I'm always suspicious of any TV comedy programme that comes with its own laughter track. By my thinking, if something's funny then I don't need a poke in the ribs to point it out to me. On the other hand, no amount of dubbed hilarity from a bunch of slack jawed cretins is going to make me change my mind if I don't see the humour.Apparently a skit on the then popular (it says here) craze amongst American college students, 'The Streak' comes with its own laugh track. A bad omen in itself, but it also comes in a sleeve that effectively gives away every single joke before the needle gets anywhere near its grooves; it seems Ray couldn't have been more desperate for you to laugh along if he came 'round in person and tickled you with a feather every time you played it. Ray says 'Boogity Boogity' in a funny voice, Ray says 'Don't look Ethel' in a funny voice and there's a funny whistling sound every time Ray sings 'oh yes they call him the streak' - all this is marked out in advance along with Ray's shit eating grin that lets you know that the record has japes a-plenty.
Except it doesn't. Because 'The Streak' isn't really all that funny. It's simple bawdy Conservative humour (yes, little 'b' big 'C') backed by tune sounding like a redneck plucking a banjo. It may raise a smile with those who see something risqué in 'He's just in the mood to run in the nude' and the like, but to my mind it's as welcome and as humorous as one of the titular streakers running onto the pitch at a crucial moment in a test match. Never mind 'He's just as proud as he can be of his anatomy', you just want someone to grab him and give him a good booting off camera. That's the streaker, not Ray. Though come to think on it........
The single was an enormous hit in 1974 right at the time that streaking was a national fad. I've seen web-sites and bloggers miss the point of the entire song. Your commentary comes across in that category. Within the commentary you wrote as if you doubt that streaking was popular...at least that's the way I took your line: "Apparently a skit on the then popular (its says here) craze amongst American college students...". If you don't believe streaking was popular at one point then I don't know how to convince you otherwise.
ReplyDeletePopular could perhaps be the wrong word...infamous might be the correct word. Whatever word one uses, the streaking fad that began taking place in 1974 warranted spoofing, which is what we get with "The Streak". Statistics don't lie, either. The single must have struck a nerve with record buyers or else it wouldn't have hit #1 in America and in England. Regardless if the humor is low-brow or as you put it, bawdy, the point is the single was a novelty song in the truest sense. It spoofed a national craze, plain and simple. It wasn't trying to compete with the works of Mark Twain or Tennessee Williams.
About the album's picture sleeve, though. The album was released several weeks after the song became a hit...so I'd suspect that the buying public was well aware of the song prior to purchasing the album. I say this because you complained that the song's jokes are "given away" by the catch-phrases on the album's picture sleeve.
During this point in time the 45 RPM single greatly out-sold the long-playing vinyl album in America. The song hit #1 in America in a matter of weeks...from what I recall from research, "The Streak" hit #1 on it's 5th week on the charts and stayed #1 for 3 weeks and sold close to five million copies.
Naturally the single is dated and people who don't have any knowledge of the past or any nostalgia aren't going to really understand how a song about people running around without clothes became one of the biggest hit songs of 1974. I'm biased of course because I'm a fan of Ray Stevens and it always puzzles me why people get bent out of shape over a song like this when it's harmless and silly, which are what comedy/novelty songs are suppose to be.
A good comment and one worth responding to - I don't think I was ever complaining that 'The Streak' falls short as high art; I mean, I could dismiss every record on these pages as not being Dostoyevsky backed by Mozart, but that would really be missing the point. After all, you don't criticise a theme park because it's not a cathedral.
ReplyDeleteAs I've written elsewhere, music criticism is simply intellectualising an emotional response. I can truthfully say 'I don't like 'The Streak' and then try and justify it, but if I was then to go on to say 'but those who enjoy this type of humour will love it' it would make a nonsense of me writing anything in the first place. Because for everything I like or don't like, there's always going to be someone who thinks the exact opposite. And that's fine. In fact, I'd like nothing better than for people to respond to every one of my posts to point out why they think I'm wrong in my opinion.
But in my justifying that opinion, I don't think it's fair to say that I've missed 'the point of the entire song'. Because I don't think I have. I 'get' the fact that it's 'harmless and silly', but that doesn't mean that it's above criticism and automatically likeable. I've never cared for that kind of 'nudge nudge' double entendre humour (the UK is full of it) and the 'comedy' of the song leaves me cold.
That's my opinion, but I don't think it's fair to imply it's mis-informed because I have no 'knowledge of the past or any nostalgia' either. If your profile age is correct then I'm almost ten years older than you, old enough to remember 'The Streak' at number one in 1974 (in fact, I can vividly because my older brother bought it). I didn't much like it then either, but I've never considered myself 'bent out of shape' by either it or Ray Stevens (who in actual fact I have a lot of time for). Statistics might not lie, but the equation of popularity with something good or of value is not one I have too much faith in, and the fact it 'struck a nerve' and got to number one on both sides of the Atlantic is no barometer for quality. If it were, then I'd be out buying Susan Boyle albums instead of typing this.
But cheers for reading anyway.