Does Humor Belong in Music?
Frank Zappa once asked this question — and answered it, as you might have guessed, with a Zappaish “yes.” Here’s a playlist featuring some more (very serious) musicians that also decided that humor belonged in the music itself, not just in the lyrics:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — A Musical Joke, K. 522
- Erik Satie — Sonatine Bureaucratique
- Tom Lehrer — So Long Mom
- The Ornette Coleman Trio — European Echoes
- Sid Vicious — My Way
- Gian Carlo Menotti — Moans, Groans, Cries and Sighs
- The Ramones — The KKK Took My Baby Away
- Run-DMC (with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry) — Walk This Way
- Illinois Jacquet — I Wanna Blow Now
- They Might Be Giants — James K. Polk
Note: all links will open in iTunes.
