Cee-Lo's "F*ck You" and the joy of a good novelty song

Cee Lo Green "Fuck You"
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I'm not gonna lie. Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" might be my favorite song ever.

It seems to be a lot of people's favorite song ever actually. Last I heard it had hit something like two million views on YouTube within a week of it's release.

This, to me, is the very definition of the perfect novelty song.

1) It's catchy. Oh, is it ever catchy.

2) It's funny.

3) It's kind of naughty in a "I can't believe he did that" sort of way.

4) It's actually a pretty good song.

So in honor of this monumentally awesome track, here's my list of my top 5 novelty songs of all time.

And no, there won't be any Weird Al Yankovic on this list.

Ben Folds - "Bitches Ain't Shit"

The effete white dude doing the acoustic cover of the hardcore rap song has been a novelty-song cliché since about the mid 1990s, when it seemed like everyone suddenly discovered irony.

I was first introduced to this phenomena as a college radio DJ with Dynamite Hack's cover of Eazy-E's "Boyz N The Hood", which is pretty funny, but Ben Folds actually comes close to transcending the whole idea of the novelty song with this track. The mournful piano actually adds a certain melancholy weight to the rank misogyny in the lyrics. It's funny and ironic, sure, but kind of creepy too.

Anthrax and Public Enemy - "Bring The Noise"

Hard as it is to believe now, once upon a time the idea of a heavy metal band and a rap group getting together to record a song was nearly inconceivable, sort of like Jews for Jesus or Mormons for Jack Daniels and Strippers.

Now, in the post Limp Bizkit wreckage of our sad little lives, whatever novelty was to be had in the concept is long gone. But I still love this song. I don't care what you say.

See also Anthrax's first foray into rap with "I'm the Man".

William Shatner - "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"

The amazing thing was that, at the time, this wasn't meant to be funny. People thought that this would really turn Shatner into some sort of art poet pop star or something.

Luckily, Shatner figured it out later and has crafted a nice little second career making fun of himself on Priceline commercials and Conan O'Brien.

And speaking of Star Trek...

Leonard Nimoy - "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

The less said about this the better.

Moving on.

Vincent Laguardia Gambini - "Take Your Love and Shove It"

This is my personal favorite on this list. Joe Pesci playing his character from My Cousin Vinnie embarking on a second career as a potty-mouthed lounge singer. What more do you need?