Shaddap You Face and Percy Grainger’s Country Gardens
Essay by Joe Dolce
Joe Dolce is a singer, songwriter,
composer and poet. Writer and performer
of the most successful Australian song in
history, Shaddap You Face. In 2015 and
2014 his poetry appeared in Best Australian
Poems. In 2014 he was shortlisted for both
the Newcastle Poetry Prize and Canberra
Vice Chancellor’s Poetry Prize. Winner of
the 25th Launceston Poetry Cup. Published
in Meanjin, Monthly, Southerly, Cordite,
Canberra Times, Quadrant, Australian
Poetry Journal, Overland, Contrappasso,
Not Shut Up (UK), Tupelo Quarterly (US)
and Antipodes (US). Recipient of the
Advance Australia Award.
Only music journalists and radio station
programmers use the terms Novelty Song and One-Hit
Wonder to categorize music. Let‘s take a brief look at
how these terms came about, and why they are so
elitist, and inaccurate.
The Novelty Song
The term originally arose in Tin Pan Alley to
describe one of the three major divisions of popular
music. (The other two categories were ballads and
dance music.) Novelty songs achieved their greatest
popularity during the 1920s and 30s. Outside of the
music business, in the real world amongst common
people, there really is no such thing as a novelty song.
Take these well-known examples for instance all
considered novelty by the industry:
"The Battle of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton
"Dang Me" by Roger Miller
"Don't Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin
"I Am the Walrus” by The Beatles
"Short People" by Randy Newman