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43-459: " Cinderella Rockefella " is a novelty song written by Mason Williams and Nancy Ames . It was originally recorded and released by Israeli folk duo Esther & Abi Ofarim on their 1967 album 2 in 3 . It became an international hit single in 1968. Esther Ofarim and the Smothers Brothers first performed "Cinderella Rockefella" on the CBS variety program The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in April 1967. Mason Williams , who co-wrote

86-482: A gimmick , a piece of humor , or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs , which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody , especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of

129-554: A Tax on All the Beautiful Girls"; and invocations of foreign lands with emphasis on general feel of exoticism rather than geographic or anthropological accuracy, such as " Oh By Jingo! ", " The Sheik of Araby ", and "The Yodeling Chinaman". These songs were perfect for the medium of Vaudeville , and performers such as Eddie Cantor and Sophie Tucker became well known for such songs. Zez Confrey 's 1920s instrumental compositions, which involved gimmicky approaches (such as "Kitten on

172-452: A new audience online; the hit song " The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) " by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis was featured on the kids compilation album So Fresh Pop Party 13 in 2014. Likewise, rapper Big Shaq 's 2017 hit " Man's Not Hot ", which depicts a man who refuses to take off his jacket, received widespread attention and inspired countless memes as a result of its success, with the man behind

215-523: A number of other knockoffs, including The Nutty Squirrels and Russ Regan 's one-off group Dancer, Prancer and Nervous. In 1960, 16-year-old Brian Hyland had a novelty hit with the song " Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini ", by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss , which topped the Billboard single chart. The Trashmen reached the top 5 with " Surfin' Bird ", a surf rock medley of two novelty songs originally recorded by The Rivingtons . In 1964,

258-519: A singer and agent who booked various performers in the Delaware Valley . In 1984, he founded the Jerry Samuels Agency, and later operated it with his second wife, Bobbie. They retired in 2021. In February 2022, Needlejuice Records teased the release of "an album that's 50 years old". The following year, they revealed that it was Samuels' long-lost second studio album, For God's Sake, Stop

301-512: A year later with a cover of Lou Bega 's " Mambo No.5 ", and also had another less successful single in 2008 with " Big Fish Little Fish ". Some novelty music draws its appeal from its unintentional novelty; so-called " outsider musicians " with little or no formal musical training often will produce comical results (see for instance, Florence Foster Jenkins , Mrs. Miller , the Portsmouth Sinfonia , The Shaggs , and William Hung ). After

344-668: A year), with novelty act LadBaby reaching Number One five times in a row, with all five songs being parodies of other popular songs reworked to incorporate a running gag that revolves around sausage rolls . More often than not, the UK Christmas novelty records were recorded for charity, with LadBaby's Christmas chart rivals in 2020 also including The Dancing Binmen (Jack Johnson, Henry Wright and Adrian Breakwell) with their song "Boogie Round The Bins At Christmas Time", and "Merry Christmas, Baked Potato" from comedian Matt Lucas, with fellow chart contender "Raise The Woof!" being promoted as

387-497: Is run over by Santa Claus' entourage, and found trampled at the scene the next morning. It has become a staple of Christmas music playlists on American radio since its original release. An underground novelty music scene began to emerge in the 1960s, beginning with the homosexually themed songs of Camp Records and the racist humor of Johnny Rebel , then in the 1970s and 1980s with X-rated albums by David Allan Coe and Clarence "Blowfly" Reid . Novelty songs have been popular in

430-617: Is the only novelty song (#346) included in the Songs of the Century . "Lucky Ladybug" by Billy and Lillie was popular in December 1958. Lonnie Donegan 's 1959 cover of the 1924 novelty song " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?) " was a transatlantic hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard charts two years after its release; it was one of the earliest top-5 hits to come from

473-606: The Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1968. The song appeared on the albums 2 in 3 (1967) in Europe and Cinderella Rockefella (1968) in the US. According to Radio Caroline DJ Andy Archer , the song was the last to be played on Radio Caroline South on the night of 2–3 March 1968, before its radio ship (like that of its sister station Radio Caroline North) was towed into harbour over unpaid debts on

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516-488: The Billboard best-sellers chart for six weeks and the country music chart for 16 weeks in 1947 and 1948. Hank Williams Sr. 's " Move It On Over ", his first hit song, has some humor and novelty elements (about a man having to share the doghouse when his lover kicks him out of the house), but contemporaries (among them Jerry Rivers ) disputed this and noted that many men had been faced with eviction under similar circumstances. The 1953 #1 single " (How Much Is) That Doggie in

559-595: The Grammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded to Roger Miller . Miller was known to sing novelty songs. In 1965, " A Windmill in Old Amsterdam ", a song written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge , became a UK hit for Ronnie Hilton . The song spent a total of 13 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at No. 23 in the chart of 17 February 1965. The song's composers were granted an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for

602-544: The Teletubbies who reached number one the previous week failed to gain it with their single " Say Eh-oh! ". They came second in the charts to The Spice Girls second of three consecutive Christmas number ones, with " Too Much ". Later on at the turn of the millennium , Bob the Builder was successful in achieving a Christmas number one in 2000, with " Can We Fix It? ". However, Bob the Builder did have another number one single

645-404: The top 40 . Freeform and album-oriented rock stations made use of novelty songs; some of the best-known work from progressive rocker Frank Zappa , for instance, is his extensive body of mostly adult-oriented novelty music. Zappa's " Bobby Brown (Goes Down) " was a smash hit in Europe despite its sexually explicit storyline, and " Valley Girl " was a Top 40 hit in the US, while his " Don't Eat

688-483: The 1966 novelty song " They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! ", by Napoleon XIV , has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum , a tambourine , and the bare sides of the musicians' legs. A book on achieving an attention-grabbing novelty single is The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) , written by The KLF . It is based on their achievement of a UK number-one single with " Doctorin'

731-561: The Feces! The album was recorded between April 1968 and December 1970, but was rejected by Warner Bros. due to its macabre content; notably, the eighth track, "Rape", which provides a detailed account of a sexual assault , and the fourteenth, "The Note", which portrays a man writing a suicide note . Stop the Feces was released on April 20, 2023, one month after Samuels died. Samuels was married twice: first to Rosemary Djivre, divorcing in 1968, and then to Bobbie Simon from 1996 until his death. He

774-576: The Keys") or maniacally rapid tempos ("Dizzy Fingers"), were popular enough to start a fad of novelty piano pieces that lasted through the decade. The fad was brought about by the increasing availability of audio recordings by way of the player piano and the phonograph; whereas much of Tin Pan Alley's repertoire was sold in the form of sheet music and thus had to be simple enough for an amateur pianist to play, novelty piano brought virtuoso -level performance to

817-549: The Tardis ", a 1988 dance remix mashup of the Doctor Who theme music released under the name of 'The Timelords'. It argued that (at the time) achieving a number one single could be achieved less by musical talent than through market research , sampling and gimmicks matched to an underlying danceable groove. Novelty songs were a major staple of Tin Pan Alley from its start in the late 19th century. They continued to proliferate in

860-563: The U.S. in four consecutive decades (1950s through the 1980s for Richard, 1980s to 2010s for Yankovic). Randy Brooks wrote a Christmas novelty song and it was originally recorded by the duo Elmo Shropshire and his then-wife Patsy in 1979, called " Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ". It tells the tragic-comic story of a family grandmother (loosely based on Brooks's uncle Foster Brooks ) who meets her end on Christmas Eve. After having drunk too much eggnog and forgetting to take her medicine, she staggers out of her family's house late Christmas Eve,

903-613: The UK as well. In 1991, " The Stonk " novelty song raised over £100,000 for the Comic Relief charity. In 1993, " Mr Blobby " became the second novelty song to reach the coveted Christmas number one slot in the UK, following Benny Hill 's 1971 chart-topper " Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) ". Many popular children's TV characters would try to claim the Christmas number one spot after this. In 1997,

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946-500: The UK. The single peaked at No. 1 in the British singles chart on 5 March 1968, where it remained for three weeks. It was also No. 1 on the NME chart for four weeks. As of 2020, Esther & Abi Ofarim remain the only act from Israel to achieve a UK No. 1 single. The record was an international hit, reaching the top 10 in various countries. It was less successful in the U.S., peaking at No. 68 on

989-677: The United Kingdom in the rock era, preceding the British Invasion . Three songs using a sped-up recording technique became #1 hits in the United States in 1958–59: David Seville 's " Witch Doctor " and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Sheb Wooley 's " The Purple People Eater ", and David Seville's " The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) ", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate three chipmunks' voices. The technique (which Dickie Goodman had also used on "The Flying Saucer") would inspire

1032-488: The Window? " became notable both for its extensive airplay and the backlash from listeners who found it increasingly annoying. Satirists such as Stan Freberg , Allan Sherman , and Tom Lehrer used novelty songs to poke fun at contemporary pop culture in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1951, Frank Sinatra was paired in a CBS television special with TV personality Dagmar . Mitch Miller at Columbia Records became intrigued with

1075-597: The Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition . Chuck Berry 's " My Ding-a-Ling " reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and Ray Stevens , known for such novelty hits as " Ahab the Arab ", " Gitarzan ", and " Mississippi Squirrel Revival ", had a #1 hit with " The Streak " in 1974. Comedy act Cheech & Chong recorded a number of musical bits that can be classified as novelty songs, including " Basketball Jones "(1973) and " Earache My Eye " (1974). Warren Zevon 's lone chart hit

1118-509: The Yellow Snow " and " Dancin' Fool " also reached the top 100 in his native United States. Beginning in 1970, Dr. Demento 's nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s, when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its terrestrial cancellation in June 2010. In the 21st century, novelty songs found

1161-478: The charts, reaching the top ten nationally in just its third week on the Billboard Hot 100 . It peaked at #3 and sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc . In the Cash Box Top 100 the record even climbed to No. 1 for one week in its second week on the charts. The success of the single inspired a Warner Bros. album of the same name in 1966 (reissued by Rhino in 1985), most of which continued

1204-470: The duo in rare form, very rare for these 'straight' talents. Could very easily repeat the track’s monster Enlish [ sic ] breakout on this side of the Atlantic. Exceptional long shot." Record World (9 March 1968): "Hilarious parody duet that is camp enough to connect with the populace. Pair are terrific." Novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as

1247-438: The early years of the 20th century, some rising to be among the biggest hits of the era. Varieties included songs with an unusual gimmick, such as the stuttering in " K-K-K-Katy " or the playful boop-boop-a-doops of " I Wanna Be Loved By You ", which made a star out of Helen Kane and inspired the creation of Betty Boop ; silly lyrics like " Yes! We Have No Bananas "; playful songs with a bit of double entendre, such as "Don't Put

1290-405: The fictitious composer P.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the " Best Comedy Album " Grammy from 1990 to 1993, the category was changed to "Best Spoken Comedy Album". When "Best Comedy Album" was reinstated in 2004, "Weird Al" Yankovic won for Poodle Hat . Novelty songs were popular on U.S. radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into

1333-590: The first ever Christmas record for dogs. Napoleon XIV Under the name Scott David (his son's name), he cowrote "As If I Didn't Know" with Larry Kusik , a top-10 hit for Adam Wade in 1961. Samuels also wrote " The Shelter of Your Arms ", a top-20 hit for Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964. Jerrold Laurence Samuels was born in Manhattan and was raised in the Bronx . He played the piano and wrote music throughout his childhood, and began his recording career in 1956 when he cut

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1376-469: The home and to those who would not normally attend classical concerts. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball " (set to the tune of British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts 's popular World War I–era " Colonel Bogey March ") was sung by British troops. A 1940s novelty song was Spike Jones' 1942 " Der Fuehrer's Face ", which included raspberries in its chorus. Tex Williams 's " Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) " topped

1419-439: The major divisions of popular music ; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music . Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance or TV program. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. For example,

1462-647: The mental illness theme, for example: "Bats in My Belfry" and "I Live in a Split Level Head", the latter of which features different vocal parts in each stereo speaker. A second single of two recordings from that album went relatively unnoticed. His manager was Leonard Stogel . In the following years, Samuels would occasionally revisit the Napoleon XIV character to record other songs, usually comedy records with an insanity theme. His songs were often played on Dr. Demento 's radio show. In his later years, Samuels worked as

1505-447: The morning of 3 March. Williams recorded his own version of the song for his 1968 album The Mason Williams Ear Show on Warner Bros.-Seven Arts . For his rendition the duet vocal was performed by one of his Smothers Brothers collaborators, Jennifer Warnes . Cash Box (9 March 1968): "Out of the left field arena of novelty songs comes this wierd [ sic ] rollick complete with mock yodel and tuba-banjo backdrop. Crazy romp that shows

1548-484: The next two decades including his gold record RIAA certified hit " Mr. Jaws " in 1975, which charted #1 in Cash Box and Record World and was based on the movie Jaws . Among the more far out songs of this genre were the two released in 1956 by Nervous Norvus , "Transfusion" and "Ape Call". The Coasters had novelty songs such as "Charlie Brown" and " Yakety Yak ". "Yakety Yak" became a #1 single on July 21, 1958 , and

1591-419: The pairing and compelled songwriter Dick Manning to compose a song for the two of them. The result was " Mama Will Bark ", a novelty song performed by Sinatra with interspersed spoken statements by Dagmar, saying things like "mama will bark", "mama will spank", and "papa will spank". The recording even includes the sound of a dog yowling. It is regarded by both music scholars and Sinatra enthusiasts to be perhaps

1634-778: The single "Puppy Love" for the Vik Records subsidiary of RCA Victor Records . Samuels was an acclaimed songwriter during the early 1960s. Under the name Scott David (his son's name), he cowrote "As If I Didn't Know" with Larry Kusik , a top-10 hit for Adam Wade in 1961. Samuels also wrote " The Shelter of Your Arms ", a top-20 hit for Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964. In 1966, Samuels concocted " They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! " while working at Associated Recording Studios in New York. The public found out his true identity when Cousin Brucie of WABC revealed his name. The record quickly climbed

1677-418: The song being British comedian Michael Dapaah . The children's novelty song " Baby Shark " received widespread attention when Korean education brand Pinkfong 's cover version from an online viral video reached the top 40 in the U.S. and several other countries. In the United Kingdom, the novelty hit has mainly become a feature of the " Christmas chart battle " (apart from a few viral hits found earlier in

1720-451: The song, was a writer for the series. Ofarim recorded the song with her husband Abi Ofarim that year. The words of the song imitate yodelling , with a somewhat 1920s-style arrangement structured like a twelve-bar blues. The single was released on Philips Records in February 1968 in the UK. Esther & Abi Ofarim made an appearance on The Eamonn Andrews Show on ITV to promote it in

1763-405: The worst song he ever recorded. Sinatra would record few others before he left Columbia and joined Capitol Records in 1952. Dickie Goodman faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song " The Flying Saucer ", which sampled snippets of contemporary hits without permission and arranged them to resemble interviews with an alien landing on Earth. Goodman released more hit singles in the same vein for

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1806-537: Was also in a relationship with Petra Vesters from 1973 to 1987. He had a son from his first marriage and another from his relationship with Vesters. Another son predeceased him. Samuels was a longtime resident of the Oxford Circle neighborhood of Philadelphia, though he moved to an assisted living facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania , after retiring. Samuels died from complications of Parkinson's disease dementia at

1849-495: Was the novelty number " Werewolves of London ". Other novelty songs in the '70s are Jimmy Castor Bunch "King Kong"(1975), Rick Dees ' " Disco Duck " (1976) and The Fools ' "Psycho Chicken" (1978). "Weird Al" Yankovic would emerge as one of the most prolific parody acts of all time in the 1980s, with a career that would span four decades; he would join Cliff Richard in being one of the few acts to have at least one top-40 hit in

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