Angry Songs About Food Vol. 3: The Giant Hot Dog That Ate Regina

Of course it's not really the song that's angry, but I have to assume that the giant hot dog was pretty miffed about SOMETHING if he's going to eat a whole town. I think he's just dealing with the frustration over being so delicious and not being able to eat himself, a problem hot dogs often have.

Anyhow this non-angry song about an angry hot dog is by children's music entertainer and educator Bob King. Bob made his musical debut in the wonderfully named band Kornstock in the seventies before gravitating towards family entertainment and educational albums. 

Amongst his other works are a collection of songs about small towns and cities on the Canadian prairies and the novelty hit 'Sandwiches Are Beautiful.' He now mainly does work with the children's record label Casablanca Kids while wearing amazing hats.

Seriously. A-mazing hats.

First of May-Jonathan Coulton

Happy May Day everyone! Have some Jonathan Coulton and GET OUTSIDE.

I'm Han Solo - Kinect Star Wars

As you may know if you're a long suffering That Song Blog devotee, I have a love of parody and novelty songs. An old school form of flattery- you knew your song had made it when someone took the piss out of it. I also love Star Wars and have a giant man crush on Han Solo (I mean who doesn't?).

So then we have this:

And my head explodes.

I think my favourite move has to be the shoulder brush, but it's all amazing. It's a parody of Ridin' Solo by Jason Derulo (only one million times better) as featured in the video game Kinect: Star Wars.

Also, does Lando seem like the more natural dancer to anyone else? Han's incredible but I sincerely doubt the dude has rhythm. But Lando! Lando could dance you straight into his boudoir for some late night gas mining. *geek swoon*

Tunes of Terror Vol. 5 - Monster Mash

So we needed to have a Halloween novelty hit. It wouldn't be That Song Blog without one. However choosing just one is almost impossible. If you're at all interested in these and other novelty hits I highly recommend the compendium Wacky Tunes. Anyway, after much consideration it was deemed best to go with the original and most ubiquitous Halloween smash, Monster Mash.

Did you know that when singer/songwriter Bobby Picket was shopping Monster Mash around, nobody wanted it? It was only when award winning producer Gary S. Paxton was played the song that it was picked up and turned into the holiday devouring smash we know today.

Anyhow. I just thought you'd find it interesting that we might have never, ever heard this song. What a world.

Also! Legos! They make everything incredible! I approve of CaptainBulldog's video.

Nellie, The Nudist Queen - Ross and Sargent

Now, some creditors came calling at a clearing in the hills,

And asked to see a statement that would justify her bills.

When they viewed her liabilities, the atmosphere was tense,

But when she showed her assets, her assets were immense!

It's time to enjoy a twee and titillating Tuesday with 'Nellie, The Nudist Queen' from 1933 by Stuart Ross and John Sargent.

It's hard to find much info about the record beyond the names of the songwriters. Described as a comedy duet with piano, in many ways the song is a prototype for the skewed pop that Spike Jones began producing a few years later.

If anyone out there has any info on Ross and Sargent drop us a line! Maybe they were nudists! I hope so! The world needs to know!

Bridget the Midget - Ray Stevens

Bridget the Midget is a song to listen to while feeling conflicted, giggling, and silently mouthing 'What The Fuck?' to the nearest person.

The song reached #2 in the UK and #50 in the States. I'll be honest, I don't know what that means.

Happy Sunday.

Lil' Liza Jane - The Cackle Sisters

Bird yodeling:

Mary-Jane and Caroline DeZurik, better known as the Cackle Sisters were a close harmony yodel two piece chiefly active in the 1930s and 40s. They shot to fame playing a run of talent shows with their hear-it-once-and-you-won't-forget-it style.

Growing up on a farm for most of the childhood, the Cackle sisters began to mimic the sounds of birds and other animals they heard around them. They developed these calls into a lovably eccentric yodel.


With regular spots on the Purina Mills Checkerboard radio show and guest appearances on programmes like I Love Lucy, the Cackle sisters star burned for but a short while but burned damned brightly. By 1951, after original sister Mary-Jane and her replacement sister Lorraine had already officially retired, the Cackle name was put to rest.

Fortunately you can still enjoy huge swathes of the Cackle legacy by downloading their Checkerboard performances from this site entirely for free.

Paralyzed - The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (real name Norman Carl Odam) is a sonic force to be reckoned with. He's created a form of rock and roll which boils down the genre to it's bare components. No where can this be seen better than on his debut single Paralyzed.

The Cowboy sings in a style that is all rage, energy, attitude and tongues. He slurs and mangles words till they're barely recognizable, and then howls like a coyote. It's some of the most abrasive and gripping stuff you'll have ever heard.

A chance meeting with T. Bone Burnett (musician and producer of albums such as the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou) lead to the creation of the song. Burnett got behind a drum kit, even going so far as to take a pretty thunderous solo, while the Cowboy begins to manically strut his stuff. He plays a dobro in the same style one might destroy a dobro and skronks on a bugle, all while screaming and spitting before barely uttering the songs refrain, title and effect on the listener: Paralyzed.

They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Napoleon XIV

Would you believe this was a Top 5 hit when it first came out?

Napoleon XIV is Jerry Samuels, a record producer and songwriter chiefly active throughout the 1960's. In 1966 Samuels was working as a recording engineer at Associated Recording Studios in New York. It was during this period, using both experimental techniques and technology, that he recorded They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!

Amongst these new techniques was a machine called the Variable Frequency Oscillator (or VFO) which allowed Samuel to create the sped up Chipmunk-esque vocal pitch changes with out actually changing the tempo of the song.

The track also features what's one of the first uses of a drum loop. Apparently the unnamed percussionist couldn't hold a beat for much longer than seven seconds. To get around this, Samuels took those seven seconds, chopped them up, and looped it into the backing track appearing in the final song. On top of this he added hand claps (he'd initially tried to convince the musicians to take off their trousers and slap their thighs, but no dice) and the creeping VFO effected klaxons which signal the choruses.

Finally Samuels recorded lyrics he'd written over nine months (apparently he couldn't decide if the song was actually good or just a sick joke). The song might be about a man who's lost his wife, or about a man who's lost his dog, but it's definitely about a man who's lost his mind.

The song's structure is fairly simple, but through it's repetition allows the listener to descend into ever increasing anxiety. Novelty song though it is, it perfectly captures the feeling of unpleasant thought spirals that everyone is held victim to at one point or another; and the slow, steady overtake of unease that this results in. It's the scratched record ticking away at the back of you skull.

Not bad for a song built on Chipmunk voices and tambourines.