Silly Songs of the 60's

"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" is the Grammy-winning novelty song based on letters of complaint that author Allan Sherman received from his son Robert while attending Camp Champlain in Westport, New York. The song is a parody that complains about the fictional "Camp Granada" and is set to the tune of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours". The title is taken from the first lines:

Hello Muddah,
Hello Fadduh.
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining.
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

Tiny Tim's real name was Herbert Buckingham Khaury (April 12, 1932 - November 30, 1996). He was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice (though other performances reveal a broader vocal range). While Tiny Tim was sometimes regarded as a novelty act, his recordings demonstrate a wide knowledge of American popular songs, particularly of the early 20th century.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Tiny Tim developed something of a cult following. In the 1960s he was seen regularly near the Harvard University campus as a street performer, singing old Tin Pan Alley tunes. His choice of repertoire and his encyclopedic knowledge of vintage popular music impressed many of the spectators. One admirer, Norman Kay, recalled that his outrageous public persona was a false front belying a quiet, studious personality: "Herb Khaury was the greatest put-on artist in the world. Here he was with the long hair and the cheap suit and the high voice, but when you spoke to him he talked like a college professor. He knew everything about the old songs."

"Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach, who in the first verse is too afraid to leave the locker where she has changed into her bikini; in the second, she has made it to the beach but sits on the sand wrapped in a blanket; and in the closing verse, she has finally gone into the ocean, but is too afraid to come out, and stays immersed in the water - despite the fact that she's "turning blue", to quote the song's lyrics - to hide herself from view.

It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland with orchestra conducted by John Dixon as "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini." Hyland's version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 8, 1960 and also made the top 10 in other countries, including #8 on the UK Singles Chart. Trudy Packer recited the phrases "One, two, three, four/Tell the people what she wore", heard at the end of each verse before the chorus; and "Stick around, we'll tell you more", heard after the first chorus and before the start of the second verse

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"Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" was a folk music single, the debut recording by the Serendipity Singers in 1964. The song was written by rockabilly singer songwriter Ersel Hickey. The lyrics were based on the English nursery rhyme There Was A Crooked Man, with a calypso music based melody. It reached #2 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1964, and topped the 17 April 1964 WLS Silver Dollar Survey, in the middle of Beatlemania. It was released on their debut album, The Serendipity Singers.

"Gitarzan" is a novelty song released by Ray Stevens in 1969, about a character who lives in a jungle and forms a musical band with his female partner, Jane, and their pet monkey. The song reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1969, and #10 in Canada in May 1969. The music and lyrics were written by Stevens with a title supplied by Bill Justis.

The song Ahab the Arab portrays a "sheik of the burning sands" named Ahab. He is highly decorated with jewelry, and every night he hops on Clyde, his camel, on his way to see Fatima, who is the best dancer in the Sultan's harem. Fatima is described with a modified quote from the 1909 hit, "I've Got Rings On My Fingers": "with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes and a bone in her nose, ho ho". During the ride, Ahab "speaks" (actually, sings/chants in a pseudo Middle Eastern style) in mock Arabic. (A later version adds the advertising catch phrase "Sold, American!" to the end of one chant.)

When Ahab finds Fatima in her tent, she is "eating on a raisin, grape, apricot, pomegranate, bowl of chittlins, two bananas, three Hershey bars, sipping on an ice cold Coca-Cola, listenin' to her transistor, watchin' the Grand Ole Opry on the tube, readin' a Mad Magazine while she sung, 'Does your chewing gum lose its flavor?'".

The second time that Ahab speaks in his phony Arabic chant, the translation is, "Let's twist again like we did last summer, baby!"--a line from a song by Chubby Checker.

Ahab loves Fatima, which apparently doesn't sit too well with the Sultan, and later prompts an escape attempt. (The later version neglects to mention the escape attempt at all, instead ending the song with Fatima saying, "Crazy, baby!")

"Wooly Bully" is a popular song originally recorded by novelty rock 'n' roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Based on a standard 12-bar blues progression, it was written by the band's leader, Domingo "Sam" Samudio.

"Wooly Bully" was the band's first and biggest hit. It became a worldwide sensation, selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the American Hot 100 chart on June 5, 1965, kept off the top by The Beach Boys's "Help Me, Rhonda". It was the first American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion and was influenced by the British rock sound which was mixed with traditional Mexican-American conjunto rhythms. It stayed in the Hot 100 for a then-impressive 18 weeks, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. It was also named Billboard's "Number One Record of the Year" despite never reaching No. 1;

As the Pharaohs prepared to write their debut album, lead singer "Sam the Sham" (Domingo Samudio) wanted to write a tribute to the Hully Gully dance. His record label's legal department feared using that title due to the existence of another song with a similar title. The song was given the green light after Sam rewrote the lyrics and replaced "Hully Gully" with "Wooly Bully".

The lyrics of "Wooly Bully" were hard to understand, and some radio stations banned the song. The lyrics describe a conversation between "Hattie" and "Matty" concerning the American Bison and the desirability of developing dancing skills. The warning, "Let's not be L-7's", means "Let's not be squares", from the shape formed by the fingers making an L on one hand and a 7 on the other. Sam the Sham underscores the Tex-Mex nature of the song by counting out the rhythm in Spanish and English, and the characteristic simple organ riffing. According to Sam: "The name of my cat was 'Wooly Bully', so I started from there. The count down part of the song was also not planned. I was just goofing around and counted off in Tex-Mex. It just blew everybody away, and actually, I wanted it taken off the record. We did three takes, all of them different, and they took the first take and released it."

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"Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The "Monster Mash" single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20 of that year, just in time for Halloween. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since.