Tag Archives: novelty

“She Tortures Barbies” by Captain Ambivalent – 2023 lyric video

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Not all girls are into Barbie dolls. Barbie is in the headlines and some people have been torturing the dolls for views on YouTube.

Captain Ambivalent has a niece who is no stranger to doll torture. She beat these amatures to the punch back in 2014. “She Tortures Barbies” was track three on Private Ninja Zombie and the young lady had just turned 10 years old. The lyrics recall actual conversations he had with his niece at the time.

This rather disturbing song has been in rotation at FunHouse Radio for two years now. We’ve always been a little unsure of the lyrics none-the-less. Lucky for us, The Good Captain released this new lyric video yesterday. Everything makes so much more sense now.

I look forward to watching the Barbie movie, but in 20 minute segments. I can’t look at the color pink for more than 20 minutes at a time.

courtesy of discogs

“Slimey To The Moon” by Tony Bennett – on Sesame Street – FAR OUT!

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For some reason we find Tony Bennett looking at the stars one night atop one of the buildings on Sesame Street. Big Bird decides to join him when Tony breaks into song. Essentially it’s a parody of “Fly Me To The Moon” made famous by Frank Sinatra.

The Lyrics were reworked to pertain to the situation at hand in that particular episode from 1998. Apparently Oscar The Grouch’s little pet, Slimey The Worm decided to become an astronaut. CUTE!

Not to spoil the fun, but I am pretty sure that the first worm in space was a subject of a science experiment. Just sayin’.

“Reasons To Be Miserable” by Marvin, The Paranoid Android – 45 RPM Double B-Side

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“Reasons To Be Miserable” was released in 1981 in the UK only. It was the ‘A’-Side of 45 RPM 7 inch release called The Double ‘B’-Side on Depressive Discs (Polydor).

The part of Marvin is voiced by Stephen Moore, the same actor that voiced the emotionally disturbed android in the 1981 BBC Television miniseries based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy series of novels and stories by Douglas Adams. If you are a fan of the books or the movie, I highly recommend that you check out the BBC TV miniseries. It’s brilliant and campy. I love it. Here is a clip from the series.

You can also check out the BBC Radio series that was first broadcast in 1978.

The song involves Marvin describing his views on life (“I’d feel a little better if they broke me up for spares”, “If I had my time again, I’d rather be a lemming”), to a rather clever synthpop backing track.

Apparently the title is a reference to the hit song “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3” by Ian Dury and The Blockheads.

You can still find copies of the record for sale today on the secondary market but the prices are kind of out there.

front side of the sleeve
back side of the sleeve
close up on the label

images courtesy of discogs

“I Wear Speedos” by Mikey Bustos – Parody of “Despacito” by Kuis Fonzi

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How can you not love this? Mikey Bustos is Filipino-Canadian and he’s made a damn near perfect parody. He’s perfect in the video too. It looks a little higher in budget, but maybe it’s just talent. This track is PERFECT for Summertime. We have this in rotation through the summer.

This writer wore Speedos to swim class back in 1994. I wouldn’t dream of doing that today.

found on facebook

“Human Video Game” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince + Ready Rock C

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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.

Snopp Dogg Bit Somebody Hard – The No Shizzle Truth Behind Snoop-Speak

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The first time I heard Snoop Dogg say “Fo Shizzle My Nizzle”, I knew he didn’t come up with that himself. My theory is that he heard a classic disco song playing on the radio called “Double Dutch Bus” by Frankie Smith. He’re a clip from YouTube. Decide for yourself.

I guess it’s not a big secret because discogs reports, “His classic “Double Dutch Bus” popularized his nonsensical form of slang that influenced later rappers like Snoop Dogg and E-40.”

In the HipHop world the term “bite” means to borrow an phrase or an idea from another artists, usually a rapper. That’s why I used it as click-bait.

Frankie Smith released a very similar sounding song as a single back in 1973. It was called “Double Dutch” without the “Bus”. From what I can tell the song failed to chart at the time. (citation needed)

In 1980, He re-cut the vocals and modified the lyrics, releasing it as a 12 inch single, with his original 1973 track on the flip-side. The clubs started to play the record and it ended up at Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.

So the question remains, Did Smith come up with this kind of jibberish/code speak or did he learn it from someone? I think he heard the kids in his neighborhood doing it back in the early seventies. So we may never know who really invented “Snoop-Speak”.

An Odd Continuity Error – White Uhura And Black Sulu on Peter Pan Records – Fascinating

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The role of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, a beautiful and talented bridge crew-person of African descent was originally played by the iconic Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek. She’s made countless appearances in the franchise as the character.

It’s hard to imagine that Lt Uhura could be portrayed as a Caucasian woman but here we have it. Wrap your heads around it. It also seems that the role of Chief Helmsman Sulu is depicted as a Black or perhaps Pacific Islander.

In 1975, Peter Pan, a long-time children’s record publisher, created eleven Star Trek stories. These took the form of both 7 and 12 inch vinyl records and often with a read along comic book.

Presumably, a Black voice actor was not hired to play Uhura. Rather than have a White voice actor perform a Black character, they simply depicted the character as White instead. The ethnicity of the voice actor playing Sulu, however, is unclear. None of the original TV series actors did voices for these recordings. With these unexpected changes, it get’s a bit uncanny. You might think we’ve been zapped over to an alternate universe.

The story on the actual record is charming or course. We won’t spoil it for you.

If you liked this episode, check out the CHDanhauser YouTube Channel . They uploaded several of these about two years ago. I’ve checked out a few and they are all pretty good. I can only assume that none of these are considered official cannon.

courtesy of discogs
courtesy of discogs

“Not The Not Song” by Kit And Kaboodle Because It Really Is Opposite Day

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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?