Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini Quiz

Answer:

Novelty songs are popular music that have humorous, quirky or unusual concepts: They contain an element that sets them apart from mainstream pop. They often rely on gimmicks, can feature comedic lyrics, or include strange sound effects, or references to pop culture, the latter of which often contributed to the song being short-lived in popularity.

Whilst novelty songs have been popular throughout history, they had a surge in the Tin Pan Alley period of the early twentieth century. The second big wave started in 1958 with Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater", "Witch Doctor" by David Seville (1958) and The Coasters' "Yakety Yak " (1959). All three reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Perhaps "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" could be considered the archetypal novelty hit that was prevalent in the pre-Beatles era. It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss when Vance was inspired after watching his two-year-old daughter, Paula, playing at the beach in her new swimming costume. Bryan Hyland was 16 when he recorded the song in 1960. It was his biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it went on to become a worldwide hit.

"Alley Oop" was a novelty song based on the cartoon character of the same name and recorded by the Hollywood Argyles in 1960. It was the number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 three weeks just before "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini". The Hollywood Argyles were a one-hit wonder, although the two producers went on to bigger things. Gary Paxton, who sang lead, went on to produce "Monster Mash" for Bobby "Boris" Pickett in 1962, and Kim Fowler went on to produce several novelty hits in the 60s, and managed the Runaways in the 70s.

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was based on a 1939 South African musician Solomon Linda's song called "Mbube", which combined traditional Zulu musical elements with Western influences. The song was sung a capella with a group called The Evening Birds. Solomon sold his rights to the song to South African Gallo Records for ten shillings. It was then passed on to Pete Seeger and the Weavers, who recorded the song in 1951 as "Wimoweh" (a misheard lyric from the chorus). The song went to number six on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1961, The Tokens, a Brooklyn doo-wop band, needed a third song to meet an RCA three-record contract. (Their previous two songs were only mildly successful.) They asked songwriter George David to overhaul "Wimoweh". He did, maintaining Linda's original chant unchanged but taking out the improvised hollers and shrieks of the Weavers' version, then added a total of 33 words as lyrics based around "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight". The Tokens then recorded this version with lead singer Jau Siegel singing falsetto, the rest of the band chanting "Wimohweh", and opera singer Anita Darian was brought in to provide countermelodies. The Tokens were not enthralled with the song and released it as the B-side to "Tina", which failed. However, the B-side received much airplay, and the record topped the US Billboard charts. Over 150 covers have been recorded by various artists, some of whom have charted with the song. It also became a hit again when it was used in "The Lion King" soundtrack in 1994.

David Seville and the Chipmunks, later billed as The Chipmunks, then Alvin and the Chipmunks, were an American animated virtual band first created by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958. The band was created by David Seville (Bagdasarian), singing songs in three parts. The combined parts were then sped up in time to make the songs sound like they were sung in falsetto. By 1961, the virtual band members had been given the names Alvin, Simon and Theodore (named after record company executives) and drawn as animated eight-year-old triplet chipmunks and made into a cartoon. "Witch Doctor" was their first recording in 1958, but "The Alvin Twist" was the first hit after their TV show "The Alvin Show" first aired on television.

Ray Stevens was a comedian as well as a country and pop and as a singer. His biggest hits were the Grammy Award-winning "Everything is Beautiful (1971) and "Misty" (1975), but he also had a string of novelty hits throughout his career. "Ahab the Arab" (1962) told the story of Ahab and his camel Clyde. Each night, they would go to woo Fatima, the best dancer in the Sultan's harem. It went to number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Monster Mash" was recorded by Bobby (Boris) Pickett after he was encouraged to write a horror song after he inserted a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff in the middle of a song, whilst he and his band, the Cordials, were singing the Diamonds' "Little Darlin'. The audience loved the addition, so Pickett and band member Lenny Capizzi wrote what became "Monster Mash" and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 just before Halloween in 1962.

"Surfin' Bird" was a Billboard Hot 100 Top Five hit for the Trashmen in 1963. The song is a combination of two Rivingtons hits: "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" and "The Bird's the Word". The song is heavily influenced by the surf rock sound of the day, but it has also been called a "proto-punk" song.

Florida-based pop group The Royal Guardsmen made their name with a series of hits featuring Snoopy the dog from "Peanuts". The song was written originally by Dick Holler in 1962 as "The Red Baron" and told the story of real-life air battles with the Red Baron. However, no record company took up the option to release it. Four years later, record producer Phil Gernhard noticed the Snoopy and the Red Baron theme in the "Peanuts" comic strip. He added two new verses, added the name Snoopy and gave it to the Royal Guardsmen to record. In December 1966, "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, being held out of number one by the Monkees' "I'm a Believer". The group had minor hits with other records, but their four major hits all had "Snoopy" in the title.

In 1967, English singer Sandie Shaw was well established with two British number-one hits under her belt. She was selected as the British representative for the 12th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Whilst Ms Shaw was used to songwriters writing songs specifically for her, Bill Martin and Phil Coulter wrote "Puppet On a String" specifically to 'win Eurovision'. She sang five songs written for Eurovision on "The Rolf Harris Show", with "Puppet" being the most popular. Ms Shaw hated the song, stating in her 1991 autobiography, "I hated it from the very first 'oompah' to the final 'bang' on the big bass drum. I was instinctively repelled by its sexist drivel and cuckoo-clock tune." She won Eurovision and sold four million copies of the record. Elvis Presley had a song with the same title around the same time, but it was a different song.

The Archies were a fictional bubblegum pop band from Archie Comics. "Sugar, Sugar" (1969) was their third single and was written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. The Archies were a group of various session musicians, with lead singer Ron Dante being the one constant. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and the UK singles chart for eight. It was the number one song for 1969 on both sides of the Atlantic. It was considered the number one bubblegum pop single of all time.

The six incorrect answers were novelty songs from the 70s:
"Cover of the Rolling Stone" - Dr Hook and the Medicine Show (1971)
"Coconut" - Harry Nilsson (1971)
"My Ding A Ling" - Chuck Berry (1972)
"Convoy" - CW McCall (1974)
"The Streak" - Ray Stevens (1974)
"Disco Duck" - Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots (1976)