The White and Nerdy Edition Part 1

Summary

Hit Parade | The White and Nerdy Edition Part 1

Hosted by Chris Melanfi | Released August 15, 2025

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Introduction: Revisiting the Golden Era of Novelty Hits

In "The White and Nerdy Edition Part 1," Chris Melanfi delves into the fascinating history of novelty songs, tracing their evolution from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Inspired by Weird Al Yankovic's 2025 tour, Melanfi revisits a 2020 episode on the chart history of novelty hits, setting the stage for an in-depth exploration of what makes a song both memorable and chart-topping.

Chris Melanfi [00:48]: "Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast."

The Golden Age: Novelty Records Dominate the Charts

Melanfi begins by highlighting the dominance of novelty records in the early rock era. He references the first Christmas song in 61 years to top Billboard's Hot 100—Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You"—and traces this phenomenon back to 1958 with David Seville's "The Chipmunk Song." This era was characterized by "a time when comical records would not only make the Hot 100 regularly, but quite frequently top the chart" [03:42].

Weird Al Yankovic [03:42]: "Guess who? Me."

The 1950s and 60s saw a proliferation of goofy hits, where live comics and standups earned Grammys and radio play, laying the groundwork for novelty songs as a legitimate chart force.

Defining Novelty: A Complex Boundary

One of the central themes Melanfi explores is the elusive definition of a novelty record. He questions, "What exactly is a novelty record? Who decides?" [09:44] By examining various hits, Melanfi illustrates how novelty songs can oscillate between being comedic flashes in the pan and enduring cultural staples.

Chris Melanfi [09:45]: "We could do this all day."

He compares songs like the Coasters' "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown," noting that while some chart historians like Joel Whitburn do not classify all these songs as novelties, others like Steve Otfinosky argue for their inclusion based on their humor and cultural impact.

Weird Al Yankovic [10:50]: "Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown. He's a clown."

1960s: A Diverse Landscape of Novelty and Rock

The 1960s blurred the lines between novelty records and mainstream rock hits. Melanfi cites examples such as:

• Coleman's "The Purple People Eater" and Sheb Woolley's "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor" [19:36], showcasing satirical takes on popular culture.
• Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash" [17:47], a kitschy, catchy tune that became a rock staple despite its novelty status.
• Ray Stevens' "Ahab the Arab" and Larry Verne's "Mr. Custer" [21:30], illustrating how novelty songs could achieve significant chart success.

Chris Melanfi [17:54]: "And later in the decade, rock pioneer Bo Diddley scored, Believe it or not, his only top 40 pop hit with Say Man."

The 1970s: The Rise and Challenges of Novelty Hits

Moving into the 1970s, Melanfi discusses how novelty songs began to face challenges due to tightening radio formats and the rise of more serious rock and FM radio segments like morning Zoo programs.

Key highlights include:

• Dr. Demento's Influence: The creation of The Dr. Demento Show [35:50] provided a dedicated platform for novelty and humorous songs, keeping the genre alive despite declining mainstream radio support.

  Weird Al Yankovic [35:34]: "We're on the radio here. Wind up your radio."

• Ray Stevens' Dual Success: Stevens exemplified the dual nature of novelty songs, achieving both comedic hits like "The Streak" [38:55] and earnest successes with "Everything is Beautiful" [36:03], which won Grammys and transcended the novelty category.

  Chris Melanfi [38:55]: "In 1974, Stevens jumped on a fad sweeping the nation and the world, Streaking…"

• Saturday Night Live's Impact: SNL cast members like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Steve Martin launched successful novelty music careers with creations such as The Blues Brothers and Steve Martin's "King Tut" [34:15], further blending comedy with chart-topping music.

  Weird Al Yankovic [34:15]: "How do you do? Now you gonna die."

Transition to the 1980s: The Emergence of Modern Novelty Icons

By the end of the transcript, Melanfi sets the stage for the transition into the 1980s, highlighting the challenges novelty songs faced in sustaining careers amidst changing musical landscapes. He teases the rise of Weird Al Yankovic as a pivotal figure who would redefine parody music and successfully bridge the gap between novelty and mainstream appeal.

Chris Melanfi [50:47]: "And in fact, dating back to the days of Tin Pan Alley, novelty songs were such a fixture on the hit parade that some of the most celebrated Singers found them irresistible vehicles for getting on the radio."

Weird Al Yankovic [50:47]: "From taco night in Tulum to sushi in Tokyo, make every bite rewarding with gold from Amex wherever you dine four times."

Conclusion: The Thin Line Between Humor and Chart Success

Part 1 of "The White and Nerdy Edition" concludes with Melanfi emphasizing the delicate balance novelty songs must maintain to achieve and sustain chart success. He highlights how, despite the genre's decline in mainstream radio play, figures like Ray Stevens and the Blues Brothers demonstrated that humor and musicality could coexist and resonate with wide audiences.

Chris Melanfi [32:10]: "Though song like Tiny Tim's 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' was widely popular, it showcased how novelty songs could capture the cultural zeitgeist."

As the episode wraps, Melanfi hints at delving deeper into Weird Al Yankovic's profound impact on the novelty genre in Part 2, promising listeners a continued exploration of how parody and humor can shape musical history.

Chris Melanfi [50:47]: "A certain accordion playing goofball took parody music further than anyone had taken it before, eventually even to the top of the charts."

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Stay tuned for Part 2 of "The White and Nerdy Edition," where Chris Melanfi uncovers how Weird Al Yankovic revolutionized parody music and cemented his legacy in pop culture history.

Transcript

[Chris Melanfi]

Support for this podcast and the following message comes from America's Navy the Navy offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine, plus education and sign on bonuses. Parents help your grads start their career [e-mail] youm say you'll never join the.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Navy, that living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with nuclear energy, never bring a patient back.

[Chris Melanfi]

To life.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd.

[Chris Melanfi]

Joining the Navy sounds crazy.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail] America's Navy forged by.

[Chris Melanfi]

The sea hello Hit Parade listeners, It's Chris. The month of August means we at Hit Parade are taking our much deserved annual break. We'll be back with a brand new episode in September, but in the meantime we're bringing you an encore episode from the Hit Parade archives. This show on the chart History of Novelty Hits was originally released in January 2020. We're bringing it back in 2025 because I was inspired by this year's tour by comedy genius and national treasure Weird Al Yankovic. I caught Al at Madison Square Garden in July and it was a delight. What you're about to hear is part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear every episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hit parade+ you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode episode in full the day it arrives plus Hit Parade the Bridge Our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this encore Hit Parade episode. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series. On today's show. In our December 2019 episode of Hit Parade, I talked about the improbable smash that was sitting on top of Billboard's Hot 100, Mariah Carey's holiday classic All I Want for Christmas Is yous, the first Christmas song to top Billboard's Hot 100 in 61 years. That compelled us to play you the prior Christmas song to hit number one, which reached the top all the way back in 1958. As I noted, David Seville's the Chipmunk Song is less a Christmas song than a novelty record. It was still on the Hot 100 for weeks into 1959, long after the holidays were over. And in a way this wasn't surprising. Because in the early rock era, novelty records were chart dominators.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Guess who? Me.

[Chris Melanfi]

This was the golden era for goofy hits. A time when comical records would not only make the Hot 100 regularly, but quite frequently top the chart.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

He rides through the jungle tearing limbs off of trees.

[Chris Melanfi]

A time when live comics and veteran standups won Grammys, sold piles of albums and even got on the radio.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Hello Madder, hello Fada.

[Chris Melanfi]

And while the so called golden age of novelty songs was the 1950s and 60s rock, right through the 70s, novelty and comedy songs did serious chart business. The thing about novelty records, though, what distinguishes them from Christmas songs is they are a hard way to sustain a career. Sure, some novelty hits are holiday related, which does make them perennials now.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

The Monster Mat. The Monster Mat. And it's a graveyard spot.

[Chris Melanfi]

But most novelty hits by their very nature are flashes in the pan meant to capture a specific cultural moment.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

And he ain't wearing no clothes. Yes, they call him the street.

[Chris Melanfi]

That's what makes the one major novelty artist who broke in the 1980s, the one whose name now leaps immediately to most Americans minds when they hear the phrase novelty song. So exceptional. He pulled it off. He built a decades long career out of being a goofball.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Other kids are starving in Japan, so eat it. Just eat it.

[Chris Melanfi]

But before we talk about the man who actually called himself Weird, I will explain how the charts both helped him and and made his job so challenging, thus making his chart topping success that much more amazing. You might say the magic ingredient was poke powder. We'll even talk about how this accordion playing national treasure could come back and command the hit parade again more than four decades after he started.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

They see me mowing my front line I know they're all thinking I'm so white and dirty.

[Chris Melanfi]

And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending October 21, 2006, when Weird Al Yankovic's White and Nerdy reached number nine on Billboard's Hot 100. It was Al's first top 10 hit in a multi decade career and the start of a new age for novelty songs on the charts. Before we get there, let's talk about the time B A before Al. The golden age of the novelty.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Oh I know. Pie to a thousand places ain't got no grills but I still wear braces.

[Chris Melanfi]

I order all of my sandwiches. More in a moment.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

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[Weird Al Yankovic]

Take out the papers and the trash.

[Chris Melanfi]

For example, consider this classic by R and B group the Coasters. Yakety yak, a number one hit in 1958, written and produced by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoler. Both that legendary songwriting duo, and the Coasters are in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, and the song is hilarious, a series of drill sergeant commands by a comically pissed off parent at a surly 50s teenager. Okay, but is Yakety Yak a novelty record? Joel Whitburn, the authoritative chart statistician who publishes books tracking Billboard hits, does not tag the socially satirical Yackety Yak a novelty song. However, Whitburn does claim that the Coaster's follow up hit, also written by Lieber and Stoller, was a novelty record. The equally funny Charlie Brown, a number two hit in 1959.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown. He's a clown.

[Chris Melanfi]

Music scholar. Steve Otfinosky in his book the Golden Age of Novelty Songs, includes both Yakety Yak and Charlie Brown in his study of the genre, which he says has a proud tradition. And that's another thing. Is it even insistent insulting to call a record a novelty? Because both Yakety Yak and Charlie Brown are pretty great. Propulsive, witty, clever.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Who's always pooping in the hall?

[Chris Melanfi]

We could do this all day. In this episode, talk about the mysterious distinctions between novelty and normal hits. Is this number one hit from the 80s by Austrian singer Falco a novelty or a sly mash up of the classical figure Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the then new musical idiom of rap? Speaking of rap, what about this 1992 number one smash by Sir Mixalot?

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Oh my God.

[Chris Melanfi]

We devoted a large chunk of our 90s rap episode of Hit Parade to Baby Got Back because it's an important song for the emergence of hip hop on the charts in that decade. But it starts with a spoken word comedy bit and the whole song is a laugh riot and yet few tag Baby Got Back a novelty.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

I like big butts and I cannot lie you other brothers can't deny.

[Chris Melanfi]

One more comparison. In the 60s, this song by Australian Rolf Harris, Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, a number three US hit in 1963, was regarded as a culturally specific novelty hit, a borderline offensive ditty that trafficked in Australian stereotypes for non Australians amusement.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Now, tiny Kangaroo Down Sport Timey Kangaroo down.

[Chris Melanfi]

But 20 years later, this 1983 Men at Work number one hit trafficked in many of the same snarky Australian tropes. But down under was regarded as a whimsical pop song and a new wave classic. While Rolf Harris Aussie satirizing hit is called a novelty, Men at Works is not. My point is not to come up with a definitive answer to what a novelty record is. Rather, I want to emphasize that the border between so called serious hits and novelties and is thin indeed. Novelty may be like pornography. To paraphrase a Supreme Court justice, you know it when you hear it. Several artists we will discuss have walked that line throughout their careers. In fact, dating back to the days of Tin Pan Alley, novelty songs were such a fixture on the hit parade that some of the most celebrated Singers found them irresistible vehicles for getting on the radio.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

How Much Is that Doggy in the Window? The one with the waggly tail.

[Chris Melanfi]

That's traditional pop vocalist Patti page. With the 1953 number one hit how much Is that Doggie in the Window? Page recorded all sorts of songs and scored hits with everything from the classic Tennessee Waltz to Allegheny Moon. But Doggy in the Window, complete with barking sounds, was one of her biggest. It is whimsical, if not exactly funny, but it was part of a long tradition of comical or quirky records that were hits for everyone from Al Jolson to Tex Williams. It was somewhat rarer for a recording artist to focus exclusively on comedy records. But spike Jones, the 1940s and 50s performer, not to be confused with the modern day film director, was a pioneer of the novelty form.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

It's a beautiful day for the race. Dude's Hand is the favorite today. Assault is in there. Dog biscuit is 3 to 1. Safety pin has been scratched.

[Chris Melanfi]

Spike Jones was not only a bandleader and host of a TV variety show, he was a creator and auteur of comical recordings. His songs could be heard as a satire of the big band era, replacing musical notes with obnoxious clatter. In Jones hands, a piece of music as grand as Rossini William Tell Overture would turn utterly madcap, instruments competing with noisemakers. Spike Jones and his City Slickers even scored a holiday perennial and novelty Standard with his 1949 number one hit, All I Want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth My two front teeth See my two front tips.

[Chris Melanfi]

With his exposure in a range of media, Spike Jonze would serve as an inspiration to generations of novelty recording artists, including Weird Al Yankovic. But Spike Jonze's hits were largely confined to the pre rock era. Of course, rock and roll had its own manic energy that lent itself to laughs.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Hello baby, yeah. This is the Big Bopper speaking.

[Chris Melanfi]

It is remarkable how many early rock and roll hits can be read as basically comical. The Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace is tagged by Joel Whitburn and other rock historians as a novelty record, even as he is also regarded as a rockabilly pioneer. The same goes for multi genre singer Bobby Darin, who broke as a rock and roller with the kitschy catchy Splish Splash.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Splish Splash. I forgot about the bell. I went and put my dancing shoes on. Yay.

[Chris Melanfi]

And later in the decade, rock pioneer Bo Diddley scored, Believe it or not, his only top 40 pop hit with say Man A single that is essentially mostly dialogue as two shit talking friends rank on each other over a beat.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

What's that boy? I want to tell you about your girlfriend. What about my girl?

[Chris Melanfi]

Rock and roll was also the meta text for another form of parody hit, the so called break in record invented by producer Dickey Goodman. His 1956 hit with partner Bill Buchanan, the Flying Saucer reinvented Orson Welles War of the Worlds as a spoken word news broadcast punctuated by snippets of then current rock and roll hits. Goodman failed to get permission for any of the song samples. It was arguably the rock era's first mixtape mashup.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

This is brat your outer space, this is your D with a request for Earth, Earth Angel, Earth Angel.

[Chris Melanfi]

In general, comedy records were a ripe forum for experimentation. Eventual Chipmunks creator David Seville helped refine the art of sped up recording with his 1958 number one hit the Witch Doctor.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

I was in love with you and then the witch doctor he told me what to do, he says that.

[Chris Melanfi]

And weeks later the high pitched recording trick was replicated by another chart topper, Sheb Woolley's the Purple People Eater.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Don't eat me, I heard him say in a voice so gruff. I wouldn't eat you cause you're so tough.

[Chris Melanfi]

It was the one I'd Novelty records were so omnipresent in 1958 that Woolie's hit even included a reference to another comical smash. Woolies backup singers snuck in a reference to Short Shorts, a song by the Royal Teens that had peaked at number three just weeks earlier.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts.

[Chris Melanfi]

These novelty records were in dialogue with each other, sometimes openly. Joe South, a young singer who a decade later would win the Song of the Year Grammy for Games People Play, scored his first chart hit in the summer of 1958 with the mashup record the Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Strolling through the woods not so far from town I got real shook I heard the strangest sound I saw the Purple People Eater and to my surprise I saw the witch doctor sitting by his side. Whoa.

[Chris Melanfi]

The Witch Doctor had By the start of the 60s, novelty records were topping the Hot 100 on the regular 1960 alone had three chart topping novelty hits and sonically, they were all over the map. Whether it was Brian Hyland's chirpy ode to a tiny bathing suit, very risque by 1960s standards, it was an itsy.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Bitsy teeny weeny king.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or a lurching party record about a caveman named Alley oop. Recorded by a fictional one off Los Angeles band who called themselves the Hollywood Argyles or the half spoken word Mr. Custer. A faux lament by a soldier in 1876 pleading with his general not to send him into the battle of Little Bighorn. The track was fronted by a man named Larry Verne, who'd never sung in his life, but had a memorable Southern drawl.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Listen, Mr. Custard, please don't make me go.

[Chris Melanfi]

Of these artists, only Brian Hyland of itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini fame went on to further recording success. And that was his last novelty hit. However, the producer of the Hollywood Argyles, Gary Paxton, would produce an even bigger novelty smash two years later. Bobby Pickett's Halloween perennial slash instructional dance record, the Monster mash, a number one in October 1970. 1962.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

It's now the Monster Matt Monster Mash and it's a graveyard smash. It's caught on in the flag. It's now the mask. It's now the monster mask.

[Chris Melanfi]

Generally, novelty records were a producer's medium and the artists were incidental. The 1961 number one mother in law, a classic of New Orleans R and B and a hilarious plaint about a meddling maternal figure, was the first big hit for legendary writer and producer Alain Toussaint. As for the lead artist of Mother in Law, New Orleans singer Ernie K. Doe, it was his only top 40 hit. On top of all of these musical novelties, the early 60s was a boom time for straight up comedy recordings by standup and nightclub performers. Performers like Bob Newhart. Yes, that Bob Newhart, the future TV legend was, I kid you not, a comedy LP selling Titan. In the early 60s, Newhart's 1960 album The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart topped the Billboard album chart for 14 weeks and won the 1961 Grammy for album of the Year.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

How fast were you going when Mr. Adams jumped from the car? 75. And where was that? In your driveway.

[Chris Melanfi]

Two years later, that same Grammy was won by another spoken word comedy lp, the First Family, a blockbuster album by comedian and John F. Kennedy impersonator Vaughn Nieder.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

I noticed that you didn't touch your salad either at dinner tonight or at dinner last night. Would you tell us why, please? Well, let me say this about that now, Number one, in my opinion, the fault does not lie as much with the salad as it does with the dressing being used on the salad.

[Chris Melanfi]

At a time in the early 60s when the long playing 33 and a third RPM album was only beginning to overtake the 45 RPM single. Live comedy in front of an audience proved a durable seller of LP records. And if a live comedian could tell jokes while singing, all the better.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Harvey, he's a CPA. He works for IBM. He went to MIT and got his PhD.

[Chris Melanfi]

Former TV producer Alan Sherman made a bigger name for himself writing comic parodies of well known public domain songs with goofy lyrics not unlike Spike Jonze a decade earlier. Sherman scored three, three number one LPs filled with Borscht Belt style parody songs in 1962 and 63, back to back to back. He even scored a number two single in the summer of 63 with his dance of the Hours parody about a boy riding home from summer camp. Hello Mada, hello Fata.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Hello Mada, hello Fada. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

[Chris Melanfi]

In a more erudite vein, piano playing college professor Tom Lehrer satirized the fears and foibles of Cold war era society with jaunty Cole Porter like melodies.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

If you visit American city you will find it very pretty. Just two things of which you must beware. Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air. Pollution. Pollution.

[Chris Melanfi]

After a half decade of performing his original ditties in front of audiences both in clubs and on Television, Lehrer's 1965 album that was the year that was cracked the the Billboard top 20 and eventually went gold. By the late 60s, after the British invasion and hippie rock began to take over the charts, the line between novelty records and rock hits became blurry. Some novelty hits still read as pure comedy. Singer songwriter Jerry Samuels, while under the influence of psychedelics, wrote a perverse song about going mad, complete with chipmunk like sped up vocals. Released under the moniker Napoleon the 14th, they're coming to take me away haha reached number three in the summer of 1966.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

They're coming to take me away Haha, they're coming to take me away Ho ho ho to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away.

[Chris Melanfi]

Interestingly, several listeners noticed in 1966 that the Napoleon the 14th song featured the same marching drum beat as a very recent Bob Dylan stoner anthem. Rainy day women, number 12 and 35 had reached number two on the charts just weeks earlier in the spring of 66. Of course, this being Dylan, no one considered his hit A Novelty. There was a similarly thin line between novelty and rock credibility on Snoopy versus the Red Baron, the breakthrough hit for Florida band the Royal Guardsman. Their whimsical homage to to Charles Schulz's comic strip canine reached number two in early 1967.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

The Snoopy had swore that he'd get that man. So he asked the Great Pumpkin for a new battle plan. He challenged the German to a real dog fight. While the Baron was laughing, it got him in his sight.

[Chris Melanfi]

If that little rock breakdown sounded familiar, it's because the Royal Guardsman's Snoopy included an intentionally obvious allusion to the McCoys 1965 number one hit hang on Sloopy.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Hang On Snoopy.

[Chris Melanfi]

Indeed. Throughout the psychedelic psychedelic era, the novelty status of hit records was debatable. Especially when 60s pop took on the sounds of music hall and vaudeville. Novelty song scholar Steve Otfinosky claims that the two number one hits by Herman's Hermits, both juvenile revivals of music hall ditties, are in essence novelty records. Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely daughter.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely daughter.

[Chris Melanfi]

And I'm Enry Excuse me, Henry the Eighth, I am.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Second verse, same as the first.

[Chris Melanfi]

A year later, British novelty act the New Vaudeville band scored their only chart topping hit, Winchester Cathedral. With an old timey megaphone like vocal.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Winchester Cathedral, you're bringing me down.

[Chris Melanfi]

Again. None of these trippy hits was tagged a novelty by the music business. But what was the difference between these singles and the more outlandish, knowingly twee novelty hit Tiptoe through the Tulips with me by 1968's ukulele playing falsetto singing Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim was such a pop culture sensation in 1968 and 69, his televised marriage to Ms. Vicky on the Tonight show drew tens of millions of viewers. That his single hit the top 20 and his album reached the top 10 and rode the charts for more than half a year. Are you feeling more fulfilled now that.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

You'Re back to work?

[Chris Melanfi]

No, I need a vacation.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

See the movie that critics are saying is an awesome look at that crowd pleasing fist pumping all out brawl of a film. You're right about that.

[Chris Melanfi]

They're coming after our family.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Go fix this.

[Chris Melanfi]

Oh my.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Nobody 2. Rated R. Only in theaters now you say you'll never join the Navy, never climb Mount Fuji on a port visit or break the sound barrier. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Learn [e-mail], america's Navy forged by the sea. Hi It's Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring and we have a new.

[Chris Melanfi]

Episode for you all about an article of faith for many Americans.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

It's shocking to me that there's this idea that all Britons have bad teeth. This is not a fringe opinion. It's certainly is not. Why don't you get your teeth fixed? I live in Britain, I don't want to stand out.

[Chris Melanfi]

Well, British people have notoriously bad teeth, so.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

But does the stereotype about British people have any validity?

[Chris Melanfi]

And if not, why do we think it does? I was quite keen to sort of dispel that because it's a bit irritating. Americans always thinking their teeth are brilliant. Might there be something equally strange about American teeth?

[Weird Al Yankovic]

They look very like fake. Whereas here I've always had patients tell me, oh, don't make my dentures too white. They actually call it horse teeth.

[Chris Melanfi]

Find out on Slate's Decoder Ring.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Chris Melanfi]

On the countryside of the radio dial. Johnny Cash knew the power of a good novelty song. He recorded a stem winding story song written by cartoonist and songwriter Shel Silverstein called A Boy Named sue. And he took it to number two on the Hot 100 in 1969. His biggest ever pop hit, my name is Sue.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

How do you do? Now you gonna die.

[Chris Melanfi]

Cash never took himself too seriously. Deep into the 70s, he scored his biggest country no. 1 of the decade and his last pop top 40 hit with the tall tale One Piece at a Time, a novelty record about a GM plant worker building his own Cadillac by smuggling home auto parts from his job.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

I'd get it one piece at a time and it wouldn't cost me a dime. You know it's me when I come through your town.

[Chris Melanfi]

And in the early 70s, another rock pioneer, Chuck Berry, scored his only number one with the Lewd novelty My Ding a Ling, recorded live in front of a British audience who lustily sang along. By the 70s, novelty records were a big enough genre to inspire their own radio program. Created by a man born Barry Hansen, who re dubbed himself Dr. Demento. Hello there, this is Dr. Demento.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

We're on the radio here. Wind up your radio. Westwood One presents the Dr. Demento Show. Two hours mad music.

[Chris Melanfi]

Launched at a Pasadena radio station and eventually syndicated at dozens of stations nationwide, the Dr. Demento show would play the kind of crazy ephemera too weird for the top 40.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Fish heads. Fish heads. Roly poly fish heads. Fish heads.

[Chris Melanfi]

The Dr. Demento show would prove a formative influence on a generation of novelty performers. In later years, Hansen would claim that he launched the show because novelty records were starting to disappear from the radio airwaves after rock turned more serious in the late 60s. Airplay was indeed often the limiting factor with funny or novelty records. The amusement would become less amusing amid the repetition of top 40 radio rotation. But truth be told, novelty records could still become hits in the 70s. One musician even spent the decade successfully walking the line between serious and silly. Ray Stevens was the era irrepressible Energizer Bunny of novelty hitmakers. He had been knocking around the music industry since the early 60s. He'd even scored a couple of top 40 novelty hits early in the decade, like Ahab the Arab. But Stevens stepped up his game toward the end of the 60s. Guitar Zan, an ode to a loincloth clad rock and roller, was his first gold single in 1969. During the 60s, Stevens had on occasion tried his hand at serious singles, scoring minor hits with tracks like Sunday Morning Coming down, which was later a country hit for Johnny Cash. But it wasn't until the 70s that Ray Stevens career took an unexpectedly earnest turn. On the 1970 no. 1 hit, Everything is Beautiful, Ray Stevens turned kitsch into canticle. The single was received as a straight faced inspirational song, complete with a children's chorus. An anthem of tolerance that was even played in churches. Everything Is Beautiful won Grammys in both the pop and inspirational categories in 1971, and it was played on easy listening and even country stations. But Stevens couldn't stay in this lane. By the mid-70s, he put his tongue firmly back in his cheek.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

He's just in the mood to run in the news Will you take all in the street?

[Chris Melanfi]

In 1974, Stevens jumped on a fad sweeping the nation and the world, Streaking from sporting events to universities and even the Academy Awards. Pranksters were sprinting naked in public like never before. Never one to pass up a whimsical trend, Ray Stevens wrote and recorded the Streak, which topped both the US and UK charts in the spring of 74. It even reached number three on the American country chart, pointing the direction that Stephen's career was headed. By the end of the decade, Stevens brand of humor had been most warmly embraced by country audiences. And he began aiming his novelty tracks like the 1981 hit Shriners Convention directly at country radio. Stevens politics also turned more more conservative. Later decades would find him scoring country hits with the likes of Osama Yo Mama and Caribou Barbie. However, 1974's the Streak remains Ray Stevens biggest ever hit But Ray Stevens remained the exception, a mostly novelty hitmaker with more than one hit. To Dr. Demento's point, by the 70s, novelty singles were largely one offs. C.W. mcCall, another country pop crossover artist who like Stevens tried to build a career out of novelty hits, managed one chart topping smash in the winter of 1976 that capitalized on the growing fad of citizens band, or CB radio, the trucker anthem Convoy. C.W. mcCall, an Iowa singer who invented his truck driver Persona for an advertising campaign and wound up assuming it for decades, never reached the top 40 again. The 70s were a kitschy decade in general, and like Ray Stevens song about streaking or C.W. mcCall's song about CB radios, no cultural trend escaped novelty hit status. Dickey Goodman, who in the 50s had invented the so called break in record, scored another such smash in 1975 with the number four hit Mr. Jaws, a combination spoken word and pop song satire of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster shark movie.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

We are here on the beach where a giant shark has just eaten a girl swimmer. Well, Mr. Jaws, how was it? Darn. Oh my. And what did she say when you grabbed her? Please, mister, please, I know sharks are stupid.

[Chris Melanfi]

And in 1976, radio DJ Rick Dees took a break from his day job to satirize disco music with Disco Duck, a number one hit that would make a cameo appearance in the movie Saturday Night Fever a year later. Speaking of media personalities moonlighting from their jobs, I would be remiss if I left the 70s without talking about the recording success of TV's Saturday Night Live. SNL's first five years are renowned for several reasons, including reinventing TV sketch comedy for a new generation and introducing a new wave of comic performers like Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray. But one underrated aspect of Saturday Night Live's launch was its impact on the music business. Of course, each episode featured a musical performer which by itself helped break various artists. But the SNL cast members, the so called Not Ready for primetime players, were also music dabblers whose dabblings sold a lot of records. The Blues Brothers were an invention of SNL cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, originally devised as a warm up act for SNL's studio audience. Belushi's and Ackroyd's performances as Jake and Elwood Blues, complete with kitschy Florida 50s style suits and fedoras, eventually made the live TV show itself. Then, with the help of future David Letterman bandleader Paul Schaefer, Belushi and Ackroyd assembled an actual Blues Brothers band with legendary sidemen from Booker t and the MGs, and their album Briefcase Full of Blues was a no kidding number one LP on the Billboard album chart. It even spun off top 40 hits like their straight faced cover of Sam and Dave's Soul man and their novelty hit Rubber Biscuit. What's more, in January 1979 the weak briefcase Full of Blues broke into the album chart's top three. It was sitting next to another LP by a Saturday Night Live regular. Steve Martin was never an official SNL cast member, but he was the show's most frequent guest and his repeat appearances made him a comedy megastra. Martin's LP A Wild and Crazy Guy was mostly a stand up album recorded live in front of crowds in San Francisco and Denver, but it closed with a novelty track Martin wrote for and first performed on Saturday Night Live. King Tut celebrated and satirized Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, whose remains toured American museums in 1978 and were a cultural blockbuster. Released as a single in 78, Steve Martin's King Tut made the Hot 100's top 20 and it pushed Martin's A Wild and Crazy Guy LP to number two on the charts and double platinum. Entering the 1980s then, Novelty Records were not exactly scarce and some were even hits, but they were a tough way to build a sustained career. Tightening radio formats meant that most stations would not play comical records in regular all day rotation, especially after the launch of FM radio's so called morning Zoo programs. These madcap morning shows offered a venue for novelty singles, but they might be the only time such songs would be played. So while established performers like Frank Zappa could score one off, novelty hits like 1982's Valley Girl, a number 32 hit recorded with his daughter Moon unit like.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Oh My God, like Totally and Cena's like so.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or pop superstar Rick Springfield could crack the top 30 with the song Bruce, a novelty hit about how Mr. Springfield's fans confused him with Mr. Springsteen. It was understood that these songs were never going to receive heavy radio rotation, and for performers who specialized in novelty hits like Chicago's Jump in the Saddle, the top time in the spotlight was brief. Jump in the Saddle's smash the Curly Shuffle sold well enough to reach number 15 in early 1984. But again, its radio spins were largely confined to morning and drive time hours, and Jump in the Saddle never cracked the Hot 100 again. Dr. Demento had a point. Novelty hits, even when they found an audience, were now no longer radio hits. It was around this time that a young protege of Dr. Demento's broke on the charts, a novelty recording artist who would go on to build the most enduring career in comical music. When we come back, How Owl Became Weird A certain accordion playing goofball took parody music further than anyone had taken it before, eventually even to the top of the charts. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer for this episode was Justin D. Wright With 2025 updates from Kevin Bendis. Our supervising producer is Joel Meyer and the executive producer of Slate Podcasts is Mia lobel. Check out Slate's roster of shows at slate.com slate you can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two at the end of the month. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Mullanth.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

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