# When rock stars get funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389 "2001-11-26T23:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [November 26, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/1 "2001-11-26T23:44:39Z")
I recently picked up Tom Petty’s _Playback_ set and it included the usual hits, misses, and unreleased stuff. Amongst all that were two humorous ditties: “Heartbreakers’ Beach Party” (originally the B-side of “Change of Heart”) and “Moon Pie” (a weird tune the guys threw together in the studio between takes). If you haven’t heard these, you should. Hilarious! A few years ago, U2 did “Dancing Queen” in concert. Definitely against type, but funny. Can you name any other artists who are normally not known for being funny who have recorded stuff like this? Acts like “Weird Al” don’t count since being funny is their act. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/2 "2001-11-26T23:54:37Z")
R.E.M. used to do this stuff all the time as B-sides for their singles. Examples:[ul][li]“Voice of Harold” - Wherein Michael Stipe grabs a gospel album cover and reads it to the tune of “Seven Chinese Brothers.”[_]“King of the Road” a (drunken?) R.E.M. cover of the old Roger Miller tune.[/li][_]“I Will Survive” -Yes, R.E.M. may have been the first out of the gate with an ironic cover of this song.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/3 "2001-11-27T00:04:25Z")
Supercool sixties supergroup Cream gave us _Mother’s Lament_ on _Disraeli Gears_ and _Pressed Rat And Warthog_ on _Wheels Of Fire_. The former relates an unfortunate incident concerning a baby going down a plughole, while the latter concerns the adventures of a Rat (Pressed) and a Warthog. All in all, quite different from _Spoonful_ and _Toad_. ---
**Author:** ![HP\_Ellison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HP\_Ellison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HP_Ellison)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/4 "2001-11-27T00:28:13Z")
though not as well-known as the other artists listed here, Nick Cave and the Badseeds did a cover of Tower of Song for a Leonard Cohen tribute album. Their approach to the cover was to go to a bar, get terribly drunk, and then hammer the song out in one long take. On the tribute album, the song is cut down to about five minutes. However, on certain bootlegs one can find the full thirty-two-minute-long unedited recording. It’s absolutely hilarious; Nick continually screws up the lines, sings in an absolutely awful voice, and the Badseeds vamp about with different arrangements of the song, including a truly-bizarre seventies disco version. Absolutely hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/5 "2001-11-27T00:46:55Z")
…And NONE of you Dopers have mentioned Frank Zappa? …His music is threaded with humor.Sort of like the Musiacal alternative to Gary Treudau. …There is no way to describe Frank, but if you remember his last tune that got Radio play which included the voice of his daughter Moon Unit"VALLEY GIRL" you can just begin to touch on his humor. Some of my Favorites include: We’re Returning Again…Stink Foot Jewish Princess…Evelyn; A Modified Dog I Am The Slime…Greggory Peccary .I suggest you go and find a copy of the Album "OVERNITE SENSATION"it is probly the best listener. .BE WARNED: If you are easily offened please don’t try Frank…You won’t like him. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/6 "2001-11-27T00:50:07Z")
David Bowie. Laughing Nome Song. I think he still gets teased about this one, his one and only David Seville impersonation. -LV ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/7 "2001-11-27T00:51:32Z")
ack. Make that “Laughing Gnome Song”. It makes much more sense that way. -LV ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/8 "2001-11-27T00:53:35Z")
Procul Harum – “Mabel” (“Don’t eat green meat, it ain’t good for you.”) ---
**Author:** ![Swinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Swinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swinger)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/9 "2001-11-27T01:06:55Z")
Korn did an excellent cover of Cheech & Chong’s “Earache My Eye” as a hidden track on their Follow the Leader album, with Cheech himself doing vocals. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/10 "2001-11-27T01:21:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Korn did an excellent cover of Cheech & Chong’s “Earache My Eye” as a hidden track on their Follow the Leader album, with Cheech himself doing vocals. They would play this live too. They’d switch instruments; the singer played drums, the drummer played bass and the bass player sang. I was there to see Rob Zombie, so this was the only song Korn played that I recognized. Let’s not forget the Dead Kennedy’s version of Viva Las Vegas. I also have a bootleg CD where they play Take This Job And Shove It, though I don’t know if there is an official release of it. ---
**Author:** ![Swinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Swinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swinger)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/11 "2001-11-27T01:34:19Z")
Speaking of Rob Zombie, he recorded a surf tune a few years back with the Ghastly Ones called “Halloween (She Get So Mean)”. Words cannot express how hilarious it is to hear Rob Zombie singing campy halloween lyrics in his death metal voice over “spooky”-ish surf music. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/12 "2001-11-27T02:36:37Z")
Loudon Wainright III had a comedy hit with ‘Dead Skunk’. The Beatles had a few wacky songs in their repertoire. Jim Stafford had a comedy hit with “Cow Pattie”, although most of his songs are a little off-the-wall. Steve Goodman (“The City of New Orleans”) had a comedy hit or two, including “You Don’t Even Call Me by my Name” and “The Elvis Impersonator’s Song”. John Prine had a couple of comedy mini-hits with “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” and “Dear Abbey”. And of course, Mariah Carey’s entire career has been a joke (rim-shot). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/13 "2001-11-27T03:24:47Z")
Tom Petty also had a B-side entitled “I’m In Love With A Girl on LSD.” A terrific song, perfect for strumming along with on the back porch. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/14 "2001-11-27T04:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TelcontarStorm \* > \*\*…And NONE of you Dopers have mentioned Frank Zappa? > …His music is threaded with humor.Sort of like the Musiacal alternative to Gary Treudau. > …There is no way to describe Frank, but if you remember his last tune that got Radio play which included the voice of his daughter Moon Unit"VALLEY GIRL" you can just begin to touch on his humor. > Some of my Favorites include: > We’re Returning Again…Stink Foot > Jewish Princess…Evelyn; A Modified Dog > I Am The Slime…Greggory Peccary > > .I suggest you go and find a copy of the Album "OVERNITE SENSATION"it is probly the best listener. > .BE WARNED: If you are easily offened please don’t try Frank…You won’t like him. \*\* Zappa is awesome. I am a huge Zappa fan (as you can tell from my UserName). On the 1971 tour Zappa did a version of **I Want To Hold Your Hand** and **Happy Together**. Zappa also frequently did his own versions 50’s doo wop songs on his tours. ---
**Author:** ![MarkF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MarkF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkF)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/15 "2001-11-27T04:15:40Z")
For fans of XTC and 60’s psychedelia in general, check out their [Dukes of Stratosphear](http://www.coastnet.com/~monkman/dukeweb/dukeindx.htm) stuff. Echo and the Bunnymen were reknowned for going off on tangents during their live shows. I recall snippets of many songs from the likes of Abba, James Brown and others but most bizarrely, one time McCulloch launched into “Over the Rainbow”. Sounded great though. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/16 "2001-11-27T05:32:13Z")
I always thought **Van Halen** had a good sense of humor. Back when David Lee Roth was with them, I mean. On their first album they did “Ice Cream Man”, which was sort of silly, but rocked all the same! Then on Diver Down, they did “Big Bad Bill” and closed the album with an a capella version of “Happy Trails”. If that doesn’t qualify, I don’t know what does. I think I’ll also mention **George Clinton** here. He has a wacky sense of humor, and a lot of his stuff is very funny. It’s not by accident that the Onion uses him in their stories every so often. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/17 "2001-11-27T12:46:34Z")
> [@](#): > > “King of the Road” a (drunken?) R.E.M. cover of the old Roger Miller tune. _very_ drunken. in fact, if you listen closely, you can hear mike mills calling out the chord changes to peter buck; he obviously had forgotten them. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/18 "2001-11-27T13:08:20Z")
Pretty much the entire “Great Rock and Roll Swindle” album by **The Sex Pistols** is hysterical. I love it when they try to sing “Roadrunner.” I’ve got a pretty cool version of “Staying Alive” by Ozzy too. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/19 "2001-11-27T13:14:37Z")
Travis singing “Hit Me Baby one more time” live. I hate travis, and I hate brittney, but its a pretty funny version of the song. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/20 "2001-11-27T13:48:39Z")
The **Police** did one about a blow-up doll that was pretty amusing. _I bounced her in the kitchen and I bounced her in the hall…_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389.md?page=2)