Songs that Make Me Laugh

My last post about the impact of radio in my life and how I used to "surf" the stations on the radio dial late at night reminded me of a song I heard one time during one of those nights of spinning the dial.

I never heard it again.

• I remembered the name of it. The name of it was "Cow Patti."
• I remembered it being about a cowgirl.
• I remembered it being funny.
• I remembered it being a clever play on words.

I did not remember who sang it.

Today I found it on YouTube.

The first video was of a Jim Stafford on the Smothers' Brother show. 

That in itself told me something right there since the Smothers Brothers tended to push the envelope as far as the content of their show was concerned.  I seem to recall their show being censured by the TV censures way back in the 60s.

I learned the song was written and performed by Jim Stafford.  I'm going to have to spend a little time hearing more of his songs and learning about him as a songwriter.  I like it when songs can give me a good chuckle. :)

I listened to it again.

It was as I remembered it.

Funny. :)

(Disclaimer: It has just enough questionable content that I don't feel comfortable sharing the video or lyrics here.  It is no worse than what airs on TV or radio today. Check it out on your own if you are curious.)

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Finding this song made me think of other songs & artists whose music makes me laugh.

Two that came to mind:

• Ray Stevens: His songs are so creative and hilarious. The first song of his that I recall is that naughty daredevil "The Streak" then later would come "The Squirrel that went to Church" with "Bertha Better-Than-You's" confession. Somewhere I have a cassette tape of his hits.

• Mac Davis: I remember him singing with nonsense syllables and doing the hambone (can't recall that song at the moment) and "Oh Lord, It's Hard to be Humble."  I found I could still sing along to this song. Funny what remains hidden in one's brain until something prompts its resurfacing.  As I looked into his music today I did not realize he wrote songs for Elvis Presley ("In the Ghetto" "Don't Cry, Daddy").  I did not realize he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame among other awards.

I started to put Weird Al Yankovic in this category of comedic songwriters, but didn't because his songs are parodies of already existing songs, not original tunes nor stand alone songs.

I will think on this some more, but I really didn't think he belonged with Ray Stevens and Mac Davis.  It will have to suffice that he was mentioned.

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Throughout the ages songs have been sung to entertain audiences.

Comedic songs. 

Songs that make people laugh have been around for centuries.

Of course, what is considered funny changes over time, but humor itself is ageless.

I've found these comedic songs tend to be ballads - or storytelling songs.

Everyone likes a good story.

Everyone like a good song.

Especially a funny one!