"Shaving Cream" is a song written by Benny Bell in 1946, and originally sung by Paul Wynn. It is a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

in which each verse ends with a mind rhyme of ''

shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...

'', the initial ''sh-'' segueing into the refrain, "Shaving Cream". An example of this can be found in the opening verse: :"I have a sad story to tell you :It may hurt your feelings a bit :Last night when I walked into my bathroom :I stepped in a big pile of ...shhhhh . . . aving cream." The original version of "Shaving Cream" was issued on Bell's Cocktail Party Songs record label in 1946, with Phil Winston on vocals under the pseudonym Paul Wynn, and, as that name was also used by Bell, Winston's version has often been mistaken for Bell's, and has appeared on Benny Bell compilation albums more frequently than Bell's own version. After the song began to be played on the Dr. Demento radio show in the 1970s, disc jockey Bruce Morrow on

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...

radio in New York also played it, resulting in "Shaving Cream" becoming the station's most requested record during the last week of 1974.

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the so ...

reissued the song in 1975, and it became a hit, peaking at #30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Early copies of the 1975 Vanguard single credited Bell as the performer. However, after controversy ensued, the same recording was re-released with revised labels crediting Paul Wynn as performer. A remake of "Shaving Cream" performed as a duet with Dr. Demento was released on the albums ''Dr. Demento's Dementia Royale'' and ''Dr. Demento's 25th Anniversary Collection''. Dr. Demento occasionally performed the song live in concert with

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

's band (Yankovic playing accordion). Another 1970s cover version was recorded by a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

group, The Fabulous Five. Dave Van Ronk performed this song at his shows over the years, and a version is included on the CD of rarities, ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street''. He modifies the trick of the song by changing the last line to "stick your head in a bucket of shit" rather than "a bucket of shaving cream". On the 2017 revival of '' The Gong Show'', this song was performed as an intermission partway through each show, and was sung in audience sing-along fashion, led by a staff performer named Albert.{{cite episode , series=The Gong Show (2017) , title=Dana Carvey; Tracee Ellis Ross; Anthony Anderson , season=1 , number=3 , date=2017-07-06 , network= ABC However, the segment was discontinued in season two.

References

Novelty songs 1946 songs 1975 singles Comedy songs Vanguard Records singles

See also

References