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If you're old enough to remember when phones had cords and the only thing that went viral was a cold, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Big Six-O with Kaylee Harris and Guy Rowlison. Because who better to discuss life's second act than two people who still think mature is a type of cheese.

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Hello and welcome to the Big Six O,  podcast that celebrates life.  After 16, all the funny, fabulous  and frankly bizarre things that we all went through. I'm Guy Rollison  and joining me as always is the girl who probably rocked a side ponytail back in the day and knew all the words of kung fu fighting. Oh gosh, I nearly bought a t-shirt the other day that says, surely everyone wasn't kung fu fighting.  Well, can you still pull off the nut bush at weddings and maybe?  Yeah.

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the always 80s smitten Kayleigh Harris. Hello everyone, how are you doing? it's so I'm very excited about this episode because we're talking about  novelty songs which were a huge thing when we were younger in the 60s and  70s.  The couple sort of came along a bit later but novelty songs were a lot of fun weren't they? We were talking a little earlier and I remember buying a novelty song album it was like the KTEL  album you know the  at the Looney Tunes thing on the front.  I don't know why I bought it but it was that era where it

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It was big time. It was big time, you know, and for 6.99 it gave you a few laughs. Exactly. And it's given us a reason to have a podcast today. Exactly. And we threw it out there to our Facebook family. Come up and, know, with your best or your favorite novelty song and let us know and we'll see if we can drag it out and play it for you. So we've had a great response. So let's just dive into it. First one we had from my lovely friend, Antonia. Hello, lovely. She wanted to talk about

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Shut Up In Your Face, which is probably the most well-known Aussie novelty song, I think. And it came out  in 1980. Of course, Joe Dolci. Let's have a listen.

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Joe Dolce was an American, can you believe it? He wasn't even  like he was American, Italian kind of thing.  Now that song reached number one in 15 countries. It was number one here for eight weeks in Australia.  The clip on Countdown, I was watching it the other day, they set up an Italian cafe and had Joe playing out the front  and they, you know, the accordion solo that comes along later in the song. Molly was pretending to do play the accordion.

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He's dressed as a Frenchman. remember seeing the clip with Molly coming on. I thought he must have produced it.  just, know.  Here it is. Let's bring it up a little bit. Bit of accordion.

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it is. And you know what that actually kept out from number one? Ultra box Vienna. No way. Yeah. 100%. Wow. I think this is much better than, than Vienna. I wasn't a huge fan of Vienna. It was a bit depressing. You'd be dirty if you were, know, wouldn't you, if you're ultra box thinking, oh, so this is as good as it gets, right? Yeah. Wow. Thanks, Antonia. That was a great choice. Um, now Joanne.

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which was a Mike Nesmith song as well. But I think every Joanne actually  sort of roos the fact that Mike Nesmith had that song.  She absolutely loves a Slim Dusty track, which I think just about  every 18th,  21st party  with fellas involved  would love to have a beer with Duncan.

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the atmosphere.

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There you go, 1976 that came out,  wonderful Slim Dusty. It was written apparently by a guy called  Pat Alexander who was  selling life insurance at the time and he was drinking at a pub  and  talking to a guy called Duncan who he was trying to sell life insurance to  and the guy didn't buy it but he thought Duncan hang on I'd love to have a beer with Duncan and that's where the idea came from. And every bloke seemed to find something that could rhyme with their name.

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that they could utilise that song at some stage. Yes, yeah. Is that right? Oh yeah, it was an anthem, wasn't it, for a long time. It 1976. Is that when it was written or? I think that's when it came out. Wow. Yeah.  Wow. Amazing. Now this one from  David Halleck, another one of our great Facebook family members. And I've got to say, I'd forgotten all about this song until David mentioned it and I had a look for it. This is called Baked Beans by a group called Mother Goose. And it came out in 1977.

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This is a New Zealand band and it's a song about the romance properties of baked beans.

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And she was standing over by the baked bean counter  So I thought I'd go over and say,  Hi there

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So I went over and I said,  Hi there,  my name is Craig and I sing for mother goose.  She said,  I've never heard of you.  That's dreadful. Look, David, that's awful. David, you've got to get a life mate. I mean, seriously. And it gives us hope though, doesn't it? Because if you can create  a hit song from something like baked beans, say to yourself, my gosh,  yep.

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there's  tomorrow is still offering opportunity for all of us. the clip for the yes and the clip for that too shows him going up to a girl in a supermarket looking her up and down in front of the baked beans. It was like terrible.  Did he get a sponsorship from Heinz or SBC or someone? don't know. don't know. My gosh. Now let's go to Suzy. Suzy Brown. Thank you so much. She's come up with a great song from 1963. This was written by a guy called Alan Sherman who's an American and

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Let's have a listen to it and I'll explain afterwards.

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So Robert Sherman wrote that song after his son sent him a letter from Camp one year telling him how horrible it was and he came up with the song. Went on to be a huge hit. The song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. my gosh. So you've got the Declaration of Independence and this. And Hello Mother, Hello Futter. 380 million Americans and some

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A history that goes beyond way back. And this actually makes. Yeah. think probably a bigger hit in the U S and here, but yeah. look, Susie, thanks so much. I remember listening to that on the,  on the novelty songs album that I actually had. So  there you go. Yeah.  Um, now Cheryl Forbes, once again, one of the family,  um,  she had an absolute cracker that just jolted my memory.  Shame and scandal in the family by Sean Elliott. It's a great song. Can we have a listen to it?

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He went to his mama and cover his head He told his mama what his papa has said His mama, she laughed, she said, go man go Your daddy ain't your daddy but your daddy don't know

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Hang on, sing it. I'm just wondering whether Cheryl's got any sort of background or history with that because that's a cracking song. Oh my goodness, yeah. And the tables have turned in the beginning it's the father saying, no, you can't marry that girl because she's your sister. It's wrong on so many levels. In some places I'm sure that's legal. I'm not sure. Yes, maybe. Maybe. All right.

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Let's go to Wendy. Wendy's come in. Now this song I never got, I never understood. This is by a guy called Scatman John. It came out in 1994. Wendy, thank you for the suggestion. It's called I'm the Scatman.

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Bada bada bing bada

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Do you remember getting down to that at Sheila's at North Sydney?  These days I'd get down, just wouldn't get back  up.  Thank you Wendy, thanks for that one. But did you know that that was massive in Europe and of all places, Japan and that guy did a massive concert over there in front of 80,000 people. Just the one song? On the back of that.  Probably still living off the royalties. I'd say so. Oh my goodness.

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Greg, hello my old mate.  Greg Shell's come in with another favourite.  Have a listen. This is Lonnie Donigan from 1960. You'll know it as soon as you hear it.

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Daisy Roots? What's that? And that was the number one hit in the UK. It was a huge when,  cause that was an actual job in the UK being a dustman. Wasn't it?  Didn't you go and clean out chimneys or something or? Yeah. I've got, I've got images now of Dick Van Dyke and Mary Poppins. We're doing the chimney sweep and that sort of thing. Oh, thank you, Greg. Absolute cracker. And a mate of mine  who's part of the Facebook family, Mark McIntosh.

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He's a font of knowledge when it comes to a whole lot of this sort of thing.  And there's one that he's offered up here for us, if we can take a listen to it.

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Now it never really took off in Australia. It did make number two in the UK. I loved it. You loved it? I absolutely loved it. Do you want the award to actually, you know, a little pin or something to say, I actually love the song that was voted the worst pop song in the world. Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take that. It was. It reached number two in the UK, but it has been panned because it's regarded as possibly the worst song.

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And the worst film clip too, because everyone in the clips are wearing giant pineapple suits and  laser around their neck. They actually did a fitness video on the back of that too. Did they really? Yeah, they made a bit of cash, know, called Party Party. was a fitness video.  Pineapples being pushed around. I'm sorry.  But thank you, Mark. Thanks so much. Thank you, Mark. Now, next on the list, this is one of my favorites.  Always love this song. It's from 1962, made it to number one on the Billboard Top 100.

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And can you believe it, it still to this day apparently generates a million dollars a year  in royalties. Have a listen.

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a graveyard smash.

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Bobby Boris Pickett  and the Cripkicker Five. Was that re-released in the 70s? Because I remember that. I think it was re-released  after that and it did really well again because it appeared in a movie somewhere.  apparently Boris,  Boris Pickett, the singer,  he was in another band and he tried to pretend to be Boris Karloff during a set in this other band and the crowd loved it.  And that's how this song came about. He thought, oh, they love the whole, you know, ooh, Boris Karloff.

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thing and so he went and wrote down the Monster Mash. It was a huge smash. The Monster Mash. See what I did there? When did he probably wake up that morning thinking I'm going to make a career out of this? And as I say, the royalties are probably from movies and whatever. But good luck to him. Yeah. Good luck to him. on him. What's next? Look, there's one that is not a favourite of mine, but it can't not be on this list. And... Oh, you got me intrigued. I know. Look.

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Let's have a listen. I know you have definitely done that dance at some point in your life, haven't you? I bet you have, because we all have. Look, I've done my best, but I noticed that you were doing even better. I love it. Love the

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And  the group was Lost Del Rio, came out in 1993 and it was voted the number one greatest one hit wonder of all time by the video channel VH1 in  2002. So  you've put that on at a nightclub now. It's like everyone dives on there. It's like Nutbush. You mentioned Nutbush before. Yeah, it's hard not to dance to, even badly. I love it. Yeah.  Love it. Love it.

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Okay, and this next one. Now this came out in the year 2000. It was by a group called the Baja Men. Let's just play it.

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Tell you what,  that has trans  sort of past time. My grandson dances to that. Really? He watches the video. My granddaughter does. Yeah. And it was only a couple of weeks ago. We were watching it at their place and they certainly weren't around in 2000. They love it. Yeah.  It's so catchy. it was,  it was just like, it apparently was brought out as an anthem to women. It was for feminism.

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for women when  guys cat call them walking down the street. Apparently it's got nothing to do with dogs. really? Believe it or not. Yeah. Wow. Okay so no one's bringing their milkshake to the... No.  No. No. Moving right along. Lonnie Donigan gets another run.  Oh Lonnie Donigan. What did he leave on the bedpost overnight?

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Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight? If your mother says don't chew it, do you swallow it in spite? Can you catch it on your tonsils? Can you heave it left and right? Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight? That's probably the oldest novelty song we've got in the list. That's 1959 from Lonnie Donaghan. was originally, can you believe this, it was released in 1924 by a group of guys called the Happiness Boys.

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The happiness. It's like a porn show, doesn't it?  The happiness boys. And it was titled, the original title was, does your spearmint lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? Wow, Lonnie, Lonnie, you've ripped it off, mate. Can imagine putting your chewy on the bedpost overnight? Well, and forgotten the tea and someone's picked it up and just gone another chew and stuck it back. There you go. Now this next one is probably the most politically incorrect song. So we're going to apologize beforehand for it, but it was,  it was.

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a huge song in 1961. We've got the disclaimer, haven't we? We have.

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Let's play.

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Is that so sad that we both know the words? Oh my gosh, was a huge hit. Charlie Drake, 1961 that came out, was a pommy and there's a lot of things in there. He talks about riding kangaroos and  eventually  he goes to  see the witch doctor and the witch doctor says, if you want your boomerang to come back, first you've got to throw it. He throws it and it takes out the flying doctor.

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Can you insult more people in the space of three minutes? I know, what a great song though. And yet back then it was probably just  revered as being just a fun song today would never see the light of day, except here. Exactly. And you know what? The other interesting fact about that was it was produced by George Martin who went on to produce The Beatles. Yeah. You're kidding me. Incredible. Wow. Now, now talking about things that probably would never see the light of day.

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Benny Hill we know  from a whole lot of  skits and that  wonderful... We'd all sit around the television the whole family and watch Benny Hill. Yeah I saw it not too long ago it really doesn't hold up well but he did have a number one hit which  I think we all know the words to.

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And he drove the fastest milk cart in the West  She said she'd like to bathe in milk He said, alright sweetheart  And when he finished work one night He loaded up the cart  He said, you want to pasteurise Cause pasteurise is best She says, Ernie, I'll be happy If it comes up to me chest And that tickled old Ernie  Ernie!  And he drove the fastest milk cart in the West

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Do remember he was, Ernie the milkman was in, um, was fighting for her attention for the, the, the ladies attention with Ted Tom 10 from talking to him wherever he was to Tantan from Teddington. And they're all trying to win the heart of Sue, who was a widow who lived at number 22 in 22. It was just great. just sing along to it. And the interesting, the other interesting thing is the B side to that was, um, stick your finger in your ear and go tingling a Lou.

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Do remember that? I think I actually preferred that. Do you? Really? In real life or just in science?  Let's move along. speaking about inappropriate. Inappropriate.  Chuck Berry was probably known for a whole lot of  really good music. Great songs. Great songs.  American legend, wasn't he? Like, really rock.  Let's,  one of his best was... When  I was  a little bitty boy, my grandmother bought...

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me a cute little toy. Silver bells hanging on a string. She told me it was my ding-a-ling-a-ling. Oh. My ding-a-ling. My ding-a-ling. I want you to play with my ding-a-ling. My ding-a-ling. My ding-a-ling. I want you

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Now a lot of radio stations in the UK refuse to play it because of the innuendo. Go on. Really? Go figure. I've never owned a Ding-a-ling. I think. Right. Okay. It's never been hanging around my neck. No, okay. Let's just move on now. Let's move on. All right. 1974. This is one of my all time favorite novelty songs. This one's from Ray Stevens and he brought it out in response to...

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A phrase that was sweeping the world at the time where people were streaking in public places.

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Oh yes they call him the street  Fast thing on two feet

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And he was always calling out to his wife, Ethel, don't look Ethel! And this guy actually had a decent hit,  what did call Misty? Yes he did,  like a normal song.  But The Streak came out a week before the 46th  Academy Awards,  and apparently there was uproar because a guy streaked across the back of the stage while David Niven was up presenting the awards and this guy streaked naked.

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across  have a look at it you'll find it on YouTube. was huge though like it didn't matter the cricket and the footy it was a big thing for a while there wasn't it? stoking and then it lost its popularity I Did you ever get in trouble for that? No not in public. They didn't catch you then? I get in trouble  running around the house naked these days but  from the kids. Oh please there's some images that just get burnt into your brain. Sorry about my sharing too much again. Never too much just  anyway look there's a song by Carl Douglas which I'm not

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can't remember the year, was it 76, 77, somewhere 75? can't remember. it. You'll remember this one. But I think it spawned a whole lot of interest in a particular sport. we want to take a

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Did you know that that was released as a B-side?  Yes, I did know that. Yeah.  they were the other song apparently went nowhere. The song on the A-side went nowhere. And was that brought out before that whole David Carradine TV series, Kung Fu, Take the Pebble from My Hand? Yes. As soon as you can take the pebble from my hand, you can go. Time to leave. And I love the sort of little oriental riffs in there that set it up.  And it went on to be a big hit. It came out again in the Kung Fu Panda movies.

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So it got another run with that as well.  Now talking about some of my, another one of my favorite, love this.  I grew up in  Sydney and there was a bunch of boys who lived in the house next door.  And one of them, hello Jeff, was very into trucks. And he introduced me to this song.

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Ah, breaker one nine, this here's a rubber duck. You got a copy on me, fake fan?

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Yeah, 10-4, Big Ben for sure, for sure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flagtown, come on. Yeah, it's a big 10-4 there, Big Ben. Yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy Sakes alive, looks like we've got us a con.

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I love it. What were they actually protesting? The speed limit or something? That was out of the movie with Burt Reynolds, wasn't it? I think the movie came second. The song came first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And every boy wanted a CB radio too, they? CBs were huge at the time. They were brilliant. I'm sure Jeff probably had one. Yes, I'm sure he did. Actually, think he probably did because he introduced me to all that lingo that the truckies and he had his little model

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Kenworth truck and you know we'd play in the dirt out the back with all the little trucks and everything. Am I sharing again too much? No I think I knew Jeff and I think he probably had  Mac mudflaps on his three-speed dragster or something as well. did, you knew him yeah okay.  It's a radio throwback song now this is this is from 1976  and this song was released by a DJ I'll tell you more in a sec.

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Do know what it is?  Rick Dees.  Did he go on to bigger and better things? I think not.  No, he actually did.  He wrote this song. He was a radio announcer. was a breakfast host on a station in Memphis in Tennessee.  And then years later from that, he got a job at Kiss FM in Los Angeles, which was, and he went number one. He was one of the biggest radio presenters in the U S.  And no, thanks to this song, but because of his radio career and  his group.

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for that was called Rick Dees  and the Cast of Idiots.  What a great name for a band. What a great name. I wonder what names are discouraged and said, no, no, no, that's a silly name. We're not going to use that name. How about we go with the Cast of Idiots? The Cast of Idiots, right up there with the Crypt Kicker 5.  You're having a tough day at the office, aren't I certainly am.  Hey, listen, there's one that  never really sort of flew across my bows, but I've got a really good mate who is  so into the TV series.

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and the subsequent series  and it was released in 1987. I  love that only going forward because we can't find reverse and then later it gets a Klingons on the starboard bow starboard bow.  I love it.

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It's life Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, not as we know it.  Once again, you really need to get out a little bit more often, or maybe you need to get out less.  That's the problem. That's It's just so easy to sing along to.  is, it is. And I don't know what Spock and Kirk and Bones and McCoy all thought of this, you know. Loved it. Loved it. Now finally, this last one, gosh, I love this. This came out, this is probably the most recent one, came out in 2012.

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by Korean singer and his name was Psy. It peaked at number two in the US,  which was the highest-rating song it ever got in the US for a Korean artist.

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do you come back from that with a follow-up single? How many of us tried to do that dance after way too many sherbets and look like complete idiots? Well, yeah.  I don't know. I don't know about you, but if I tried that now, it'd be a knee replacement or something. Absolutely.  Look, this has been so much fun. We've had such a great time. There are so many more songs that  we could have touched on. Things like Time Kangaroo Down, Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny.

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Polka Dot McKinney, one of my favorites, Chappy Chappy Cheep Cheep.  Oh, do you remember dancing to that at school? Oh, I loved it.  Oh. Loved such a great song. There was Eat It by Weird Al Jankovic. There's just so many, but thank you to all of the people in our wonderful Facebook family, the Big Six O Facebook family, who contributed such great ideas and hope you've enjoyed it today as much as we have. Yeah, look, I'm going off to sing The Witch Doctor.  No? Another Witch Doctor? They're coming to take me away, haha.  I think we both better go away.  See ya. See ya.

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The views and opinions expressed on the Big Six O are personal and reflect those of the hosts and guests.  They do not represent the views or positions of any affiliated organisations  or companies.  This podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional for guidance on any personal matters.

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Oh,  and before we go,  let's give credit where credit is due.  Kaylee Harris and I came up with all the genius content for this week's episode.  Our producer,  Nick Abood,  well, he keeps the lights on and makes sure we don't accidentally upload a cat video instead of a podcast.  So thanks for keeping us on track, Nick.  Nick?  Nick?