Z: Zombie Jamboree

Zombie Jamboree

We have come to the end, and Z was as tricky as ever. A search of songs on Youtube produced this song, which was new to me. Yet it seems to fit and as always, it was fun finding something new.

The song was originally titled "Jumbie Jamberee" (sic). A jumbee is a type of mythological spirit or demon in the folklore of some Caribbean countries, and is the generic name given to all malevolent entities. The song's references to Carnival also suggest a connection to the Moko jumbie, a protective spirit figure represented during Carnival on Trinidad by stilt walkers and dancers. The switch to "Zombie Jamboree" occurred very early with King Flash's version (see video below) with those lyrics coming out in 1956, only three years after "Jumbie Jamberee" first appeared (from link above). All this stuff was new to me 🙂 The song is done in calypso style. The Kingston Trio also did "Zombie Jamboree," as did Harry Belafonte, who was known for calypso music.

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And that's the end. Hope you have enjoyed my A to Z posts. A reflections post is coming.

Y: Yes! We Have No Bananas

 

Yes! We Have No Bananas

This is a popular novelty tune written in 1923 by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn. It has been recorded by numerous artists including Louis Prima and Billy Jones (both of whose versions are below), among others, many in 1923 alone. It is one of the best-selling books of sheet music. 

Below is a video on the story of "Yes! We Have No Bananas." 

The song also found its way into commercials. I seem to think this was how I first heard the song.

X: All My Exes Live in Texas

 

All My Exes Live in Texas

Here we are--that ever-pesky letter X! Almost every year I have to do this one by finding something that has an X in it somewhere, often not at the beginning. 

This was the best I could find for this letter. Some will argue whether this can be considered a novelty song. It's also far from one of my favorites, but am familiar with it. George Strait mania was rampant in the 1980s. I've heard this and other Strait songs performed at the local karaoke bar (at least during some of the last times I went). I live in a rodeo county, after all. "All My Exes..." is what is called a list song. 

 

The song was released in 1987 on Strait's album Ocean Front Property and was  nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards in 1988.

Here is a remake from a female perspective.

And by Patrick Star from SpongeBob. Now this comes a little close to a novelty record, in my opinion. (The video I'd originally included for this one was later marked private, so I posted a different one, just days before posting day).

Some Extras Before We Reach the End

Only three days left till we reach the end of the month and the alphabet. 

There were a few other songs I had considered for two of my letters, but decided against including. If you want to know what they are, click here and here. Both were frequently played on Dr. Demento, a syndicated radio show that specialized in playing novelty songs. I don't recall any station near me carrying his show. Did any of you ever get his show?

Also, while searching I remembered this parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas" from Bob and Doug McKenzie on SCTV. (Another favorite on Dr. Demento). I wasn't sure about including this one either, and as you could see, I chose not to. It's also holiday-themed, another reason I chose not to include it, even though I did include the Halloween-themed "Monster Mash." Even so, I got to thinking of other Christmas novelty songs, including one nearly everyone has heard, as well this one from Cheech and Chong, and many "Twisted Christmas" songs from Seattle DJ and parody artist Bob Rivers, whom I just learned passed away on March 11. RIP. Click here to listen to some of his songs. I had some of Rivers's Christmas CDs (still do actually, I just don't know if my player still works). He also did non-holiday parodies, including a recent one called "Elon's Coming." Do a search if you want to hear this one :)

Last month, while I was searching for songs, a blog I read posted another Bob and Doug McKenzie song called "Take Off." I wasn't familiar with this one at first. I wasn't sure about including it as one of my songs, and eventually chose not to. 

Some letters, as I may have already said, provided more than one possible choice, too many to mention. This made it a little hard to choose just one.

Tomorrow we resume with X. Please join me then.

W: Western Union

 

Western Union

Some might argue whether this can be considered a novelty song. Someone on this site said, "...it's really just a step above a novelty song." This was the lone hit single by the Five Americans in 1967. The title refers to Western Union, the money-transferring service, and the song's lyrics are about sending out telegrams. For those not in the know, here is an explanation of telegrams (from this link):

If you were born after, say, 1980, you may not have any idea what a telegram is. If you’ve even heard of the company Western Union, it is most likely for its financial services division and not for the telegraphy business that it dominated for a century.

For the uninitiated, a telegram was the most efficient way, pre-texting and email, to get a message quickly to its intended recipient. At its peak, all the way back in 1929, it’s said that 200 million telegrams were sent. To put that in perspective, one estimate indicates that in America alone, six billion texts are sent every day. ...

The song's opening notes attempt to imitate the sounds of a telegram being sent, and the lyrics "Dit-Da-Dit-Da-Dit" (in the song's refrain) are also an attempt to imitate the sounds of the message being sent, using Morse Code (from this link). The man in the song is receiving a telegram from his girlfriend who's breaking up with him (lyrics).

V: Video Killed the Radio Star

 

Video Killed the Radio Star

As many will know, this was the first video shown on MTV when the station launched in the summer of 1981. The song was originally recorded in 1979, concurrently by Bruce Wooley and the Camera and the duo the Buggles.  Wooley's version contained different lyrics and did not have the" oh-a, oh-a" hook (link). It is the Buggles' version that is better known and that was played on MTV. It was included on their first album, The Age of Plastic. The song is about concerns and mixed attitudes toward 20th-century inventions and machines for media arts, how some musicians did not translate visually to video. Now MTV shows no videos! The irony! 

The Buggles consisted of singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes (who cowrote the song with Bruce Wooley). Horn and Downes joined the band Yes in 1980 after that group's original lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman departed. Downes and Horn would record one album with Yes before the band's temporary breakup in 1981. Downes joined the new supergroup Asia, with former Yes guitarist Steve Howe. When Yes regrouped two years later (with Anderson back as lead singer), Horn signed on as the band's producer, producing Yes's bestselling album 90125.

The song was recently parodied as "New AI's Filling Us With Alarm." Ain't that true!

U: Under the Sea

 

Under the Sea

One of the tricky letters. Not a lot could be found for this one. A list of novelty songs beginning with U gave many I'm not familiar with, some of which I felt were inappropriate to include, and one that goes against my political beliefs (though I don't want to get too much into that). 

Even though I have not seen the original Little Mermaid since it first came out in 1989 and have not bothered with the new one (and don't know if I ever will), I remembered this song. It is sung by Samuel Wright, who voiced Sebastian the crab in the original animated movie. (Daveed Diggs sings it in the remake). Sebastian sings the song to persuade the mermaid Ariel to stay sea-bound after she falls in love with Prince Eric, warning of her of human life and reminding her of the benefits of living under water. The song is done in both a calypso and a reggae style. 

I also wanted to include the video below of kids doing a dance to the song and this short (again, shorts don't seem to allow embedding).