Comments on: Cavalcade of Turkeys

By: bernarda

bernarda — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:10:52 +0000

Two of my favorite turkeys are:

“Young and Dumb” by the Rubber City Rebels(who also have “I wanna pierce my brain”;

“Kung Foo Fighting” by Busstop.

By: Supernova

Supernova — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:28:55 +0000

I gotta agree with JoAnne about “Gonna Buy Me a Dog.” I can’t count the number of times I rewound it on tape, trying to catch every last syllable.

“I thinkI’mgonnabuymeadog, yes sir, I’m gonna buy me a dog, if IwaslookinforawordtodescribewhatI’mgonnabuy, I think DOG would be the word.” “Would it be dog?” “It would be dog.” “Definitely dog.” “It would come springing from my lips. Dog.”

Good times!

By: spyder

spyder — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:24:50 +0000

How can there not be any contributions from the various pop industry megastars on these sorts of lists?? Pretty much anything pushed out of Jive records qualifies, as does most of Def Jam and DeathRow. It if is in rotation on the various versions of MTV, VH, CMT, etc., then it most likely is a classic turkey.

By: Henry Holland

Henry Holland — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:07:15 +0000

Turning Japanese is the second best song about masturbation ever written, The Who’s Pictures of Lily being tops, of course.

Stupid Fogheads.

By: PK

PK — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:41:55 +0000

Hi Travis,

Thanks for that link, there are many other cool songs there too!

By: Travis Rector

Travis Rector — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:52:50 +0000

PK,

The original version of “Why does the sun shine?” was done by Tom Glazer on an album titled “Space Songs.” You can hear the original at:

http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/

By: NoJoy

NoJoy — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:27:16 +0000

Don’t dis the Waitresses!

My local radio station has started playing “Schnappi, Das Kleine Krokodil” every Tuesday morning, perfectly timed so it’s playing when I drive my kids to school. Try getting that out of your head, or worse, getting it out of the head of an eight-year-old who is supposed to be settling down for class!

By: Burrow

Burrow — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:21:03 +0000

Dang I was just going to post that. Many people seem to not know that, even though I think the original song was in Mona Lisa’s Smile. (Pretty sure.)

By: Blake Stacey

Blake Stacey — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:27:19 +0000

The tune for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" comes originally from "Puttin' on the Ritz" (1929) by Irving Berlin, except for the "Even old New York, was once New Amsterdam" part, whose melody is that old snake-charmer song sometimes known as "The Streets of Cairo". With lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon, "Istanbul" peaked at #10 on the 1953 Billboard charts, performed by The Four Lads.

By: Charon

Charon — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:40:31 +0000

TMBG didn’t even write Istanbul (I discovered this when my mom heard me playing the song – and mentioned that she remembered it from the 50’s). And it makes perfect sense compared to some of their other songs (Particle Man? Not a turkey, but joyously nonsensical).

As for turkeys… perhaps Da Funk by Daft Punk. But really, it seems all electronica-club-house music is repetitive. I suppose it’s more interesting on E.