.jpg)
This is one of those "you have to be a certain age" sorts of posts, but either way, if you don't know, at one time Wendy's was just behind McDonald's and Burger King in the Fast Food Wars, and wasn't the godawful, filthy roomful of non-food that it is now...especially post-COVID.
In that halcyon era of advertising, where some commercials finally attained the long-desired status of being mini-movies, sometimes even better than the programs they accompanied (imagine getting THAT excited about an ad on TV, actually waiting and trying to see it, and even recording it so you could see it again and show everyone), somebody had a brilliant idea; an idea that fit the mindset and timing of the early 1980's so well, it became a brief phenomenon, just like the fast-talking Micro Machines guy that was everywhere later, and it went like this:
There were of course other ads, such as the one where she is waiting in line at the fast-food restaurant, or driving like a maniac while her two friends slosh around in the back of the car (these are on YouTube as well), and they are equally good.
It is at this point that something occurred which was such a completely normal happening back then, nobody ever thought twice about it. When something was popular in the 1970's and 1980's (and even long before that), it meant that the eventual and unavoidable novelty song was on the way.
.jpg)
It's hard to comprehend this today, when nothing is funny at all anymore, and nothing can be, but--although the point of any of these things is to make money off of a popular trend--a real sense of whimsy and fun still often permeated such attempts. Not only that, but also a sense that your audience was going to know what you were doing, and go right along with it (also impossible today).
Wikipedia says that novelty songs started at least as far back as the 1910s, and their article is interesting to read, just to see the various inspirations for some of these songs (some are surprising). In fact, it could be argued what exactly constitutes a novelty song, because I just realized I have been specifically thinking of songs that exploit a celebrity or event or thing, and that's merely one type. We won't go down that rabbit hole, or we will be here all day. I mean, is Weird Al's whole career novelty? I say no, that's actually the category of parody. From a modern perspective, I can't see how "Yakety Yak" or "Splish Splash" or "Charlie Brown" are all novelty songs either...they are...just 1950's songs (love The Coasters though). Nor do I think of "Monster Mash" as anything but freaking awesome, and an institution.
My point is, it surprised nobody that things like "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" or "Convoy" or "Disco Duck" or "Vanna, Pick Me A Letter" existed back then. They just did; they mirrored the times ("Hey, WHEEL OF FORTUNE is a thing"). They were on the same shelves right next to the current "serious" singles that came out at the same time. Some were practically expected, and many of them actually made the charts and were hits. (This is a good time to say, long live Dr. Demento!)
But back to Clara Peller. For all my pontificating about these types of songs, is this one any good? Oh no, not at all (it's also jacked to oblivion--this is one record that was mixed hot, my friends), but it needs to be heard to be believed. Coyote McCloud, by the way, was a DJ from Nashville who cut three 45s in his time, this one among them. One interesting thing about this particular release is that Wendy's logo is all over it, which sort of subtracts points from its street credibility....then again, maybe that was the only way, legally. Then again again, maybe they just hired him in order to create a novelty song, as some savvy (or shameless?) promotion. We may never know.
One last thing: without fail, what do you always get for a B-side when you have an artist, group, or project with only one song in existence, and no other material? An instrumental, of course. Use the lyrics on back to sing along, and make your own version of this song. Or, don't!
No comments:
Post a Comment