This should be a fun one for someone.  :)  William Hung (the really
bad singer from American Idol who got his own record contract) has an
actual hit on his hands with his version of "She Bangs."  I'm looking
for at least three other NON-WEIRD-AL examples of novelty songs that
became real hits, and a bit of the story behind them. It would be
great if one of these examples had some sort of Canadian-ism to it
(i.e. singer was Canadian) and/or you can find a really old example,
like from the 40s.

Dear jhabley,

This really is a fun question for me, since I am an avid collector of
50s' and 60s' music. So I have searched my collection for some exmples
of novelty songs that made their way into the Billboard Charts. Here
are some I find particularly interesting:


-- "Witch Doctor", by David Seville --
Considered a benchmark for the novelty genre today, "Witch Doctor" was
written, produced and sung by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958. However, the
single was released under the name "David Seville" because the
executives at Liberty Records claimed that Bagdasarian's real name was
too hard to pronounce. After all, this decision did not hurt: "Witch
Doctor" climbed to #1 on the Billboard Charts on 12 April 1958, and it
reached #11 and #12 in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively.
By the way, Bagdasarian returned to the top of the American charts in
December '58 with the "Chipmunk Song" - he did all three of the
electronically altered Chipmunks' voices.


-- "The Purple People Eater", by Sheb Wooley --
From the same year as "Witch Doctor", Sheb Wooley's "Purple People
Eater" also makes use of the same speeded-up voice technique. It is
interesting that this fun song was written and recorded by a man who
was to that date known as an actor in western movies and whom MGM
Records tried to establish as a performer of serious Country & Western
songs. For that reason, MGM had been reluctant to release "Purple
People Eater"; the decision to release it anyway surely was not wrong.
The song made #1 on the Billboard Charts on 31 May 1958, reached #12
in the UK and was so popular in Germany that a German version was
recorded by American singer Bill Ramsey. It was included on countless
compilations and sold about 100 million times worldwide to the present
day.


-- "Leader Of The Laundromat", by The Detergents --
The Detergents were not actually a group at all: Their singing voices
belonged to New York session vocalist Ron Dante, who later had even
bigger success as the vocalist behind The Archies and The Cuff Links,
before he eventually became Barry Manilow's producer. "Leader Of The
Laundromat" was a fairly wicked, black humor parody of the
Shangri-Las' famous million-selling morbid girl-group classic "Leader
Of The Pack", which it followed into the US top 20, peaking at #19 on
9 January 1965. It did, however, fail to be successful in the UK for
an unusual reason: The Shangri-Las' orginal single was banned by the
BBC, so the parody did not really attract attention.


-- "Mr. Bass Man", by Johnny Cymbal --
Johnny Cymbal is the Canadian element in this list of novelty songs
and performers. Born in Scotland in 1945, his parents moved to
Goderich, Ontario, when he was seven years old. After his childhood in
Canada, he lived in Cleveland, Ohio. His well-known "Mr. Bass Man" -
which he wrote himself - referred to the typical features of many
Doo-Wop style songs, the man who did the acappella "bass" sounds that
could also evolve into nonsense vocals. However, never before had this
been made the topic of a song - until Johnny Cymbal sang his tribute
to the "Bass Man". The unusually-themed single reached #16 in the
Billboard Charts on 16 February 1963, made #24 in the UK after all,
and is still a popular song today.


-- "Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)", by Barry Mann --
Also a tribute to Doo-Wop and its striking vocal sounds, but more on
the fun side than Johnny Cymbal's approach, is this song by Barry
Mann. Mann wasn't really a singer, but rather a sought-after
songwriter. He and his wife and colleague Cynthia Weil wrote numerous
pop songs for others, among them well-known classics such as the
Drifters' "On Broadway", or The Rightheous Brothers' "You've Lost That
Lovin' Feeling". Sometimes, however, Barry Mann stepped in front of
the microphone himself. At one of those rare occasions, he recorded
"Who Put The Bomp" - a funny song with quotations and allusions to all
kind of silly nonsense Doo-Wop lyrics, like the Edsels' "Rama Lama
Ding Dong". And it worked: The single climbed as high as #7 on the
Billboard Charts on 5 August 1961.


-- "Monster Mash", by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers --
At the end of the list a single that could well be called the biggest
novelty classic. Recorded at a time when anything monster and horror
related was popular among the youth, this one really hit the bull's
eye. And the fact that it was a "Karloffian exploitation" of the
"Mashed Potato" dance craze surely added to its immense popularity.
All clichés from horror B-movies are used: The mad scientist's labor,
spooky rattling chains, coffins, Count Dracula ... nothing is left
out. Like many performers who had one big novelty hit, Bobby Pickett
could never realle repeat his success; but at least his "Monster Mash"
hit #1 on the Billboard Charts on 8 September 1962, made #3 in the UK
even 11 years later, and stays a Helloween favorite to the present
day,



Sources:

Booklet to the CD "The Rock'n'Roll Era - US No. 1s", published by
Time-Life Music, 1991

Booklet to the CD "Love Power - Hard to find US Hot 100 Hits of the
60's", published by Sequel Records, 1994

Booklet to the CD "The Very Best of Johnny Cymbal", published by
Taragon Records, 1995

Booklet to the CD set "Barry Mann - Inside the Brill Building",
published by Brill Tone Records, 1995

Survey of American Popular Music: Brill Building Era - Novelty Songs
http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/brill_building/Novelty%20Songs2.htm

Spencer Leigh: Sheb Wooley Obituary
http://www.spencerleigh.demon.co.uk/swooleyobit.htm

MSN Entertainment: Johnny Cymbal
http://entertainment.msn.com/artist/?artist=140512

Best regards,
Scriptor

Thanks!

"Pac-Man Fever"

"This CD/Album is based on the 1982 hit "Pac Man Fever" by Jerry
Buckner and Gary Garcia. The song "Pac Man Fever reached number nine
on the Billboard charts in 1982. Thus, it is earned the title of one
of those one hit wonders that rarely hit the top 40. The hit of the
song "Pac Man Fever" which was spreading in the early 1980s, prompted
CBS records to ask "the boys" to make a album of their own. The album
features songs based on those 80s favorite video games
Frogger,Centipede,Defender,Berzerk,Donkey Kong,Mousetrap,Asteroids and
of course Pac Man. Then title song "Pac Man Fever" of course became an
instant hit. But their are several other songs that are really good.
My personal favorites is 'Defender','Hyperspace','Ode to a Centipede',
'Do the Donkey Kong' and the best song on the album 'Pac Man Fever'.
Even though the songs are really cheesy they do however represent a
crucial part and culture of the 1980s."

http://www.80sxchange.com/reviews/buckner_garcia.html

Here's an article with examples of novelty songs
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0103/shoales010203.asp

Here's a site with some from the '70s, including the one that first
came to my mind when I read this question, "My Ding-a-ling", which was
Chuck Berry's only #1 hit (yes, not even Johnny B. Goode made it).  
Not to mention Disco Duck!

Oops, forgot the link:  http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Music/Novelty_Songs.asp

And how could anybody forget the memorible "twee little fishies and a
mommie fishie too ..... and dey twam and dey twam all over than dam"?

And just do a search on Spike Jones--"All I want for Christmas are my
two front teeth" and other truly memorable compostitions (sic).