# What are the most irritating songs from the 60s? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227 "2000-12-18T21:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/41 "2000-12-19T16:02:40Z")
“Are you tangling up the eaves stowing away the tiii-imme…” What’s the title and who sings it? I’ve heard it often enough, but I think I’ve blocked out the info. I need to know where to send the hate letters. Sua ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/42 "2000-12-19T16:06:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > \*\*“Are you tangling up the eaves > stowing away the tiii-imme…” > > What’s the title and who sings it? I’ve heard it often enough, but I think I’ve blocked out the info. I need to know where to send the hate letters. > > Sua \*\* Blasphemer! Burn him! 🙂 It’s “Reeling In The Years,” by Steely Dan. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/43 "2000-12-19T16:16:27Z")
When I saw this thread with 30+ posts, I just _knew_ someone would beat me to the 60s song that annoys me the most. Sure enough, **cornflakes** gets the prize! I really hate that flower-wearing hippie San Franciso song. “Signs” is just about as bad. I like a few that have been mentioned (“Red Rubber Ball” for personal reasons; and the Supremes), but most would be on my irritating list. I don’t know exactly when Elton John came out with “Benny and the Jets,” but as soon as I hear the piano plinking the beginning of that one, I change the station pronto. I _like_ Elton John–just not that song. “The Name Game” deserves it own special spot in musical hell. Ditto with most songs named after/promoting a dance. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/44 "2000-12-19T16:17:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > \*\*“Are you tangling up the eaves > stowing away the tiii-imme…” > > What’s the title and who sings it? I’ve heard it often enough, but I think I’ve blocked out the info. I need to know where to send the hate letters. > > Sua \*\* Hehe…it’s Steely Dan, “Reeling in the Years” My personal annoying song is “Timothy” by someone I can’t remember. No, I don’t want to hear a song about cannibalism, thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/45 "2000-12-19T17:55:27Z")
“Build Me Up Buttercup”? “San Francisco”? “Mellow Yellow”? PLEASE tell me you’re teasing. “In the Year 2525” is unquestionably the worst tune ever made, including all the times your cat walked across the piano while you were having nookie. But unmentioned are: Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, or as I call them, Gary F\*\*\*it and the Union Crap. Anything by them. My mom had their greatest hits (!) album - she was in one of those album clubs once - and its copy went, “In 1967 artsy-fartsy types were listening to high-falutin’ stuff like _Pet Sounds_ and _Sgt Pepper_. At that time, a new group emerged dedicated to simplistic mindless pop tunes!” That degrade women. Ecch. Ol’ Gar must have dated Leslie Gore. Gore made Diana Ross sound like Helen Reddy. Ecch times two for anything by her. And if they’d had a child, he’d be Gary Lewis, of the Playboys. He’s Jerry Lewis’ kid IRL, and you can tell the microsecond he opens his gob. “Just My Style” might be a good song, if it weren’t yowled by a teenager who sounds like Jerry Lewis. My mom hates “Band of Gold” by what sounds like the Supremes. It’s about impotence. 'Nuff said, five minutes ago. There’s another “ABC” where the singer (don’t know who) wheedles, “It’s easy, like taking candy, from a baby!” roughly ten million times. Ever try to take candy from a baby? Ever get bit for trying it? Shut up about babies until you learn about them, Mr. ABC. And that goes for the guy who can’t pronounce “baby”, too. “When I think about the good love you gave me, I cry like a bee-bay!” What IS a bee-bay? I have the ungodly feeling I’m ridiculing B.J. Thomas, but if I am, he deserves it. “Last Kiss”. Pearl Jam COVERED this. That’s the ultimate proof crank is bad for you, or whatever it was Eddie Vedder was on at the time. If he was sober, I wanna be drunk. “Backfield in Motion” uses sports cliches to berate a lover. This makes no sense. The Animals, “House of the Rising Sun”. If you can’t get a cat to come even if you offer food, try this group’s cat-in-the-mood screech. They’re using this Australia to see if they can find live thylocines. Elvis, “In the Ghetto”. If he isn’t dead, this should have killed him. Bee Gees, “And the Lights All Went Out in Massachusetts”. The disco years were good. Even if you hate the disco years, compare them to this and the “Joke” song, then talk. I genuinely like “Ellen”, or whatever it’s named. But I hate how it always suckers me into trying to get it to spell something. “L-N-O-G-I-think you’re swell, and you really do me well…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/46 "2000-12-19T18:30:24Z")
“Ob-la-di Ob-la-da” by the Beatles. Hey, I _like_ the Beatles, but that song is a seriously annoying piece of dreck. Also, “Age of Aquarius” is pretty annoying. “When the moon is in the seventh house…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/47 "2000-12-19T18:36:09Z")
Oh yeah, and “Knock Three Times” by (I believe) Tony Orlando. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/48 "2000-12-19T18:37:42Z")
I have never been able to listen all the way through to “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell and the Drells. And I hate, hate, HATE “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul, mostly for the way it extols extra-marital affairs. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/49 "2000-12-19T19:24:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don Jaime \* > I genuinely like “Ellen”, or whatever it’s named. But I hate how it always suckers me into trying to get it to spell something. “L-N-O-G-I-think you’re swell, and you really do me well…” \*\* “Eleanor” by the Turtles. At one point they admitted they owed the record label another single and didn’t want to do it, so they didn’t exactly throw their heart and soul into it. “Eleanor, gee I think You’re swell. You’re my pride and joy, etc.” (Yes, that’s the actual lyric.) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/50 "2000-12-19T19:38:35Z")
Hah I just remebered the truly worst chicken in a basket cabaret song ever, I even saw notes up in a club dressing room banning it. Beautiful Sunday Sunday morning up with the lark, Think I’ll take a walk in the park, My oh my it’s a beautiful day Hey,hey, hey Beautiful Su-unday This is my, my ,my beautiful da-ay-ay When you say, say, say Say that you lo-ove me My oh my what a beautiful day. It has been done by so many idiots I can’t (and won’t)remember the original. I humbly apologise. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/51 "2000-12-19T20:25:48Z")
Cast another vote for 2525. It’ll still suck 525 years from now, and in 3535, and 4545… “Yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy” Love? I think you’ve got gas, maybe. I just get acid reflux when I hear that crappy tune. My all time, run-to-change-the-station, nails-across-the-blackboard, irritating song is “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton. I could care less if she died of brain cancer. She probably gave herself an anuerysm by belching out that annoyingly shrill “ahhhhh-ahhh-ahhhh-ah-ah-ahhhhhhhhh”. Those jerkoffs at Burger King had the crust to use that in a commercial last year, too. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/52 "2000-12-19T20:29:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > > I’m sorry to admit that I have brain cells that are being wasted by containing this information, but The Archies were Ron Dante(?) who went on to…well…remarkably similar things with a group called The Cufflinks, who had a modest hit with a song called “Tracy”. > Fenris \*\* This is blasphemy. Archie would NEVER leave Veronica, Jughead et al. to go solo. I love maudlin songs. This is because I enjoy torturing my family and friends by singing very, very **LOUDLY** and emoting dramatically. Still, I cannot stand the song Patches by The Temps or The Tops or The Spins. Someone needs to call child welfare on these people. Or Charles Dickens. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/53 "2000-12-19T20:33:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don Jaime \* > \*\*“Last Kiss”. Pearl Jam COVERED this. That’s the ultimate proof crank is bad for you, or whatever it was Eddie Vedder was on at the time. If he was sober, I wanna be drunk. > \*\* In fairness to Pearl Jam, their cover of “Last Kiss” was meant as a joke. The single was originally intended as nothing more than their annual fan club release, which is traditionally something weird or silly (like Eddie Vedder singing “My Way” with an Elvis impersonator). It would never have been released to the general public if not for huge popular demand. Explain that one. Personally, I’d take Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” over the J. Frank Wilson and the Cavalier’s version any day. Ol’ Frank’s singing sounds just a bit too chipper considering the subject matter…it’s creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/54 "2000-12-19T21:58:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don Jaime \* > \*\*"I genuinely like “Ellen”, or whatever it’s named. But I hate how it always suckers me into trying to get it to spell something. “L-N-O-G-I-think you’re swell, and you really do me well…” \*\* It’s “Elenore” by the Turtles and I like it too. (Elenore, Gee I think you’re swell and you…etc) I’ve heard a ruor for years (that I haven’t been able to confirm) that the Turtles originally wrote the song as a joke to play on the Beatles by writing a lovesong to the Beatles’ most famous spinster: “Elenore Rigby, Gee you’re swell, you’re my pride and joy etcetra.”, but the Turtles’ lawyers and the Beatles lawyers all decided it would be a bad idea. If it’s not true, it should be. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![mikehardware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mikehardware](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikehardware)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/55 "2000-12-19T22:07:52Z")
All together now, “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, you’ve got a brand new key” Sorry for putting that back into your heads. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/56 "2000-12-19T23:10:52Z")
> [@](#): > > My personal annoying song is “Timothy” by someone I can’t remember. No, I don’t want to hear a song about cannibalism, thanks anyway. That would be “Timothy” by the Bouys. It was written by none other than Rupert Holmes, the genius who gave us “Escape: The Pina Colada Song” and “Him”. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/57 "2000-12-19T23:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > > \*\*“Are you tangling up the eaves > > stowing away the tiii-imme…” > > > > What’s the title and who sings it? I’ve heard it often enough, but I think I’ve blocked out the info. I need to know where to send the hate letters. > > > > Sua \*\* > > Hehe…it’s Steely Dan, “Reeling in the Years” > > My personal annoying song is “Timothy” by someone I can’t remember. No, I don’t want to hear a song about cannibalism, thanks anyway. \*\* Ack, Steely Dan?!!! No WONDER I blocked this information out. I still refuse to believe that such a fantastic group could come up with this abortion. Sua ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/58 "2000-12-20T01:04:31Z")
Oh I HATE “The Age of Aquarius” or whatever it’s called. And “Up Up and Away” by the same group. I think it was 5th Dimension. “Ob La Di Ob La Da” can be annoying, and hey, John Lennon hated it too. 😉 I too hate “Reeling in the Years”. _shudders_ And anything by Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, or any other freaking combination. They are almost as bad as the Supremes (Not because of subject matter, just because they are annoying.) And I basically agree with don jaime on about everything. =) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/59 "2000-12-20T01:13:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > \*\* > “Ob La Di Ob La Da” can be annoying, and hey, John Lennon hated it too. 😉 > \*\* I like the acoustic bootleg version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Dah, but I hate the overproduced version that appeared on the White Album. I think the acoustic version appeared on one of the Beatles Anthologies: a far better song! Fenris ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227/60 "2000-12-20T02:20:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mikehardware \* > \*\*All together now, “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, you’ve got a brand new key” > > Sorry for putting that back into your heads. \*\* Oh, no! This is the one song that, once inserted into my brain, will not leave…ever. Although I try to sing it to the Capitol Steps’ lyrics, re this election. I want a brand new pair of candidates, I think they both have lost. I think we need a new election, I’ll gladly pay the cost. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-irritating-songs-from-the-60s/46227.md?page=4)