Novelty Songs

Brooks Arthur began singing at an early age and began taking voice lessons to sing in his temple before he was a teenager.  While working in the mail room of a record company, Brooks heard his first live recording and fell in love!  He soon was hired to engineer some products, which lead to a storied career recording several of the girl singing groups popular during the 1960s and their hit songs including “My Boyfriend’s Back” by the Angels and “The Chapel of Love” by the Dixie Cups. As a producer, he gave us such albums as “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison, “Brooklyn Roads” by Neil

Bob Berryhill was the original guitarist for the surf band the Surfaris. The group of teenagers had a pop hit with "Surfer Joe," which was followed up by the 1963 chart topper "Wipe Out." The song became an anthem for the early 60s instrumental recordings that helped define the era and the drum solo was often a requirement for membership in the growing number of garage bands around the country. The Surfaris continued to perform throughout the mid 1960s, including several vocal recordings after the surfer music craze faded. Over the decades Bob has continued to perform and in the e

Cindy Lee Berryhill is the creative singer/songwriter whose twist on Folk Music (with a bit of a Punk Rock edge) has led to several albums and performances around the world. In 1987 Rhino Records released her Who’s Gonna Save the World album, which was followed by Naked Movie Star two years later. Several albums have followed and among her most requested songs during her live shows is her own composition, “Damn, I Wish I Was a Man.” In addition to her own music, Cindy Lee is a music teacher at Giacoletti Music in Oceanside, California. During her NAMM interview, she shared fond me

Chris Brooks was proud of the publications he and his partner, Chris Crockarell, created as part of their percussion-focused music publishing company. Since forming Row-Loff in the early 1980s, the team of Chris and Chris lived up to their slogan of providing the “foremost in marching and concert literature.” Behind each of their unique publications such as “Rhythmuscles,” “Halloween Rap” and “Novelty Jamz” was their deep passion for music making and the art of percussive music education.  

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Cab Calloway was the hip cat of the Big Band Era, leading a swinging orchestra and charting hit recordings. His flamboyant stage personality landed Cab acting roles on Broadway and in the movies (the Blues Brothers and the Cincinnati Kid among others). And his musical knowledge and ability to foster the talent in others opened the doors for such Jazz greats as Chu Berry, Doc Cheatham, Milt Hinton, Dizzy Gillespie and Jonah Jones.

John Clark Jr. is the last surviving founding member of The Hot Nuts, the pioneering rhythm and blues, rock and novelty band that emerged from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and became a sensation on the college circuit throughout the southeastern United States. John recalled the band’s earliest days, including performing alongside his brother, Doug Clark, and the remarkable camaraderie that developed among the musicians as their popularity grew. Known for their energetic performances, humor and often risqué material, The Hot Nuts built a devoted following and established a distinct

Dallas Frazier was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame for writing such hits as "There Goes My Everything" and "Elvira." "There Goes My Everything" has been recorded dozens of times by artists such as Jack Greene, who had the first number one hit with the song and Elvis Presley, whose version appeared on his country themed album, I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago. The Oak Ridge Boys had a number one cross over hit (on both the Country and Pop record charts) with “Elvira” in 1981. As a fun piece of trivia, the song was not inspired by a women but rather a street sign in

Norman Greenbaum wrote the 1960s classic rock hit “Spirit in the Sky” with a hard drive introduction featuring his Fuzz-Tone and electric guitar. The song is considered a standard rock anthem of the era.  It was also featured in the movie Apollo 13 in the classic scene when the cassette tape player was floating in the airship. Norman was the leader of Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band, which recorded several novelty songs he wrote including "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" and the upbeat "Canned Ham" in 1970. Norman also released the innovative acoustic album entitled “The D

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Bob Haggart may be best known for his crazy bass playing on the Bob Crosby hit record "Big Noise From Winnetka." The song featured bass slaps and even the drummer playing his sticks on Bob's bass strings. The novelty of the song and the creative use of the instruments helped establish the song as a standard in music classes around the world. Bob also wrote another classic jazz tune called "What's New?". Bob played and arranged for Ella Fitzgerald (most no

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Phil Harris was a big band leader, singer, and actor who hit fame as the voice of Baloo the bear in Disney’s 1967 movie The Jungle Book. His career began as a drummer who found himself hanging around Bing Crosby when the crooner was singing early jazz with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Phil landed the role as the bandleader for the very popular radio comedy, The Jack Benny Show, beginning in 1936 and was still working with the comic when he moved over to t

Andre Jacquemin remembers the day he was asked to engineer some comedy records for a young group of writers in London. He thought, who will want a record with only jokes? That group of writers became the nucleus of Monty Python and, over the years, Andre became their musical director. For over fifty years with Monty Python, he has written and recorded music for the records, television programs, and their movies, which has indeed been a dream job! His credits include co-writing “Every Sperm is Sacred” for Monty Pythons Meaning of Life as well as "The Brian Song" for the opening of 

Billy May was a fun loving trumpeter who arranged some of the best-loved music of the Big Band Era! His humor and musical talents provided hit recordings for Glenn Miller, Charlie Barnet and Frank Sinatra, to name but three. His enormous output included radio, TV and movie work as well as thousands of studio recordings over his 6 decades as a musical artist. When NAMM first requested that Mr. May record some of his stories for the Oral History program he shied away from the request. It wasn’t until Sammy Nestico made the request on behalf of NAMM that Mr. May and Mr. Nestico were

Vic Mizzy wrote a number of hit songs for popular music, movies and television beginning in the 1940s. He wrote “The Jones Boy” for the Mills Brothers and is perhaps best known for writing TV theme songs for Green Acres and The Addams Family (for which he also sang on the original recording). As he began to work in the movies in the 1960s, Vic became active in ASCAP and other elements within movie contracts to ensure the rights of the songwriter and his art was protected.

Les Paul will forever be known for his role in the popularity of the electric guitar, the design of the Gibson Les Paul guitar, the multi track recording, the early guitar effects, and his million selling recordings with wife Mary Ford. However, did you know Les also appeared as product endorsee in more NAMM shows than just about any other artist? From the 1950s onward Les stood in the Gibson booth shaking hands and signing autographs while promoting the guitar line. In fact in 2006, after the Gibson Company purchased Baldwin Pianos, Les was at the NAMM show promoting the Les Paul

Tom Paxton spoke eloquently about the role folk music played during critical events in American history, such as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s for which he was involved with. Tom marched, wrote songs, and played the songs of others, such as Pete Seeger, in order to bring about understanding and resolve in the midst of a troubling time. His words and music have fostered change and acceptance, which is one reason he was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to music. As a songwriter, Tom penned “Ramblin’ Boy”, “Bottle of Wine” and “The Last Thing

Alvino Rey tinkered with putting a phonograph pickup in his banjo to increase the volume in 1927. His inventive mind also led to early guitar pickups and the design of a pedal-steel guitar. A life-long performer, he is also known to generations for his work during the swing era including his own big band, which he formed in 1939 as well as the fact that he married one of the famed King Sisters. He mastered the classical guitar and recorded and performed until just months before his passing at the age of 93 in 2004.  

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Raymond Scott was a noted bandleader and songwriter during the Big Band Era who achieved fame for supplying music to countless Warner Brother cartoons. Raymond was also an innovative electronic music engineer, who not only created special sounds for his own compositions but also developed electronic instrumentation such as the Electronium. In the 1950s, Bob Moog, who designed circuits for Raymond, often cited him as a major influence and mentor.

Ray Stevens loves to tell the stories about how some of his hit records came about such as "Everything Is Beautiful" and "The Streak."  Equally interesting are the stories of how he came up playing in school bands and how his passion for music grew and developed over the years.  Ray recorded many of his own songs to great success, while others have been recorded by other artists.  His own version of the novelty song "Ahab the Arab" was his first big hit, the beginning of a long and successful career in music. Ray is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and was just inducted

Orrin Tucker’s Orchestra recorded one of the greatest successes of the big band era, “Oh Johnny Oh.” This novelty number featured the shy voice of Wee Bonnie Baker and has come to symbolize the musical era and the social climate of America during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Orrin enjoyed a full career as a bandleader and player in ballrooms and supper clubs up to the 1990s. His personality and charm led to a number of acting roles in his later years. Orrin’s NAMM Oral History interview was completed on April 25, 2003.   When Orrin passed away in April 2011 at the age of 100, h

Byron Walls was a singer/songwriter who began his career during the folk music boom of the early 1960s. He sang in a number of groups during his career, including The Travellers, for which Byron was a founding member. The group opened for Phyllis Diller at the Purple Onion in San Francisco and later recorded the album A Journey with the Travellers. As a songwriter, Byron’s songs, such as “Precious Love” and “Grandma’s Letter” have been recorded by Emmy Lou Harris, Glen Yarbrough, as well as Burl Ives, Ed Ames, and Ronnie Milsap.

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: George David Weiss wrote a number of successful songs for Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few. He began writing jazz tunes such as the classic "Lullaby of Birdland" made famous by Ella Fitzgerald and later the Manhattan Transfer. George also co-wrote "Can't Help Falling in Love" which Elvis Presley recorded for his 1961 hit film Blue Hawaii.

Weird Al Yankovic built his career upon creating parodies of hit songs, with a special focus on incorporating his beloved accordion.  Al began recording his silly songs on tape and mailing them into the Dr. Demento radio program.  Once his songs were gaining popularity, Al expanded his band and found a winning formula of hit parody songs including “Eat It,” “Fat,” “Straight Outta Lynwood” and “Mandatory Fun.”  In 2016 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, Al took part in the Grand Rally for Music Education, showcasing his passion for supporting music and the arts, especially when it involv