On this episode we’re exploring that niche genre known as the Novelty Song. With roots in vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley, the Novelty Song has always been an American Songbook staple – a song with a gimmick or a subject that was outside the themes of mainstream popular music, but stuck a chord and ended up being played right alongside the “regular” tunes. We’ll hear songs about dogs in windows, broken factory whistles, rubber tree plants, and misplaced yellow picnic baskets, to name a few – sung by Dinah Shore, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Betty Hutton, and more.
How Novel: The Novelty Songs Of The American Songbook
