DAVE BARRY'S BOOK OF BAD SONGS

``This book,'' Barry (Dave Barry in Cyberspace, 1996, etc.) explains, ``is Neil Diamond's fault.'' In a 1992 column he complained that radio stations consistently favored truly bad contemporary songs over good, citing their affection for such classics as Diamond's ``I Am, I Said.'' The resulting deluge of mail included both howls from outraged fans and many letters from exasperated readers citing even worse offenders against taste and common sense. Those responses spurred Barry to conduct an informal survey, which he offers, tongue firmly in cheek, in this brief, often very funny report. ``MacArthur Park'' was voted ``the worst song in modern history,'' but it had many competitors, including ``Yummy Yummy Yummy (I Got Love in My Tummy),'' ``Muskrat Love,'' and any song performed by someone named Bobby (including Bobby Vinton, Bobby Sherman, Bobbie Gentry, and Bobby Goldsboro). Barry is his usual puckish self, but the real surprise here is how funny many of the survey respondents are.