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Summary: A Laugh Riot
Review: It took about two hours to read this in one sitting, and it might have been less if I hadn't been laughing so hard. Barry's anecdotes about these songs and the fun he pokes at them is absolutely hilarious. Strongly recommended for any Barry fan, and also recommended for fans of any music format--he covers just about everything.
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Summary: Pretty funny stuff
Review: My husband got this book last December and loved it so much that he read has read the whole thing to me, laughing the whole time. We had to buy another copy when we lost the first one. It is an essential reader.Not unlike main character in the Emperor's New Clothes, Dave Berry helps us to see what we pretended not to see for a long time. And we have fun doing it. Thanks Dave.
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Summary: Herniatingly Funny
Review: Not just side spliting, it's herniatingly funny. This is a 6 stars book.!
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Summary: DON'T Buy The Audio Version!
Review: Now I know how much of comedy is TIMING. This tape was HORRIBLE! What might have been funny if read by Dave Barry, or even if I read it myself (if I'd gotten the book), was root-canal-like painful read by Mike Dodge, whose delivery reminds me of every safety training video I've ever heard. The producers must have known how un-funny his delivery made the material, as they even added "pa-da" drum staccatos to let us know when a joke was being made. If you love Dave Barry, DON'T buy this tape - it'll kill you to hear the material so butchered.
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Summary: Hahahahahaha-plop (me laughing my head off!)
Review: The only bad thing I can say about this book is that it eventually ends. The night I received it I kept the entire household awake with my constant hysterical laughter. Not even threats of physical violence could make me put it down and go to sleep. I've lent it to all my musician friends, and although they, like me, don't agree with the alleged 'badness' of each song attacked herein - I, for one, think Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again..." is terrific (though I CAN see Dave's point) - they all agree that it is top-notch side-splitting can't-put-this-down reading. I only wish it had been something like 2,000 pages longer. I just couldn't get enuff. Dave Barry rocks!
Rating:
Summary: If you want to laugh until you cry
Review: then get this book. No matter how many times I read it, I still laugh out loud at some of the writing in this book. I agree with some of the reviewers who wish that Dave Barry would update the list to include songs from the past 10-15 years.
Rating:
Summary: If you're depressed and suffering insomnia at 3 a.m.....
Review: Then read this book. It might be the only thing that will have you laughing hysterically at that ungodly hour! (It worked miracles for me.) I have to buy another copy because I gave it to my sister when she left for California after my mom's funeral. During the family get-together after the service (and when all the visitors had left), my sister and I read dueling chapters of the book. Somehow I don't think my mom minded. Dave helped cheer us up. I just wish he'd come up with volume II.
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Summary: Funny, but too short!
Review: This book could have been a little longer for the price..
Rating:
Summary: You should hear me try to read this aloud!
Review: This book has FABULOUS rereading value: As a teenager who doesn't listen to the radio much, I have not been exposed to about half the songs in this book. This actually has made it even funnier ~ when I suddenly hear a new song that was featured in the Bad Song Book, I immediately collapse into hysterics. I've been a longtime Dave Barry fan, and when I leafed through this in the bookstore, I HAD to get it. The all-purpose irate-Neil Diamond-fan letter is worth the whole thing. Even with the few songs I've heard and liked (for instance, I absolutely love the song "A Horse With No Name"), I could see his point of view and continue to laugh. I've been told this book is even funnier (if possible) when you've heard ALL the songs, but I contend that it lasts longer if you have yet to discover them.
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Summary: One of Dave's funniest books.
Review: This book is an outgrowth of his "bad song survey", in which he asked readers of his column to write in with feedback as to what they considered the worst ever pop music songs. He received a flood of responses that easily enabled him to write two full columns on the subject, and still hadn't begun to scratch the surface. So he wrote this book, and almost the only drawback I find in this book is that it is too short; he STILL has barely begun to scratch the surface, but claims that immersing himself in thoughts of these bad songs was driving him insane and he needed to bring it to an end for the sake of his sanity. First, let's define "Bad song": according to Dave, novelty songs don't count, because they're not SUPPOSED to be good, they're supposed to be funny (and even if they fail in that, they don't count for our purposes). So, for instance, "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Ha!" by Napoleon XIV doesn't count, nor does "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne. For much the same reason, (and here I disagree with him) Dave discounts all country music on the grounds that historically, the genre has tended not to take itself too seriously, having songs such as "Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life", and thus as far as he's considered, he's willing to give the entire genre some slack and assume that any song with really dumb lyrics must be kidding. (I maintain that "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." by Tammy Wynette, and "Your Cheatin' Heart" by, I think, Hank Williams, are examples of country songs that certainly take themselves overly seriously and which are also sufficiently appalling that I'd rather listen to fingernails on a blackboard than listen to them.) Another requirement for a song to qualify for the bad song survey & book is that it has to have had a LOT of airplay, and it also has to have that indescribable quality that forces your mind to remember it, against your every intention; it has to be the kind of song that if you had a lobotomy, or some other form of brain damage, sufficient that you could barely remember your own name, if this song came on the radio, you could still sing along with it, the kind of quality that causes you, if you hear it on the radio, to not be able to get it out of your head for WEEKS. Granted, as Dave is quick to point out, this is a very subjective subject; many songs that have a strong showing in the survey, he actually enjoys, and there are those that I like as well. Undoubtedly, there will be songs that you actually like that show up in this book. Sometimes, however, even for the songs you like, you'll be forced to admit that the comments are justified, and in other cases, you'll just have to decide that some of the respondants to the survey have no taste. But the book is still a scream, and an absolute must for any fan of either Dave Barry's writing, and any fan of pop music.
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