Nonsense song


A nonsense song is a type of song written mainly for the purpose of entertainment using nonsense syllables at least in the chorus. Such a song generally has a simple melody and a quick tempo.

History

The roots of this song type can be traced as far back as "Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me" and "Jimmy Crack Corn" to the 1890s "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay". This last was a kind of can-can with an obvious accent on the "boom." Mostly it was a way of letting off steam.
Every era has had its own nonsense songs. The turn of the 20th century had "Row, Row, Row", with lines like:
The jazz age created many nonsense songs, such as "Ja-Da".

Examples