Wicked Funny Songs, We Sweah

It takes someone who’s lived in Massachusetts for more than a year or two to understand why a song titled “I'm From Lynn, What Can I Say?” is funny. That’s exactly why Bostonist has high hopes for an onslaught of clever tunes and townie jokes at Songstreet’s “14th Annual Festival of Funny Songwriters” this Saturday at the Somerville Theater.

We’re counting on the featured veteran and local favorite Don White (who also gives workshops at Cambridge folk venue Club Passim) to perform “The Shameful Ballad of Lijah the Precocious Orchard Queen,” a song describing White’s valiant effort to create a makeshift chastity belt for his horny pooch.

Other performers include: John Forster who’s been compared to comic genius George Carlin with lyrics like, “Oh the Big Mac come from the Big Mac Tree/Turn into jobs up in New Jersey/For teenager and minority/Oh the Big Mac come from the Big Mac Tree,” from his original, “The Big Mac Tree.” Our personal Forster favorite, however, is the bittersweet love song “Co-Dependent With You” with the verse, “I'd sing you an old-fashioned love song/But our relationship is too complex/I'm compulsive. You're obsessive/And we're both acting out through sex.” When we catch local T busker Tom Bianchi at Park Street, he always manages to amuse us with his catchy, “The Day the Curse was Reversed” and the old favorite, “Park Street Blues” along with his up-to-date improvisational style and witty commentary. And although she probably won’t be singing, Mary Beth Cowan’s neurotic yet lovable persona makes Bostonist think she should have gone further as a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing.

Contributed by Laura Levis. Photo from donwhite.net