3 Absurdly Funny Punchlines in Famous Songs

Some famous musicians knew how to inject a respectable amount of comedy into their songs without coming off as cheesy. We’re particularly fond of these three funny punchlines in famous country and rock songs. Let’s take a look, shall we?

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1. “Fool In The Rain” by Led Zeppelin

In Through the Out Doors is probably Led Zeppelin’s jazziest album, and there are some pretty obvious Tom Waits inspirations in the track “Fool In The Rain”. And like Waits, Robert Plant managed to drop a slapstick joke into the song.

“Fool In The Rain” tells the tale of a man who loses the object of his affection when she ditches him on a date. As time goes by, the rain pours on, and the lyrics get sadder despite the upbeat melody. By the end of the song, Plant reveals that the “fool” in question simply was waiting on the wrong block for his date. Back in the day, before smartphones were a thing, this wasn’t exactly an uncommon goof.

2. “A Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash

This wouldn’t be a list of funny punchlines in famous songs without mentioning the country classic “A Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash. In this song, Cash tells the story of a boy who was given the name Sue by his deadbeat dad. The girly name leads our “hero” down a road of constant bullying.

Sue eventually finds his absent father and more or less beats the crap out of him. By the end of the song, Cash reveals the punchline: Sue’s father gave him that name because he knew he wouldn’t be around, and wanted his son to grow up tough. The two make amends, with Sue swearing he’ll name his future son something like Bill or George.

3. “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” by Loudon Wainwright III

Funny punchlines in famous songs often start with a huge bummer. In the song “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” by Loudon Wainwright III, our narrator blends together cynicism with humor.

In this song, a sad soul hits a streak of bad luck when his dog gets run over by a car and he loses his job. He is also left by his wife, loses an arm in “the war”, and is wrongfully sent to prison. The whole time, the character in question doesn’t cry. 

The dark punchline reveals that the person in question was sent to an insane asylum, where he cried nonstop for 40 days until he died from dehydration. By the end of the song, he reunites with his dog and his arm, and everything starts going his way. If you’ve got a dark sense of humor, this song is at least worth a sensible chuckle.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns

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