Today on DD I thought maybe I’d lighten things up a little bit and reach into our history for some tokens of cognitive oblivion and hummable lore, to have a little light-hearted fun on a Saturday. I attempted to find all the songs on YouTube and attach the corresponding URL’s. For anybody who’s actually decent at using YouTube, I definitely say more power to you. Hopefully some copying and pasting will be like remotely possible, though, in this particular instances and no others under any circumstance.
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1 Sheb Wooley – “Purple People Eater”
On the whole, I was pretty pleased with this spirited rendition of “Purple People Eater,” although for all my searches I couldn’t find anybody doing the version where they describe the monster as “pigeon-towed armor-rowed,” or whatever the he** the say. Looks like I’ll have to consult my former camp counselor for some real expertise on this issue.
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2 Monty Python – “Lumberjack Song”
Here of course we get the classic Monty Python brand of humor that’s sort of defiantly apathetic to things like consistency, strict theme and really making any sense at all… but isn’t this song better sung by drunk or preteen amateurs in a boisterous, makeshift group, anyway? I certainly think so.
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3 Chubby Checker – “Limbo Rock”
This is probably the first of these tunes that you might aptly describe as a “good song,” with its dual ability to infiltrate kindergarten classrooms all around the globe, as well. Wikipedia has this song as having been written by a certain Kal Mann, Chubby Checker himself also famous for “The Twist” and “Let’s Twist Again.” And it looks like all that aerobic twisting has been good for him because he’s actually still alive.
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4 The Bloodhound Gang – “The Bad Touch”
For how often you still hear this song, it’s funny to realize that it only peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100, according to Wikipedia (to “Limbo Rock”’s #2, notably enough). I’d been going a little heavy on this “kid’s” songs, though, anyway, so I had to throw this in just to get somewhat basic smut factor going. And I mean, he asks pretty nicely, you know. Contrary to popular belief I don’t personally think this band has other good songs, but whatever floats it, I guess. This tune anyway is pretty worthy singalong material and definitely a pervasive part of our culture.
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5 Zane Williams – “99 Bottles of Beer”
The update on this tune is sort of like a jolly, countrified, rockabilly type of number, in the spirit of which a lot of these songs are constructed, places where entertainment means might be limited but getting together and singing some songs everybody knows is always sure to pass the time. Sh**, I never want to listen to real music again!
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6 “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man” (composed by Sammy Lerner)
I swear to God, I’m one count away from going toe to toe with some of these Internet bigwigs proffering erroneous lyrics to the “Popeye Theme Song.” It’s supposed to be “I’m Popeye the sailor man / I live in a garbage can / I love to go swimmin’ with beautiful women / I’m Popeye the sailor man”. We as an American people cannot carry this Popeye lyric confusion into the 2020’s. Well, I guess it’s possible that that’s just an alternate version, that got written sometime around the Truman era or something like that, amidst an economic boom that subsumed the television industry in its money squall.
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7 Todd Rundgren – “Bang the Drum All Day”
I was recently listening to this radio special in which it was stated by Rundgren that he apparently dreamt up this entire song, which I think is how a lot of memorable tunes come into existence: the vision is crisp and undeniable. And who could forget for the better part of the ’90s the Green Bay Packers blasting the keyboard intro of it at Lambeau Field every time the team scored a touchdown, which seemed to be aplenty when Brett Favre was quarterbacking.
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8 Matthew Sweet – “Scooby Doo Where Are You?”
You might know Matthew Sweet from his career in indie rock… ok there’s zero percent chance you’ve heard of him. Still, he’s got a couple decent songs under his belt like “Sick of Myself” and then this foray into light-hearted cartoon fare, on which, you’ve gotta admit, he sells the message with zeal and moxie. You’ll never forget his rendition of the Scooby Doo song, once you hear it.
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9 Beatles – “Octopus’s Garden”
Whoa, this is like, an actual song. So I sing? I just sing? Well, yeah: if anybody could pen a tune as far-reaching and immediately familiar as TV cartoons, it’d be the four blokes from Liverpool, wouldn’t it? “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is a nice, kitschy companion piece to this one on Abbey Road, which I sort of sporadically name as my favorite Beatles album, depending on my mood.
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10 Jimmy Buffett – “Margaritaville”
Classic song, needs no introduction… I just wish this library computer I’m listening to it on got louder.
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11 “So Long Farewell from The Sound of Music” (composed by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein III)
This is definitely one of the catchier little tidbits of a musical you’ll find around, useful for its provision of the word “adieu” into your vocabulary, a word which just might be scientifically impossible to say correctly.
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12 “Rainbow Connection/The Muppet Movie Theme Song” (composed by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher)
God darn is this a cool tune, especially with the one and only Kermit the Frog belting it out on his expert pipes. The Muppet Movie originally aired in ’79 and this song has been covered by Willie Nelson and others since. OH, be sure and check out the version with Blondie’s Debbie Harry, also on YouTube, which might just be the pinnacle of music throughout history.
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13 Dolly Parton – “Go Tell it on the Mountain”
You just can’t do it any better than Dolly Parton – actually when she’s singing it’s almost like there’s a fearful glint in her eyes of how jealous she knows other people are presently getting of her. I just had to include this tune because this one dude I washed dishes with at the IU food court would always bust into it, for some unknown reason though I guess he sounded alright. It’s funny too because I happen to be currently rereading the excellent James Baldwin novel of the same name.
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14 Elmo & Patsy – “Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer”
Yeah, I know it’s not Christmas anymore. Stuff it. I feel like singing a Christmas song (not so much feeling the whole eggnog thing).