The other day I was driving home through the Jersey Pinelands and switching through the radio stations when I hit upon Bob Dylan's classic gem Rainy Day Women. I started thinking, "How the heck did he come up with this wacky piece of nonsense?" and then I realized: it's just ol' Bob havin' fun & bein' silly in a recording studio.
I remember that, before I really knew much about Dylan, I'd heard many times about this Rainy Day Women song, which, by the title, sounded like some kind of ballad, and wondered why I'd never actually heard it. Imagine my shock when I finally discovered I already knew the song quite well: They'll stone ya when you try ta be so good / They'll stone ya just like they said they would and so on. Just doesn't say a word about rain or women.
So that got me to pondering this momentous question: What are the goofiest songs recorded by major artists, that is, silly songs by artists who are known for more serious work and which received some respectable airplay? Now, the genre I know best is classic rock, so that's from where most of my selections are drawn. I'm specifically ruling out novelty songs by artists who specialize in such, e.g., Ray Stevens (The Streak, etc.), or by one hit wonders who never recorded a commercially successful body of more serious work; for example, Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road by Loudon Wainwright III is a gas, but can you name even one of Loudon's other tunes? So, what are your favorites?
Here's my list, for what it's worth, in no particular order:
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, Bob Dylan - perfectly awful harmonica
Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
Jailhouse Rock, Elvis Presley - lest we forget the Purple Gang
Barbara Ann, The Beach Boys
Short People, Randy Newman - wicked satire on prejudice: Don't want no short (i.e., black, brown, Asian, Jewish, Muslim, and so on) people 'round here
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon
Back in the U.S.S.R., The Beatles - fabulous guitar work for a song that's pure tongue-in-cheek
Werewolves of London, Warren Zevon - I always sing along to the "ah-ooo" parts, plus it has one of the great lyrical lines of all time: "Little old lady got mutilated late last night"
Bang the Drum All Day, Todd Rundgren
And not forgetting to give both God and the devil their due:
Mercedes Benz, Janis Joplin - not sure how much airplay this cut from her great album Pearl received; but who among us has not asked why, if God exists, he hasn't provided me with a luxury vehicle?
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen - this song simply amazes me every time I hear it, and where else, other than on Gospel stations, have you heard talk about Beelzebub? Freddie, we miss ya.