Funny, Funny Throwback
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86713)
United States
September 25, 2017 8:09pm CST
Oh, the things that attack you from your past. Earlier this evening, for some inexplicable reason, "The B-Side of Love," a National Lampoon parody of country music, popped into my head. I couldn't find the song itself on You Tube, but I did find the entire album Goodbye Pop there. I started listening to it.
And now my sides hurt.
I was pretty heavily into the National Lampoon in the early 80s because that's where a lot of SNL alumnae began. In fact, on Goodbye Pop you can hear Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer, and Christopher Guest. Bill's brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, wrote a couple of the songs, too.
I thought it was pretty funny back in 1981. Now that I've gained significantly more musical knowledge, there are places where I cannot stop laughing. The "Art Rock Suite" makes a whole lot more "sense" to me now. And oh, that tribute to Neil Young ("Old Maid [Southern California Gets Me Down]"). And Bob Dylan doing reggae?! LMAO!!!
But the thing that got me started listening to it again was "The B-Side of Love," the spot-on parody of country music. Co-written and sung by Christopher Guest, it's not only a great look at stereotypes in country ("a snuff queen's just an imitation brand of wife like a pigeon's just an imitation dove"), it also brilliantly attacks the "so loud you can't hear the band" audiences. As Guest was one of the architects of the classic This Is Spinal Tap, you can hear some of the genesis of that in his pieces on this record.
If you are a music geek (I think Scott and JJ will like this [JJ especially for the Neil Young spoof]) and you have 45 minutes, enjoy the classic comedy of the National Lampoon and Goodbye Pop.
Goodbye Pop, 1952-1976
Recorded by the National Lampoon
Released 1975
Have a kung-fu Christmas!
Goodbye Pop 1952--1976 was an American comedy album of song parodies and sketches that was released as a vinyl record in 1975. It was a spin-off from Nationa...
5 people like this
3 responses
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
26 Sep 17
How fun, I like when they do stuff like this. I listened to each of a bit, but really wanted to hear the Bob Dylan doing reggae one. That was cool. really neat album. I understand why it does not happen more often because seems really hard to do if you want to do it right.
4 people like this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
26 Sep 17
It's so difficult on so many levels. Like a parody (of one song, like "Beat It" by Weird Al), it takes an incredible amount of skill to walk the fine line of making it funny and memorable. And Weird Al, like Homer and Jethro before him, didn't have the benefit of "20/20 hindsight": it's an immediate decision, "is this going to be a big hit to warrant the parody?" (Consider "Disco Duck," for instance, that was a big hit but fell off almost as quickly as it rose.) When you do an entire album like this there's the problems of hitting a specific genre that might not be familiar to everyone (consider the "Art Rock Suite," for instance, where "art rock" was more a staple of the "underground FM rock" stations than "mainstream top 40" type of music) as well as making it funny for everyone, especially the people who do know the music. (I mean, the "Wilbur!" in "Art Rock Suite" nearly knocked me out of my chair from laughing! And that R&B spoof that has a good deal of social commentary mixed in with the comedy.)
I think the primary reason it doesn't happen more often is because it is difficult and most people don't have the musical and comedic skills to pull it off. The National Lampoon was blessed in having people who had both.
Thanks so much for your commentary. I'm glad you enjoyed the Dylan reggae spoof. They've done a lot of Dylan spoofs, including one in Lemmings.
Christopher Guest Does Bob Dylan From The National Lampoon Lemmings Roadshow 1973
3 people like this
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
26 Sep 17
@FourWalls Hey, they said "Killer" way back then. That is my word
That was cool. Love everything to do with Bob Dylan .
Yeah, definitely hard to have both the comedy aspect and the musical talent. Then even if you have both those, people might not care because they do not know the music like you say. Must be pretty frustrating to put the much effort into something and not get the respect it deserves or think it deserves.
That was cool. Love everything to do with Bob Dylan .
Yeah, definitely hard to have both the comedy aspect and the musical talent. Then even if you have both those, people might not care because they do not know the music like you say. Must be pretty frustrating to put the much effort into something and not get the respect it deserves or think it deserves.3 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43602)
• Denver, Colorado
27 Sep 17
I love "Kung Fu Christmas." Total 70's R&B.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
27 Sep 17
I am not familiar with this but was never into comedy recordings.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
27 Sep 17
I can understand that, because you hear it three times and you know the punch line, so it ceases to be funny. For some reason, though the music/comedy mix works great with me. With Homer & Jethro, when you tire of the jokes you can listen to what great musicians they were. In the case of this (and many of their other musical parodies), it's fun to go back and listen to the National Lampoon with the hindsight of being 40+ years removed from the times. Sometimes that makes things even funnier.
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