Songs that shouldn't be made, made the charts, and we like.

[mutepointe]

There are some songs that are just bad on so many levels, yet somehow they made it to the charts, got plenty of air play, and have a place in the hearts of many people. These just aren't bad songs. We know plenty of bad songs. These are songs that have some redeeming something that people value, so they're not totally worthless. I nominate:

Muskrat Love by Captain & Tenille

[izzarina]

I don't know what's redeeming about this one...other than the fact it has a good beat and is totally fun to dance to. Other than that, it's just a really weird song....if you think about it.

Mack the Knife

[dwest]

Exordium and Terminus

[brewerpaul]

One verse, no chorus, makes no sense at all, but it hangs on like glue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQZ6l_cq5Y

[mutepointe]

Here's the link & the more common name of dwest's nomination:
In the year 2525 by Zager & Evans
This video is a hoot.
Here they are actually performing the song.

My wife's family thinks Mack the Knife is too cool. It's a must perform at family picnics. They all sing along and do the hand motions too. (Make a shark face with your hand. The thumb is the top fin, the pinkie is the lower mouth. Raise and lower your pinkie giving the shark mouth the appearance of opening and closing. Move your hand slowly in front of you giving the appearance of the shark swimming.)

[dwest]

One verse, no chorus, makes no sense at all, but it hangs on like glue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQZ6l_cq5Y

I had no idea they were....so mature when they did that. Who's the old lady doing the intro?

[mutepointe]

Loving You by Minnie Riperton (Maya Rudolph's Mom)
Warning: Turn down the volume! Check out the hairdo.

[mutepointe]

One verse, no chorus, makes no sense at all, but it hangs on like glue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQZ6l_cq5Y

I had no idea they were....so mature when they did that. Who's the old lady doing the intro?

She's someone's Mama, I know that.

[emmline]

Oh that's easier than taking bait from dwest...

Mmmbop!

[Wombat]

I don't know what's redeeming about this one...other than the fact it has a good beat and is totally fun to dance to. Other than that, it's just a really weird song....if you think about it.

Mack the Knife

I suppose the redeeming feature might be that hardly anybody knows where it's from and what it's about .... well not redeeming so much as completely bizarre and hence amusing.

For everybody not in the hardly anybody category, it's from Brecht's Threepenny Opera and is about a knife murderer.

And where to go for my nomination, overblown pop or maudlin country? I think country. Kenny Rogers' 'Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town.' But what's the 'redeeming feature?' .... I dunno, I guess that Kenny was off doing his 'patriotic chore.' Now for a whole album full of suckers like this one, treat yourself to:
http://www.amazon.com/sh*t-Happens-Song ... l_1#disc_1

[Innocent Bystander]

I don't know what's redeeming about this one...other than the fact it has a good beat and is totally fun to dance to. Other than that, it's just a really weird song....if you think about it.

Mack the Knife

I suppose the redeeming feature might be that hardly anybody knows where it's from and what it's about .... well not redeeming so much as completely bizarre and hence amusing.

For everybody not in the hardly anybody category, it's from Brecht's Threepenny Opera and is about a knife murderer.

If you get a chance to see and hear Threepenny Opera in the style of Brecht and Kurt Weil, the song is so creepy it sends shivers up your spine. The big-band version is *so* inappropriate and bizarre... I love the *actual* song (when done properly) but that version sets my teeth on edge. Nobody read the words, imagined what they meant?

[Wombat]

I don't know what's redeeming about this one...other than the fact it has a good beat and is totally fun to dance to. Other than that, it's just a really weird song....if you think about it.

Mack the Knife

I suppose the redeeming feature might be that hardly anybody knows where it's from and what it's about .... well not redeeming so much as completely bizarre and hence amusing.

For everybody not in the hardly anybody category, it's from Brecht's Threepenny Opera and is about a knife murderer.

If you get a chance to see and hear Threepenny Opera in the style of Brecht and Kurt Weil, the song is so creepy it sends shivers up your spine. The big-band version is *so* inappropriate and bizarre... I love the *actual* song (when done properly) but that version sets my teeth on edge. Nobody read the words, imagined what they meant?

Here's one of my favourites.
http://www.amazon.com/Lotte-Weills-Dead ... 55&sr=1-11

I also have a full cast recording in German which is perhaps even better.
http://www.amazon.com/Weill-Threepenny- ... 383&sr=1-6

The translation Louis Armstrong sang doesn't do it for me. It's so hard to get the right feel for Brecht if you don't conjure up 30's Berlin.