Did you hear the one about the 50-year-old pizza?

Did you hear the one about the 50-year-old pizza?

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Dick Biondi

Nearly 50 years after Dick Biondi first sang “The Pizza Song” — better known as “On Top of a Pizza” — the hit novelty record has been released on CD for the first time.

The song, written as a parody to “On Top of Old Smokey” and recorded by Biondi in 1961, became an instant success, selling more than 11,000 copies and helping establish the skinny young disc jockey on WLS-AM (890) as the undisputed nighttime star of rock ‘n’ roll radio in Chicago. Even digitally remastered, it still sounds as deliciously awful and off-key as the day “The Wild I-Tralian” first sang it.

Five decades later, Biondi, 77, is still holding forth from 7 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday on Citadel Broadcasting oldies WLS-FM (94.7). The Radio Hall of Famer had an honorary street named for him by the city of Chicago earlier this year.

“The Pizza Song” is the final cut on WLS-FM’s “True Oldies Collection, Volume 1,” which was released last week at Chicago area Borders stores. Other Chicago-centric songs on the CD include: “Life Is a Rock (WLS Rolled Me)” by Reunion; “Vehicle” by Ides of March; “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song)” by the Buckinghams; “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago, and “Lake Shore Drive” by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah. Proceeds from the sale of the limited edition CD will benefit Children’s Home and Aid.

Here are the lyrics to “The Pizza Song”:

On top of a pizza
All covered with cheese
I saw my first meatball
Til somebody sneezed
* * *
It rolled off the table
And onto the floor
It ro-o-o-o-o-lled
Right out of the door
* * *
It rolled into the street
And there it was smashed
It changed from a meatball
Into a pile of hash
* * *
Went out to the street
And scooped up that hash
Brought it back to the table
All flattened and smashed
* * *
I looked for my pizza
All covered with cheese
I found that it also
Blew away with a sneeze
* * *
Went back to the street
To look for it there
A guy with a flat tire
Used it for a spare