Sometimes the title or name, in and of itself, is not that funny without context. Still, I was intrigued when I read the title to a Zappa tune, and when I then listened to it, it turned out to be more amusing than I had already imagined it would be. The tune: Dinah-Moe Humm.
"If You Play With My Mind You're Gonna Get Your Hands Dirty", written by Cornell Hurd (formerly of San Jose, California, an Austin tradition since 1979), recorded by the great Springfield, Missouri band The Skeletons (found on their Waiting album).
Bob Rivers has great Christmas songs and titles: Teddy The Red Nosed Kennedy, Grab Your Balls like Michael Jackson (Deck the Halls...), Walkin' 'Round In Women's Underwear (Sleighbells Ring), Buttcracker Suite, I'll Be Stoned for Christmas, Police Stopped My Car (FN), Chipmunks Roasting On An Open Fire, plus his non-holiday cheer: The Girl With Emphysema, and What If God Smoked Cannibis.
During the disco era, Frank Zappa had a great album titled Sheik Yerbouti. Not only did he dress as a Sheik, we all learned that it was actually pronounced "Shake", as in Your Boooty.
Interestingly, The song Dinah Moe Hum had three stand in female singers who sang the chorus, "I got a spot that gets me hot... but you ain't been to it..." They were paid under $200 each for their work on this fantastic album, Overnight Sensation. Each of the Ikettes and Tina made the same money. Their contribution was hidden for years, because Tina Turner and the Ikettes's were contracted with Ike Willis, and presumably the record company. Copies of their pay checks emerged decades later. "Wanna do it on the Flora? How about you Fauna, ya wanna?"
Bob Rivers: Teddy The Red Nosed Kennedy. The Girl With Emphysema. The others by him that were deleted due to censorship... apparently. I don't know it it was the Michael Jackson song, or the parody of I'll be home for Christmas, but I can avoid this if I ever find out.
The other Bob Rivers songs I listed, that were deleted due to censorship... apparently. I
don't know it it was the Michael Jackson song, or the parody of I'll be
home for Christmas, but I can avoid this if I ever find out.
Frank Zappa on Guitar with Jean-Luvc Ponty on violin, in the parody of The Devil Came Down From Georgia. I guess I can't say the title, but it is about bargaining for two things a biker likes more than his soul, T...ies and Beer.
Of course, Dan Hicks" "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" and Lyle Lovett's "I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You" should be mentioned.The Austin Lounge Lizards had a song called "Dallas." The line from the chorus was "I'm Going Back to Dallas, Texas to see if anything could be worse than losing you." Truer words were never spoken.
You are always going to struggle to go past TISM for hilarious album and song names, just a sample. - Machiavelli and the Four Seasons. - Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance - Gentlemen, Start Your Egos - (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River and many more, but most can't be posted in a public forum
Not an amusing album or song title, but an amusing story involving one:
I was in Bleeker Bobs NYC record store in '82, looking for a copy of the female Rockabilly LP entitled Wild, Wild Young Women on Rhino Records. Bob had just told me he didn't have it when Peter Holsapple of the dB's (and in the 90's a member of L.A.'s The Continental Drifters, a fantastic band that included Susan Cowsill and Vicki Peterson of The Bangles) walked in. I knew he was a record collector, so I asked him "Hey, know where I can find Wild, Wild Young Women?" Without missing a beat he replied "Um, St. Marks Place." Those of you familiar with NYC will get the joke ;-) .
Do comedy tracks count? I like the Austin Lounge Lizard song which packs every line with redundancies. It is set in the old west. Some of the redundancies are sort of subtle, such as "As the sun sets in the west. . ." (which other direction would it set?). The name of the track has two redundancies: "Big Rio Grande River."
USA prog band, Happy the Man had a few song tittles that were amusing:
Lunch at the Psychedelicatessen
Knee Bitten Nymphs in Limbo
I Forgot to Push It - The band just got done playing an especially strong take of the song, but the recording engineer forgot to push the button to start recording)
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