Goofy. Nutty. Classic. Perry Como’s “Hot Diggity” is that kind of song. Perry’s emotional ride through love (here represented by the single-best xylophone in rock era history) is so perfectly stated with nonsense lyrics that even people born in the early 90s can appreciate their utter glee and youthful joy. Again, Perry Como shows that he can have fun playing with idea and lyric and let you in on it; few outside of Eminem can pull this off today and Em doesn’t enjoy it this much. Now which word is the most fun to say: “Diggity”, “Dog”, “Boom” or “Ziggity”.
Again, Perry Como shows that he can have fun playing with idea and lyric and let you in on it; few outside of Eminem can pull this off today and Em doesn’t enjoy it this much.
Well, I know of quite a few performers in this class -- that is, they have an exquisite sense of play in their lyrics -- but they're not really Top 40 material.
Posted by: Sean | March 19, 2004 at 09:32 AM
Well, Sean, share 'em with the rest of the class, man!
Posted by: nichole | March 19, 2004 at 10:37 AM
OK, if we consider the performer's lyrical zest to be the most important factor -- i.e., how much Perry apparently enjoys *saying* "Boom Ziggity," and how pleasant it is to hear that said -- my top candidate would probably be Mike Doughty, ex- of Soul Coughing. Though not the most mellifluous singer ever, he loved enunciating fun-sounding phonemes, and could string those phonemes together in very satisfying ways.
If we move into more of the Enimem realm -- linguistic dexterity applied to clever lyrics -- it's a larger sample. There are a lot of performers -- and hip-hop lays claim to quite a few of them -- that have a sense of internal rhyme and rhythm that give them the playful affect (as opposed to the much more common earnest affect; see Bruce, Bono, Britney, etc.). Some people that come to mind, listed alphabetically, include Aesop Rock, Ani DiFranco, Clem Snide, Del the Funkee Homosapien, Kanye West, Missy Elliot and They Might Be Giants. But that list's really just off the top of my head, and is not necessarily representative of the list I'd make if I thought about it longer.
Posted by: Sean | March 19, 2004 at 12:34 PM
I think the tough thing to nail is that your earnest AND having fun. Em's lyrics are funny but they sound like he's trying to be earnest AND angry.
While I agree, the Giants do fun+earnest thing (I know less about the others), I cannot say that most Rap/R&B that I've heard does. So this kind of Serious Frivolity is lacking today.
Posted by: JmSR | March 19, 2004 at 12:55 PM