# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/41 "2001-11-28T16:41:00Z")
“I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politican” by the Byrds always makes me laugh. The narrator throws out all of these vague and meaningless phrases that sound good in speeches like “you can be sure the future’s ahead”. The rest of the time he makes campaign promises that contradict each other; playing to the middle, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![SolomonGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SolomonGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolomonGrundy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/42 "2001-11-28T23:41:49Z")
Also, there’s a second-hand story I forgot: A few months (year?) ago Saturday Night Live ran a “Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult” sketch with Christopher Walken as the band’s manager, desperate to get them to add more cowbell to “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” A friend was at one of Blue Oyster Cult’s concerts shortly after the sketch first aired, and during “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” they had a guy come up and play cowbell all in the lead singer’s face. (I didn’t even know they were still doing concerts…) ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/43 "2001-11-29T05:05:52Z")
i had a jackson browne bootleg on vinyl. he was playing some women’s college and he was very high. in fact, before starting ‘cocaine’, he quipped that hed had his share and someone elses too, that night. he did a number called ‘youd rather be fucking a doorknob.’ i remember the first verse. well it came to me as you came you dont even know my name youd just as soon be fucking a doorknob you asshole you. the chorus went: you just want meat! you dont want me you asshole you. hilarious. im also very fond of roxy music’s ‘in every dream home a heartache’, off ‘for your pleasure.’ its a nifty little number about a rubber woman. ‘i blew up your body, but you blew my mind!’ ---
**Author:** ![someone\_else](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@someone\_else](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/someone_else)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/44 "2001-11-29T06:04:23Z")
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, this punk act that only does covers, but covers of songs that you wouldn’t think would work… But “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Phantom of the Opera” were crying out to be done as punk songs. And their version of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” is definitive. “When I haver, WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS…” Yeah, I know they’re a comedy act, but they deserved mention. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/45 "2001-11-29T09:06:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolomonGrundy \* > **Huh, I just posted this in another thread, but it’s more appropriate here. I’ve only got two albums by The Cardigans, so I don’t know if it’s a running gag, but the two I have have light-jazz covers of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and “Iron Man.” “Iron Man” in particular is absolutely hilarious.** I’m a big geeky Cardigans fan and I can’t let this one get by without saying that the arrangement on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is genius…the guitar break in the middle is impossibly simple and effective. Their guitarist is a master. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/46 "2001-11-29T13:46:29Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by spoke- \* \*\* [li]“I Will Survive” -Yes, R.E.M. may have been the first out of the gate with an ironic cover of this song.[/list] \*\*[/li][/QUOTE] Haha! My favorite part is when he apologizes for not knowing the rest of the words 😃 Pink Floyd “Bike” is an awesome tune, very cute. And “The Gnome” from the same album 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/47 "2001-11-29T13:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > > \*\*Acts like “Weird Al” don’t count since being funny is their act. \*\* > > I’d like to take issue with this statement in the OP. When has Weird Al ever been anything other than embarrassingly lame? \*\* :eek: BLASPHEMY!!! I just remembered another one. The Ozzy cover of “Stayin’ Alive” is hilarious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/48 "2001-11-29T13:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by someone\_else \* > \*\*And their version of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” is definitive. “When I haver, WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS…” \*\* Hehe! I love that song. It’s really weird to me that everyone knows it now since it was in that movie… the Proclaimers used to be one of those ultra-obscure bands that my husband and I were always turning our friends on to. (btw, haver means to babble on and on from what I’ve been told; the dictionary lists it as “to hem and haw”… but who on earth knows that?? Very odd choice of a word to include in a song!) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/49 "2001-11-29T14:13:36Z")
I was going to suggest **The Divine Comedy** , but actually most of their music is filled with whimsy. Check out [Promenade](http://www.unremarkable.force9.co.uk/indulgence/lyrics/lpromenade.html) as one example (it’s funnier in listening, especially “The Booklovers”). But they ought to win some sort of prize for being the creators of “My Lovely Horse”, as heard on _Father Ted_. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/50 "2001-11-29T14:33:59Z")
On the **Beastie Boy’s** _The Sounds of Science/_ anthology, they have a cover of _Benny and the Jets_ that cracks me up every time… Oh, and the **Presidents of the U.S.A.** -I pull that CD out once in a while when I need to laugh. _we’re not gonna ma-a-a-ak it 'cause there’s a million better bands with a million better songs drummers who can drum and singers who can sing_ ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389/51 "2001-11-29T14:35:47Z")
geez, I guess I could have screwed that post up a little more, but I’m not sure how… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-rock-stars-get-funny/95389.md?page=2)