Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

Our first ever guest, Ben Baker, is back to tell us all about this intriguing Canadian novelty charity single released by the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative, or NAHPI for short. Featuring some big music and showbiz names you might know and many you might not, there's lots to unpack about this seeming obscurity which has started to find a foothold on many halloween party playlists.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

First up in our brace of Hallowe'en episodes is Jake Ward with Bob McFadden and Dor's 1959 song, The Mummy. Released on Brunswick in the US and on Coral in the UK, this record sees voice-actor McFadden team up with poet and songwriter Rod McKuen to produce something completely baffling, but very entertaining. No beatniks were harmed in the making of this record.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

Except they don't on this mini-episode... it's just me bringing you a mini stop-gap episode to help me get the show all lined up for next weekend when I'll be releasing two special HALLOWEEN episodes for you to enjoy. However, I thought I'd take this time to indulge a passion of mine and give you a bit of a Beatles-y episode with a look at their most high-profile novelty number, Yellow Submarine.

If you're interested hearing more of me wittering on about The Beatles, please look up The Big Beatles Sort Out, my brother's podcast on which I'm the resident fact-wrangler. Available on all the usual podcast apps.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

In this episode Paul welcomes internet purveyor of comedy and novelty record content extraordinaire, the pseudonymously enigmatic Dame Agnes Guano! Using Charlie Drake's records SPLISH SPLASH and MR CUSTER, they discuss the very nature of comedy vs novelty and get to chatting about the types of people who didn't make records in the 50s and 60s. This is an interesting chat with a dedicated collector of all things funny, silly and unusual.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

Joining Paul after 4 million years of slumber is podcaster Phil Catterall who has brought along Stan Bush's 1986 The Transformers: The Movie soundtrack single The Touch and some other associated transforming robot music! We also look into a couple of 1960s tributes to our mechanical friends as well.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

Today, we're off back to 1986 and a smokey club in Romford, as Denise Courcoux joins Paul to tell us all about the Snooker Players looking to take the pop world by storm - and who better to guide their musical journey than Rockney superstars, Chas and Dave? It's Snooker Loopy!

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

In this episode James Errington from the Centuries of Sound podcast brings along one of the most famous novelty songs of all time - Charles Penrose's The Laughing Policeman. We explore the legacy and impact of this well-known number and we travel further back in time to work out its origins than you might expect!

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

 

This episode sees podcaster and musician, Garreth Hirrons, launch a full-scale investigation into not only Bart Simpson's 'follow-up' single Deep, Deep Trouble but also the world of songs released by other animated characters over the years. Did you know Hanna-Barbera had a record label? Drop us a line on our Twitter or Instagram if you've got any cartoon classic favourites.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

It's back to the 1980s with journalist and host of the Zeitgeist Tapes Podcast, Emma Burnell. Emma has brought along Stan Ridgway's 1986 hit, Camouflage, for us to discuss. We try and figure out why such a song would have made no.4 in the UK charts and also explore the top ten for the week it did and we also look at some possible influences on the tune.

Welcome to The Head Ballet podcast! Paul Abbott invites guests to discuss their favourite novelty songs.

Comedian, Writer and one half of the awesome band Eureka California, Jake Ward, tells us all about growing up with Country music and the comedy stylings of Roger Miller as epitomised in his 1966 single, You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd.