The best comedy songs of all time

Photo courtesy of Spotify
Have a laugh with these comedy hits.

Some songs just exist to make people laugh

Many artists lament that they aren’t taken seriously enough. But for many singers, that would be a compliment, as their songs are only intended to make people laugh. Here is a list of the best of those songs.

“Smells Like Nirvana,” by Weird Al Yankovic

In the 1980s, “Weird Al” Yankovic became famous by parodying the likes of George Harrison and Madonna. Then, in 1991 he parodied Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” that year’s biggest hit. The story goes that Kurt Cobain asked Yankovic, “The song’s not going to be about food, is it?” Yankovic replied, “No, it’s going to be about how no one can understand your lyrics.” Sure enough, “Smells Like Nirvana” starts with “What is this song all about? Can’t figure any lyrics out” and then goes on to poke fun at the band’s Seattle origins. Yankovic’s video also featured many of the original “Teen Spirit” video’s actors.

“New Math,” by Tom Lehrer

Ah, math. The bane of children and adults alike; but fear not, satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer is here to help…or is he? “New Math” was a satire of the US’ new mathematical curriculum introduced in 1957. Every line of the song gets more bewildering, and Lehrer pokes fun at the fact that using “Old” Math and New Math would yield two different answers to the same problem. With the current debate regarding Common Core math, this 1965 song still feels relevant.

“Man’s Not Hot,” by Big Shaq

In 2017, the British subculture known as roadman culture got a shot in the arm when Michael Dapaah —stage name Big Shaq—released “Man’s Not Hot.” Dapaah originally freestyled the song in September 2017 for a segment called Fire In The Booth, but it turned out to be so popular that an official video soon followed. Today, “Man’s Not Hot “has nearly 400 million views on YouTube and became popular mainly for its nonsensical phrases like “the ting goes skkkrrraaaa.”

“It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More,” by The Disneyland Children’s Sing-Along Chorus

It makes sense that children would love nonsense songs, so Disney released a compilation called Children’s Silly Songs in 1988. One of those songs was “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More,” featuring Tony Pope singing as Goofy. In the song, Goofy laments “how the heck he can wash his neck” because clearly, it’s never going to rain again. Goofy also sings completely absurd lines like “I went to the movies tomorrow,” and “the fish in the treetops were singing.” Then, for good measure, it starts raining at the end of the song.

“HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA,” by He-Man…sort of

“HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA” is nothing more than an edited video of He-man and his friends singing “What’s Up,” by 4 Non Blondes, and yet it has become one of the Internet’s most beloved videos. In November 2010, a 2-minute-long truncated version of the song was uploaded to YouTube and soon became a smash hit, racking up 177 million views. It is now considered an integral part of 2010s meme culture, and the general sentiment among the song’s listeners is that if the video is ever taken down, the Internet will cease to exist.

This is a selection from the Feb. 10 issue. To view the full issue, visit: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/570586/