Any Dopers consider themselves great achivists of old novelty songs?
I’d love to find a really good compilation. Problem I have collecting songs like this is that the folks who recorded them weren’t neccessarily comedy acts, so it’s not as easy as just finding the artist who performed a particular song then exploring more of that artist’s recordings.
Sure, if you dig a funny Tom Lehrer song you can buy a Tom Lehrer album and you’ll be pretty happy. But, in the case of the songs I’m talking about it was more often the case that the novelty song was the one novelty song performed by that artist, just thrown in for good measure.
I could, and have, look up individual songs on the web, but I’m more interested in learning songs, through research, that I don’t already know. The Muppet Show was always great for digging up these old songs, but if it was ever on the Muppet Show, I probably already know it.
I’m thinking of pre-50’s songs.
Examples of what I’m talking about:
“A Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ But a Bird”
“Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish”
“Lydia the Tatooed Lady”
“Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”
“Daisy (Bicycle Built for Two)”
If anyone happens to know of a compilation that has a bunch of songs that would fit well with those songs that would be awesome.
Or, if there’s a cool archivist who has a website?
Dr. Demento had a compilation “The Greatest Novelty Hits of All Time – the 1940s.” I don’t know if it in print (probably not), but you can find a playlist here.
I have a cd called “Mairzy Doats,” which contains the title song plus 23 others, like “Walter, Walter, Lead Me to the Altar” and “My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes.”
I have another great one called Wonderful Nonsense: Fun Songs of the Roaring Twenties, but it seems to be out of print, although you can get it used on Amazon. Includes such deathless classics as “Masculine Women! Feminine Men!,” “Barney Google,” “Taint No Sin to Dance Around in Your Bones,” and “Every Night I Bring Her Frankfurter Sandwiches.”
I never knew this was an old song. I probably should have, but They Might Be Giants are just so bizarre…it seemed like the kind of song they’d write. :smack:
Songs like Fido Is a Hot Dog Now, My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle, Everybody Works But Father, If I Knock the “L” Out of Kelly, He Lost Her on the Subway, Sister Susie’s Sewing Shirts for Soldiers, They’re Wearing Them Higher in Hawaii . . .
“I’ve got a bimbo down on Bamboo Isle
She’s waiting there for me
Beneath a bamboo tree
Believe me she’s got the other bimbos beat a mile.
She dances gayly, daily, she’d be a hit with Barnum Bailey
I’ll build a bungalo on the Bamboo Isle
'Cause when I go again I’ll stay awhile
I’ve seen wrecks,
Plenty of wrecks out on the stormy sea
But by heck there never was a wreck like the wreck she made of me
For all she wore was a great big Zulu smile
My little bimbo down on the Bamboo Isle!”
I know that Eve started a thread about sites with old music for download. I can’t find the bookmark right now, but I’ll keep looking, unless she comes back first.
Other than the link posted above, the only one I can think of is The Big Broadcast (pop music of the 1920s and '30s), which you can access through http://wfuv.org/ (go to “archives” and “The Big Broadcast”). It’s great for background music; not so much if you’re looking for a particular song or a novelty song, though.
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