Hello, our dear music loving listeners! This week on the show: TORTURE!
That’s right! Blame Dave for this week’s show because he decided it would be great fun to make some mixtapes of novelty songs for a friend. Sure, great fun for Dave, but what about us???
Since he made three mixtapes of novelty songs, we thought it would be an unfortunate and painful pile-on to do all three of them over the course of the six shows in a row, so we are going to intersperse these novelty song mixtapes amidst the regular mixes to make the whole process less horrible.
We blame Dave!
Just kidding! It’s all great!
But we still blame Dave.
Thanks for listening.
- Harry Nilsson – “You’re Breaking My Heart” – Son of Schmillson, 1972
- Robyn Hitchcock – ‘Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl” – I Often Dream of Trains, 1986
- Buzzcocks – “Noise Annoys” – Singles Going Steady, 1979
- Thunderclap Newman – “Wilhelmina” – 45″ Single B-side – b/w “Something in the Air”, 1969
- The Who – “Now I’m a Farmer” – Odds and Sods, 1974
- Todd Rundgren – Onomatopoeia” – Hermit of Mink Hollow, 1978
- The Adverts – “One Chord Wonders” –Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, 1978
- Jeffrey Frederick and the Clamtones – “Beer Shits” – Spiders in the Moonlight, 1977
- Nick Lowe – “Nutted By Reality” – Jesus of Cool, 1978
- Tom T. Hall – “A Week in a Country Jail” – Homecoming, 1969
- Timebox – “Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye” – 45″ single “Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye” b/w “Poor Little Heartbreaker”, 1969
- Brute Force – “King of Fuh” – 45″ single A-side – b/w “Nobody Knows”, 1969
- Beck – “Debra” – Midnight Vultures, 1999
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
No links to the podcast!
Thanks, Pierce! All fixed!
My girlfriend has been listening for a while and said she wished she had had a dad like you. I agreed.
Wow. Thanks for that, Pierce, and your girlfriend. I’m blushing!
Lovely episode, folks. I’d have commented before now, but always like to listen to these shows a second time, particularly if some songs haven’t connected straight away. Dave, your summary of the Eagles – ‘If they’re not singing about how great they were, they’re lecturing you on how bad you are’ – was just perfect. Got to take issue, though, with the comment about Abbey Road not being fun. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer? Octopus’s Garden? Oh! Darling? Mean Mr Mustard? Polythene Pam? They’re all novelty songs in a way. Anyway, on to the mixtape – ‘Let it rip,’ you said…
Nilsson – Wow, you can almost smell the cocaine coming off this track. Probably a fun session for the musicians, but I’d have liked it more if they’d ended after the first chorus. A one-joke song that drags on too long.
Robyn Hitchcock – I really like Robyn Hitchcock and enjoyed this on a musical level. Lyrically, though, it’s creepy as hell. Wonder how he feels about it now? A misfire from a usually great writer.
Buzzcocks – Wonderful.
Thunderclap Newman – Nope. Trying hard to be cute and quirky, but just comes off as smug. Liked the drumming.
The Who – Good b-side. Always loved Keith Moon’s use of the drum kit as a lead instrument. Possibly Nicky Hopkins on the piano again? Great playing, whoever it is.
Todd Rundgren – Now, this is funny. Not usually a big fan of Rundgren, but this one got me. Catchy, silly, irresistible.
The Adverts – Meh.
Jeffrey Frederick and the Clamtones – Really fun song with great interplay between the musicians, and the joke is perfectly timed. Nilsson could have learned a thing or two from this.
Nick Lowe – There are better songs on Jesus of Cool – Little Hitler is a personal fave – but I love the feel they get with this. I remember an interview where Nick Lowe explained he’d read a review in the NME or somewhere that included the line ‘Nick Lowe is the Jesus of Cool’. He thought to himself ‘that’s an incredibly stupid comment’ – and lo, an album title was born.
Tom T Hall – Seriously, THIS was a hit?
Timebox – It was alright. Liked it better second time.
Brute Force – Similar to the first song – a single joke that fades through repetition, and in this case wasn’t funny enough to begin with, IMHO.
Beck – Yes! Yes! Like Flight of the Conchords, this works both as a parody and a great song in its own right. Nice one to end on.
Now, what delights await in episode 14?
Thanks, Chris, for calling me out on my Abbey Road comment. When I heard myself say that while I was editing the show, I’d hoped someone would comment on that, and you did!
The Beatles were great jokesters on their albums. Even an album as “serious” as Sgt. Pepper has some great bits on it: John’s acidic commentary in his backing part on “Getting Better”, “A Little Help from My Friends”, “Lovely Rita”, the entirety of “Mr. Kite”, etc.
I could have and probably should have included “You Know My Name” in these novelty comps, but didn’t. I would have ten years ago or so, but now it feels too well known. When I first heard it as a young child, it was as the b-side to “Let It Be”. And I MUCH preferred it to “Let It Be”.
Thanks for you comments on the songs – though some of your dislikes seemed odd. When you don’t like certain songs, I usually put it down to your dislike of Glasgow, but maybe Scotland’s bizarre love of country music is another one of your bugbears!
Keep on writin’ in the free world!
Cheers, Dave. I love Glasgow, however, so bang goes that theory! All genres of music are fine with me, too. When I’m responding here, it’s very much song-by-song. These comments are all meant in good fun, and anyway, they’re just, like, my opinions, man. Totally agree on ‘You Know My Name’ – fantastic record.
Long may you pun!
Usually I like to listen to these twice before commenting, but I draw the line at listening to a collection of novelty songs more than once. Ha. JK. I’ve just been really busy and have fallen behind, but thought I’d comment now before I (maybe thankfully) forget any more of these songs. As it is, I’ll just comment on the highlights (or lowlights, as it were):
1. Harry Nilsson – I’m shocked. I’ve always hated this song, but I’ve only heard it at No Fun shows – I didn’t realize it was a cover. The original is no better.
3. The Buzzcocks – yes
8. Jeffrey Fredrick and the Clamtones – another long-time hate.
13. Debra – yes
If at some point in the distant future I re-listen and decide that there were more that I either loved or hated, I will let you know, but for now, those are my extreme opinions.