FunHouse Radio

Novelty Records, Parodies, Weird Covers, Outsider Music, Oddities, Mashups, Comedy, Nonsense & Cringe.

“Felix The Cat (Theme)” by Ann Bennett – Original Uncut with Discarded Lyrics – Even A Spanish Version

Posted on 2023-08-17 by Wacky Alex

What better way to celebrate Black Cat Appreciation Day then to take a look at our favorite cartoon cat. Felix The Cat has appeared in hundreds of animated features and is still a popular character today. I have a Felix clock on the wall behind my workspace. He’s over 100 years old you know.

Felix was born in 1919 but the theme song that we remember was recorded in the 50s and sung by Ann Bennett.

A longer version of the theme song was recorded around 1957-58 as part of an effort to repackage the old Felix films for television. The producers ended up cutting the song down to one verse and that is a version that we all remember. Who knew there was a slightly longer version of the song?

Apparently somebody was in possession of a test record of the original uncut version and it ended up on SoundCloud.

As it turns out she recorded a version in Spanish too! You can listen to the 30 second clip at the beginning of this soundcloud post. For some reason there is a piece of another song in there afterwards.

By now you must be in the mood to watch a few episodes of the cartoon. We’ll you are in luck. Here’s a playlist with over 100 clips.

By the way, the image at the top of this blog is the title screen for the Nintendo Entertainment Center game. The game was ignored by the public when it was first published but has since become a popular choice for retro-gamers. My friends and I have played it. It’s a fun “platform” game with great boss battles.

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

Posted on 2023-07-23 by Wacky Alex

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’.

“Jeannie’s Diner” by Mark Jonathan Davis – A Parody of “Tom’s Diner” by DNA Featuring Suzanne Vega

Posted on 2023-02-18 by Wacky Alex

Here we have a goofy mash-up/parody of “Tom’s Diner” with the I Dream of Jeanie TV Show Theme.

The DNA remix, rather than the original, became a big hit in 1990. Remixes were relatively new as a concept in pop music at the time. They sometimes charted along side, or even instead of, the album version.

Reruns of the 1960s classic TV sitcom, I Dream of Jeanie, were airing daily in the USA at the time.

It’s seems that the Jeanie parody actually samples the DNA remix. So in that way this is a mashup. While never officially released as a single but word got around about the parody and It was released on a compilation called Tom’s Album the following year.

The video included here contains scenes from the television series as well the promotional spots for the show that aired on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. It’s not an official video but it seems to have been created by the same guy who first created the mashup.

The WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop Stunt – Old Time Radio Style

Posted on 2022-11-24 by Wacky Alex

Here we have a classic bit from the 1970s hit TV Show, WKRP in Cincinnati. The viewer may have been watching TV but they never get to see what the newscaster sees. Instead the viewer is invited to be a radio listener. The listener has to use their imagination. It’s called “Theater of the Mind“.

To help you visualize, we’ve created this with Photoshop.

In the sequence, reporter Les Nessman (played by Richard Sanders) is dispatched to local shopping center. The program director had arranged for a number of living turkeys to be thrown from a helicopter onto the shopping area. He was hoping the stunt would help promote the radio station, under the impression that these turkeys would just fly away. Needless to say, turkeys raised as human food can not fly. Something else entirely occurred. the Hindenburg disaster was referenced.

The show was trying to save money by not showing the turkeys falling from the sky and onto the crowd of people below. They needed cheep because they were already paying a fortune to licence all the rock music heard on the show. Still, it would have been great to see the mayhem described actually appear on the screen.

In the weeks leading up to the episode’s first broadcast, producers ran ads in local newspapers. Here is an example that we found.

“The Trololo Song” AKA “I Am Very Glad Because I’m Finally Returning Back Home” by Eduard Khil on Soviet Television in 1976

Posted on 2022-11-19 by Wacky Alex

Edward Khil became known to the world in 2010, when this 1976 clip of him singing on Soviet Television was uploaded to YouTube. The video went viral and became an Internet meme. It’s been described as the “Russian Rick-roll”.

In this performance Khil elected to use phonemes instead of the actual lyrics to the song. As a result it earned the nickname “Trololo Song”. This term because so ubiquitous that the singer adopted the stage name, Mr. Trololo.

The song has been referenced in pop culture numerous times. Family Guy produced a scene where the guys sing along at the local bar.

Mr. Trololo died in 2012. His final public performance was in 2010 where he sang the song to an enthusiastic crown in St Petersburg.

Download this wallpaper at deviantart.com

Wonder Woman Season One Theme Song – The Best TV Show Theme of All Time

Posted on 2022-11-17 by Wacky Alex

Some would say the Dr Who Theme is the best of all time. I think it’s number two. This is just a personal opinion. Just listen to this banger. Someone took the time to remaster the track and make it stereo in the example above. It’s from Season one of Wonder Woman starring Linda Carter which ran for three seasons starting in 1975.

The first season theme music is better than what they ended up going with for seasons two and three. The removed the lead vocal. I think that was a big mistake.

The show had an excellent intro animation to go with the song as well. Here it is. Classic.

Music by Charles Fox, Lyrics by Norman Gimbel

“Dad, I’m in Jail” by Was (Not Was) – Animated for MTV’s Liquid Television October 1992

Posted on 2022-08-27 by Wacky Alex

Imagine that it’s the 90s and you’ve just arrived home. The first thing you do is press PLAY on your answering machine. Then you find out that your son is currently in jail. Not only that but he’s gone nuts. He claims to love it there.

Was (Not Was) wrote a song about it. The track features a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments. I would classify it as experimental jazz. It’s weird as hell and certainly not a traditional pop song. “Dad, I’m in Jail” was the final track on their 1988 album What Up, Dog?.

I got my first CD player in 1989 or 1990. I quickly joined both Columbia House and BMG music services. I got What Up, Dog? on CD from one of those two. I checked to see if I still have it in my collection and sadly I do not.

The video here is not the official video for the song. The band itself never made one. This is actually an animation piece made for MTV’s Liquid Television. It first aired on October 1, 1992, part of season two.

At the time animation was not as ubiquitous as it is today. The technology to create animation was nothing like what we have now. Liquid Television was one of the only places that a casual viewer could see animated works of art. It also is where future popular shows like Beavis and Butthead were first tested out on an audience.

This upload looks like a VHS recording from live TV. As a result it is in mono and does not sound very good, so for your reference, I found a better sounding recording of the track here.

“Would You Like To Buy An O” by Frank Oz & Jim Henson as The Salesman & Ernie

Posted on 2022-07-30 by Wacky Alex

Unless you are Generation X or older you are not likely to understand the humor in this skit from classic Sesame Street featuring Frank Oz and Jim Henson as Muppet characters: The Salesman and Ernie, respectively.

In the 20th century, there really were people in long coats walking around trying to sell items hidden under their coats. They could be found in any American downtown, market, densely populated neighborhoods, bus stops, college campus and anywhere people might be walking around. They usually sold wristwatches and jewellery.

It was “buyer beware” if you were going to make a purchase from one of these often shady characters. People became annoyed with them and came to see them as a public nuisance. The practice was eventually made illegal In most jurisdictions. “Coat-commerce” was in decline by the 90s. The advent of online shopping dealt the final death-blow to the custom.

This track appeared on at least 80 releases in different countries and different formats. It first appeared on The Muppet’s Alphabet Album in 1971.

As a kid, I had an LP called Ernie’s Hits that I ordered from a school book club catalog. I found a photo of the 8-track version that was published the same year that I was born. This 8 track has the Spanish version of “Rubber Ducky” which did not appear on the LP. I still have the LP but it’s no longer playable.