To be honest, I have it on 1967-1970 a.k.a. “The Blue Album”.
I don’t especially hate it, but I still skip it every time.
First time I heard Janis Joplin’s Pearl, I thought “Mercedes Benz” was pretty funny, but knew I’d be sick of it within two weeks’ time.
I was wrong–it was more like two days.
Each time you hear a novelty number, it tends to be exactly one-half as funny as the previous listening. When everyone and their dog thinks they can double the original laugh with their own bad rendition, that pushes it into negative numbers fast!
It’s a novelty song? I thought it was a song of deep social and political import.
It’s not by any definition a novelty song.
Cite on Robertson vocals? Sure sounds like Levon. This person on the internet thinks so too.
Differences of opinion don’t mean anything, but to me it’s a lovely song --right up there with Whispering Pines– with a gorgeous Garth solo. And I did used to sing my daughter to sleep with it.
Huh. That’s a very good site (I’ve visited plenty of times) and I was sure I’d seen All La Glory cited as one of Robertson’s lead vocals. Wikipedia says he sang lead on To Kingdom Come, Knockin’ Lost John, and another song I haven’t heard. The funny thing about is that the first time I heard All La Glory I thought it sounded like Levon but at some point I became convinced I’d seen cites that showed Robbie was the one who sang it. I guess this means I’ll have to listen to it again. I didn’t recognize Knockin’ Lost John as a Robbie vocal either- I thought that was a group effort.
I love PJ, but this is probably her worst album. Who The Fuck is awful, as is Cat on the Wall. But it does have some good songs, like The Desperate Kingdom of Love, one of her best in my opinion.
Hi Marley23. Apologies for another diverging opinion so soon, but I’ve got no problem calling Mercedes Benz a novelty song.
Wikipedia definition (footnoted, but I haven’t followed them):
[INDENT]A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 30s.
Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation[/INDENT]
Comical. Parody of blues or gospel. Unusual sounds (Conspicuously acapella with overly emotive singing). Performed primarily for its comical effect.
I tried that once but the needle scratched the record…
For me, it always changed the album into a Chipmunks song. Looks like you got the better deal.
It’s definitely Levon.
I’ve never understood the simile in that song: “All la glory, I’m second story
Feel so tall like a prison wall” Seems bizarre in a lullaby.
Yup, it’s Levon. He’s singing so softly that I found it hard to tell, but his accent gives it away. I still don’t like the song, but I can see it working as a lullaby. Knockin’ Lost John is Robbie double tracked, which is a bad idea twice.
I don’t think any of that is correct. I don’t find the song comical, it’s not a parody of anything, there are no unusual sounds (it can’t have “unusual sounds” and be a capella at the same time, and “overly emotive” is how Joplin sang), and it’s not for comic effect. It’s about a poor woman who envies her rich friends. I think we would agree it has an ironic component - the gospel style highlighting the commentary on crass consumption as the cause of the singer’s sorrow - but she’s not trying to make you laugh. I think the sadness is supposed to be real and isn’t played for laughs.
Yeah, it’s horrible, but it’s only 46 seconds long and over the years it’s turned into the foil/setup for the awesome Flexible Flyer in my mind.
Fitter/Happier and Electioneering are great on OK Computer. The one song I would remove is Exit Music (For a Film). It’s a beautiful song, but it doesn’t seem to fit with the conceptual feel of the rest of the album.
Just a general rant without specifics… If you try to buy a “classic” album from the 60s or 70s, it seems they always get remastered and resold with “bonus” tracks that weren’t in the original. If you’re lucky, they stick them on after the last of the old tracks, but sometimes they stick them at the start or in the middle.
I HATE that! I didn’t buy much music back in those days, and I want my nostalgia unadulterated, without junk, much of it contemporary with the original recordings, that was left off the first time for good reason. Or even worse, entirely new recordings thrown in for Og knows what reasons.
Picking oddball, less than stellar songs on Beach Boys, Beatles, Stones, or Dylan albums isn’t tough. They all were putting albums out at such a clip, a little padding was necessary. It was also part of the acid/weed/hippy drug attitude to have some whimsical/not give a sh*t songs. Sort of joke tracks.
It’s an unimportant hijack, but I’ll counter once more before dropping it.
[INDENT]Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV ?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,[/INDENT]
That’s not an attempt at comedy? Name checking “Dialing For Dollars” also ties into the Reference to Current Events that the Wikipedia definition mentioned.
More: the type of person who has many friends driving Porsches is not likely to be the woman who watches Dialing for Dollars. And she waits for delivery each day until 3:00? That is supposed to be comedy, not sociological observation.
I’ll maintain my assertion that acapella can be an unusual sound. Of course it isn’t a Spike Jones bladder, but it can be equivalent to a song featuring a prominent cowbell, penny whistle, or tuba. All of those things can be used affectingly or for comedic effect, and when they pointedly call attention to themselves it moves toward comedic effect.
The song doesn’t sacrifice everything for the laugh ala Dead Puppies, or The Streak or Fishheads, but it meets some definitions of “Novelty Song.”
I don’t think so.
That’s not what Wikipedia is talking about. They’re talking about songs that are written about events in the news, like if a morning show rewrote “Somebody That I Used To Know” with lyrics about Mitt Romney getting booed during his NAACP address.
We’re talking about what this song is, not what a cappella can be. This is how Janis Joplin sang. She’s not doing anything unusual in that song and it’s not an over the top performance, at least not by her already dramatic standards. It may or may not be to your liking, but she’s not exaggerating for comic effect. I think you’re right to point to a kind of irony in Mercedes Benz, but it’s a sad irony that isn’t intended for comic effect, and it’s nothing close to a novelty song. I also think it’s one of her more memorable songs, and I’ll leave it at that.
I have to disagree, Marley. I have a version (not sure if it’s the ‘main’ version) where she intros the song by saying something like, “This is a song of great social import.” At the end of it she giggles. I think she saw it as some kind of comedy or parody, even if it contained some social criticism.
That’s a great point…that’s a happy transition to a fantastic song. Which I’m going to go listen to now.