These 4 Songwriters Were Too Acerbic for the Top 40 (And They Snuck in One Hit Each Anyway)

There have been some singer-songwriters over the years who possessed a knack for delivering just what the listening public wanted to hear. And then you have the songwriters who tend to write songs that display the more pessimistic side of things without prettying it up.

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These four songwriters never played the game much when it came to releasing radio-friendly singles that would make the charts. But they did manage to sneak through with one hit that, for them, broke the mold.

“Short People” by Randy Newman

If all you know of Randy Newman is his Pixar days, you might wonder why he’s listed as being “acerbic.” But if you know Newman’s classic singer-songwriter work, you know that he’s never been afraid of inhabiting untrustworthy or unsavory characters in his songs. In 1977, Newman pulled off a typically counterintuitive feat by releasing a song seemingly mocking “Short People”. In fact, the song served up sly commentary on mindless discrimination. Many people missed that point but grooved along to the catchiness of the song anyway. Newman walked away with a No. 2 pop hit at the end of it all.

“Werewolves Of London” by Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon never shied away from telling it like it is in his songs. If that meant that he came off as caustic, or that his characters tended more towards self-destruction than charity, then that’s the way it needed to be for him to achieve authenticity. Even Zevon’s lone big pop hit ventured over to the dark side somewhat. “Werewolves Of London”, which Zevon co-wrote with Waddy Wachtel and LeRoy Marinell, made it to No. 21 in 1978. On the one hand, it tells of a character who’ll “rip your lungs out.” But this particular killer also happens to be impeccably dressed and coiffed, so he has that in his favor.

“Cruel To Be Kind” by Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe included the song “I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass” on his debut album Jesus Of Cool. That kind of epitomizes the tendencies of the characters in his songs, folks who often didn’t look out for what was best either for themselves or for those nearest them. For as biting as he could be, however, Lowe also had a knack for winning melodies. One of those catchy melodies was attached to his 1979 song “Cruel To Be Kind”. The song fit the New Wave trend well and landed at No. 12 in the US charts for Lowe. That was the only time he’d ever make it to the American Top 40.

“Dead Skunk” by Loudon Wainwright III

Consider Loudon Wainwright III one of music’s great oversharers. Wainwright consistently delved deep into his own life for songs, fearlessly exposing elements of his existence that most other writers might have hidden in metaphor or some other form of literary technique. His one hit was pretty much a novelty song that didn’t really conform much to the rest of his stuff, aside from it sharing a sharp sense of humor. Wainwright didn’t usually deal much with singles, preferring to make album-length statements.  But “Dead Skunk”, which is about exactly what the title suggests, earned him an unlikely No. 16 hit in 1973.

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