the theme to Mission Impossible.

For Alexis Rios: the theme from Dynasty.

When Erubiel Durazo drew an intentional base on balls, he played Walking My Baby Back Home.

For Esteban German: Deutchland Über Alles.

Chad Bradford is a relief pitcher who throws underhanded, “submarine” style. For him, Saxon played Yellow Submarine.

For Chris Gomez: the theme from The Addams Family.

For Simon Pond: the theme from The Waltons. Get it? “Walton” Pond? OK - they’re not all good.

For David DeJesus: Jesus Is Just All Right With Me.

For Desi Relaford: the theme from I Love Lucy.

For Joe Randa: Help Me Rhonda.

For Alex Rodriguez: If I Were a Rich Man (A-Rod has a highly publicized huge salary).

When Miguel Tejada got five hits in one game: Take Five.

When Eric Chavez hit a home run: Downtown.

For Donnie Sadler: Back in the Saddle Again.

On of his best puns was a sort of inside joke. A fan once threw a cell phone at Carl Everett in right field at the Oakland Coliseum. In a game not too long after that, when Everett came to bat Saxon played Call Me.

17

I really like how Pink Floyd’s “One Of These Days” has a snippet of the “Doctor Who” theme music in the middle of it.

18

On the first King Crimson album, during the 10 minute psychedelic jam session in “Moonchild,” Robert Fripp plays a bar of “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” from “Oklahoma!”

19

In Moxy Fruvous’ rap version of Green Eggs and Ham, just before the singer says he wouldn’t eat them with a red fox, there’s a snippet of the theme from Sanford and Son.

And two from John Wesley Harding. In When the Beatles Hit America, a hypothetical story of the frenzy surrounding a Beatles reunion, he throws in a few references; including John at a press conference answering all questions by quoting from his old songs. (“but he always was the cryptic one.”) He also does “July 13th, 1985”, about the Live Aid concert, and finishes it with a riff from “Drive”, by The Cars.

20

Whoa, I never noticed that! Now I’ll have to go back and listen for it. Maybe this time I’ll be able to stay awake through the most boring part of an otherwise kickass album.