“The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati” is a novelty song about horror movies, particularly one about an oversized monster destroying a city, kaiju-style. When it was released in 1973, there wasn’t a movie with that title, but this song inspired one that was released in 1996.
Uh-uh, don't touch that dial!
I must offer to you a confession
I like movies that give me a fright
If the subject is horror, I got to see more or
I won't be contented all night
You may call it my ghoulish obsession
It's a subject on which I get chatty
But the worst one it seems, haunting all of my dreams
Was the cockroach that ate Cincinnati!
I've seen ghouls and hobgoblins and witches
And some moth-eaten werewolves with fangs
There were creatures that chattered and others that clattered
And Japanese monsters with fangs (ah-so)
Frankenstein gives me the shakes
And Count Dracula's driving me batty
But they're not on a par with the worst one by far
The cockroach that ate Cincinnati (ha ha ha ha)!
Oh, he must have needed a seltzer
It's amazing how much he got down!
For lunch, he'd just chew up a suburb or two
And for dinner, he ate the whole town (BURP!)
"Willard" just sent me out laughing
I thought "Ben" looked a little bit ratty (sorry, sorry about that)
But they're not half as bad as the worst scare I've had -
The cockroach that ate Cincinnati!
Oh, my heart nearly stopped; he would never be topped -
The cockroach that ate Cincinnati! OLE!
Ole? That's dumb!