Somebody in a Facebook group asked this question. “Has anyone ever recorded a parody of Weird Al?” That sounds backwards, right? Well, the answer is yes and in the worst way.
“Horoscope For Today” is an original song by Weird Al Yankovic. It is not a parody of anything. It’s a ska-inspired goofy rant about newspaper horoscopes. The track appeared on his 1999 album, Running With Scissors.
“Endoscope” by Steve Goodie is a parody of the Yankovic song and it’s all about having a colonoscopy. Good times. The track appeared on his 2016 release What, And Quit Showbiz??!! and on The Fump Volume 55.
Back in 1987, The Star Trek franchise had established a strong cult following after a string of successful motion pictures and decades of reruns of the original series on TV. Public enthusiasm was so strong that the now ubiquitous reboot, Star Trek: The Next Generation. began in the Fall.
But this song is not about TNG. A British novelty music act called The Firm created “this song”Star Trekkin'” with lyrics based on catch phrases and dialog from Star Trek: The Original Series which originally aired in the 1960s.
They tried to get the track published on a major label but they all declined. So the band decided self-published single on 7 in 45 RPM. The original run was just 500 copies. These original pressings are highly collectible today.
The song caught on, but not in North America, It hit number one in The UK and charted in Australia, Japan and parts of Europe. The group subsequently included the song on their first album.
The music video is weird and goofy. It utilized crude puppetry and stop frame animation. It’s so bad that it’s good. It kind of reminds me of Robot Chicken. The original print is believed to be lost today. YouTube has a a few attempts at recovery. The best one I could find is included at the top
Back in North America, “Star Trekkin'” was released on Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty CD of All Time in 1988, Dr. Demento: 20th Anniversary Collection in 1991, and Dr. Demento: Hits from Outer Space in 2006.
I had a very cool and strange roommate my sophomore year in college. He was lucky enough to own one of the compilations. I had never heard the syndicated radio show, but I had seen music video specials, so I was aware of the good doctor. This was not quite the beginning of my love affair with novelty records but Dr D has obviously been a huge influence on me and this radio channel.
Welcome to The FunHouse Diner. Here’s our menu. It’s all food for the soul, really. Take your time perusing. We have many great options for you to consider. My name is Wacky Alex and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you started with a beer or wine song?
We asked our social media communities to come up with songs about food. They delivered, big time! There were so many submissions that we needed to establish some rules to create this menu of music.
No commercial jungles
The song must actually be about real food that people eat. This does not include what animals, zombies, cartoon witches or monsters eat.
No metaphors. No songs that just mention food but are really about something else entirely.
Candy is not food but cookies and pastries are.
Only one song per artist.
If you have more ideas for this menu, feel free to leave a comment.
BEER AND WINE
“Pump Ab Das Bier” by Werner Wichtig – Parody of “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic
“Red Red Wine” by UB40 – Written by Neil Diamond
APPETIZERS
“Potato Chips” by Slim Gaillard & His Baker’s Dozen
“Airport Shrimp Cocktail” by The Alton Brown Trio
SOUP AND SALAD
“Chicken Soup For The Rapper’s Soul” by The Whitest Kids You Know
“Beef Stew” by Obie Plenty
“Let’s Make A Salad” by Kenny King
TODAY’S SPECIAL
“All You Can Eat” by (The) Fat Boys – From the movie Krush Groove
MAIN COURSE
“Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffet
“Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries” by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
“Lasagna” by Weird Al Yankovic – Parody of La Bamba a Mexican folk song made famous by Ritchie Valens
“Raining Tacos” by Parry Gripp & BooneBum
“My Mother’s Brisket” by Rick Moranis
“Fish Stick Sandwich Burrito” by Robert Benfer
“Eat Steak” by The Reverend Horton Heat
“You Must Give Me Beef” by Powered By Satan
“Hold Tight (I Want Some Seafood Mama)” by Fats Waller
“The All Chicken Restaurant” by Art Paul Schlosser
SIDE ITEMS
“Call Any Vegetable” by Frank Zappa
“Buttermilk Biscuits” by Sir-Mix-A-Lot
“I Love Onions” by Laurie
“Toast” by Heywood Banks
DESERTS
“Savoy Truffle” by Ella Fitzgerald – Cover of the Beatles / George Harrison
“Cheesecake” by Louis Armstrong
“Chocolate Chip Cookies” by Wise Guys (English Version)
This was the final track on the epic double LP from Jeff & Will. He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper was so chaotic that it’s hard to say if this is really just a filler track.
Not all classic Hip-hop is good. A lot of it is SO BAD that it’s good. I think this track would meet criteria for the latter.
Songs about video games were also only being made for 10 years at most by 1988.That gives this track some novelty value as well. “Human Video Game” mentions Donkey Kong and in the longer version also Pac-Man. The cassette release had the longer version.
The “beat box” style of mouth music had been around only a few years by the time this track was recorded. Now this is common place, even quaint. At the time, however, it was mind-blowing. I’m not kidding. I was there. Yeah, I’m old. Shut up.
I was a kid at the time and it was 1988 so naturally I had this on cassette. It was one of the few tapes I owned so it was well played on my little boombox.
Today is National Opposite Day and this might be the perfect song for the Occasion. We think this live version from 1997 is best but Kit And Kaboodle recorded it again for a studio album.
In English, negation works like multiplication. Two negatives equal a positive. Three equals a negative again. This song is about “nothing but not”. Count the negations. Are they really singing about nothing? What is NOT nothing? Is that automatically something?
Also it is important to remember that an argument is not just contradiction. Or is it?
The Last Polka is a mockumentary film. It was written by and starred John Candy and Eugene Levy. It was produced for and first broadcast on the HBO cable TV network in 1985. A limited number of VHS copies were produced as well.
In a similar fashion to VH1 Behind The Music, The Last Polka follows the life, careers, and then the final concert of Yosh and Stan Shmenge, brothers from the fictional country of Leutonia. Somehow they become the biggest polka duo in the world at the time.
One scene has The Shmenges performing an outdoor stadium Michael Jackson salute concert, complete with glitter outfits, sequin glove, and a polka version of “Beat It”.
The Shmenges were originally created as characters for the television series Second City TV. SCTV performers including Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, and Robin Duke appear in the film.
Who decided that a Snowman should have arms? Why a nose? Is he going to smell something? Why a mouth? Is he going to sing to us? I personally don’t see why a snowman should go without a penis. It’s just another body part.
Some snow-people might have a preference for one gender or the other. We shouldn’t give them a hard time just because they are a little different. I am kind of mad that I didn’t think of this when I was a kid. I could have got a lot of the neighborhood kids to laugh.
This wacky track was first released as a single in 1978. I first heard it on a 1996 Christmas Music Compilation from Rhino Records called Just Can’t Get Enough: New Wave Xmas. When it’s not Christmas, we also play “Boogie Till You Puke” on the live stream. Root Boy Slim was a strange dude.
But what about K-Mart? If you are older than 30 you may remember a discount retailer called K-Mart. They were headquartered in the Detroit Area until a merger Sears corporation in Chicago.
Back in the 60s, 70s, & 80s, K-Mart was a great place to shop for Christmas gifts. I always enjoyed going there as a kid. The music on the PA and all the merchandise was exciting.
They had small cafeterias to get sandwiches, pretzels, soda, pie, gelatin or coffee. It was however very nasty that people smoked cigarettes indoors. There were disposable ashtrays everywhere.
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