#052
Silly Season IV
Ministry of Silly Walks
Recta final deste sprint Augustino dedicado à silly season. A Silly Love Song do Macca não tem direito a estar aqui porque já foi escolhida numa m4we passada. Por isso concentremo-nos em 40 escolhas feitas a partir de algumas idiosincracias da crème de la crème da pop.
weirdo * eccentric * oddity * unorthodox person * individualist * nonconformist * free spirit * bohemian * maverick * deviant * misfit * dropout * oddball * freak * character * crackpot * loony * nutcase * sicko * one-off * odd/queer fish * nutter * wacko * screwball * kook * wackadoodle
Veja-se como na lingua inglesa a palavra silly está tão bem relacionada com conceitos de diferença, singularidade de personalidade num carácter único de particularidade que aponta quase sempre para a genialidade da invenção humana.
Dos Marx Brothers até aos Monty Python, passando do King Tut de Steve Martin ao David Lynch com Strange and Unproductive Thinking, da Maria José Valério ao Manuel João Vieira, ou de Fluffy pelo cantor dos B52’s Fred Schneider indo capilarmente até à Der Fuehrer’s Face pelo incontornável Spike Jones a selecção desta semana tem ponto de partida nas novelty songs da pop do século XX mas vai pi(o)rando da tola conforme os anos passam, num tom de hardcore tomfoolery que normalmente envia muito boa e sã gente para o loony bin do hospício…
Groucho não vê aqui revisitado o seu Lydia the Tatooed Lady, não só porque já havia aqui apresentado a versão cantada pelo verde animal mais famoso do estábulo de Jim Henson mas também porque I’m against it, interpretado numa sala universitária no filme Duck Feathers é um hino a tudo o que estamos a versar esta semana.
I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it
No matter what it is or who commenced it
I’m against it
“Lock the doors, buy your pair of earplugs and run for cover. For now, without any pretense we have the Horrible Record Co. (an honest-to-goodness firm) which has just released its first disk. The Horrible Record Company makes no bones about it. Its records are just terrible”. A bolacha do 7” de There’s a New Sound por Tony Burrello dizia “if it’s really a horrible record – it’s bound to be a hit” aproveitando a deixa para propagandear a etiqueta Horrible fundada pelo próprio Burrello com Tom Murray, dois songwriters que haviam escrito cerca de 26 canções mas sem conseguirem angariar grande interesse pela coisa. Um dia ouviram um programa de radio em que o DJ descrevia à boca cheia os top hits que estava a tocar como “the worst songs I’ve heard in all my years in the business”. Reza a lenda que os 17 minutos a seguir seriam gastos a escrever letra e musica das duas músicas deste primeiro single.
Só por descargo de consciência arranco este naipe da manga: yodeling, esse vocalizo tirolês que é do mais esquisito que se consegue arranjar neste baralho que não joga com as cartas todas. Em 40 canções tem direito a dez porcento de utilização da mesa de jogo: Ray Stevens com Butch Babarian, Jaga Ode dos Alpendub, um Hawaiian Cowboy pelos irmãos Solomon e Richard Hoopii e, talvez o mais estranho de todos, Main Hoon Jhoom Jhoom, do genérico do filme indiano Jhumroo, em que Kismore Kumar canta isto offscreen enquanto os créditos rolam sobre imagens da actriz Madhubala (Anjana no filme) num comboio com montanhas nevadas ao fundo. Nunca desde o abuelito dime tu que uma associação de picos alpinos e yodeling batiam tão bem.
Coisas estranhas se passam nesta fronteira espiritual: enganos na linha da Menina dos Telefones enquanto Bob Lee descobre que é Wanted for Questioning. O usual cortar de amarras a todo-o-senso-comum de Zappa em Dancin’ Fool abre caminho para réstia de esperança na voz de um “crucificado” Eric Idle a pedir-nos para Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Enquanto isso na classe de Geografia a coisa está deveras perdida: Rose & The Arrangement, duo conhecido nos circuitos mais esquisitos de Las Vegas, com The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati e, do outro lado da sala, de certeza virado para a parede, ”Weird” Al Yankovic exacerba The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota.
Isto aqui não é aquele silly tipo Croquete & Batatinha. Não… Aqui o silly é de gente culta, para gente da contracultura ou, como dizia o Woody Allen, “para acabar de vez com” a dita cuja.
Personagens famosas da TV é mato… Da série Star Trek escolhi dois personagens importantes da bridge do SS Enterprise. Por um lado o capitão Kirk, ou seja William Shatner que nunca nos deixou mal com a quantidade de idiotices por si interpretadas, faz aqui uma versão de Garbageman que os Cramps editaram originalmente em 1980. Por outro lado, Leonard Nimoy que em 1967 apresentou ao mundo um disco altamente esquizofrénico. The Two Sides Of Leonard Nimoy tem um lado A (Mr. Spock) que começa com a canção Highly Illogical, claro. O lado B (Leonard Nimoy) começa com esta minha escolha de The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins, uma ode à obra original de Tolkien. É favor não perder o “tesourinho” preservado no YouTube que é a aparição de Nimoy e um coro de miúdas “vulcanas” num outro show televisivo da época, Malibu L: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg
Quase a chegar à meta damos com um Adam West, responsável pelo Batman mais camp de sempre (mesmo contando com o George Clooney) a servir uma grande fatia de parvoeira ao cantar Miranda, coisa que fazia por vezes, vestido com os trajes que Bruce Wayne usa pela calada da noite. Isso tudo para acabar com a contribuição de Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian, pianista, cantor, compositor e actor californiano que com o seu alter ego ficcional David Seville tornou-se produtor e empresário do animated vocal group Alvin and The Chipmunks que no fim dos anos 50 alcançavam o numero 1 das tabelas de vendas musicais nos EUA com este The Chipmunk Song.
Que o fim de semana seja pleno de ideias, idiota como manda a lei.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
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Straight into the finish line of this Augustan monthly sprint dedicated to the silly season. Macca’s Silly Love Song has no right to be here because it was already chosen in a previous m4we. So let’s focus on 40 choices made from idiosyncrasies of pop music’s crème de la crème.
weirdo * eccentric * oddity * unorthodox person * individualist * nonconformist * free spirit * bohemian * maverick * deviant * misfit * dropout * oddball * freak * character * crackpot * loony * nutcase * sicko * one-off * odd/queer fish * nutter * wacko * screwball * kook * wackadoodle
See how in the English language the word silly is so well related to concepts of difference, uniqueness of personality in a unique character of particularity that almost always points to the genius of human invention.
From the Marx Brothers to Monty Python, from King Tut by Steve Martin to David Lynch with Strange and Unproductive Thinking, from Maria José Valério to Manuel João Vieira, or from Fluffy by the B52’s singer Fred Schneider going capillary style to Der Fuehrer’s Face by the unavoidable Spike Jones, this week’s selection takes its starting point in so many 20th century pop novelty songs but goes silly as the years go by, raising the pitch of hardcore tomfoolery that usually sends very healthy people to the loony bin of the asylum…
Groucho does not see his classic Lydia the Tatooed Lady revisited here, not only because it has been already presented here in a version sung by the most famous green animal in Jim Henson’s stable, but also because I’m against it, performed in a university room in the film Duck Feathers is a hymn to everything we’re talking about this week.
I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it
No matter what it is or who commenced it
I’m against it
“Lock the doors, buy your pair of earplugs and run for cover. For now, without any pretense we have the Horrible Record Co. (an honest-to-goodness firm) which has just released its first disk. The Horrible Record Company makes no bones about it. Its records are just terrible”. The 7” inner cookie label from There’s a New Sound by Tony Burrello said “if it’s really a horrible record – it’s bound to be a hit”, a cue to advertise the Horrible label founded by Burrello himself with Tom Murray, two songwriters who had written about 26 songs but without managing to arouse any interest around it. One day they listened to a radio show in which the DJ mouth fully described the top hits he was playing as “the worst songs I’ve heard in all my years in the business”. Legend has it that the next 17 minutes would be spent writing lyrics and music for the two songs on this first single.
Just out of clearing my conscience, I rip this suit from my sleeve: yodeling, Tyrolean vocalization that’s the weirdest thing you can get in this deck that doesn’t play with all cards. In 40 songs you get ten percent game table usage: Ray Stevens with Butch Babarian, Jaga Ode by Alpendub, an Hawaiian Cowboy by brothers Solomon and Richard Hoopii and, perhaps weirdest of all, Main Hoon Jhoom Jhoom, soundtrack to the title sequence on Indian film Jhumroo, in which Kismore Kumar sings this offscreen while the credits roll over footage of the actress Madhubala (Anjana in the film) on a train with snowy mountains in the background. Never since abuelito dime tu has an association of alpine peaks and yodeling matched so well.
Strange things happen on this spiritual frontier: mistakes are made because of crossed lines in Menina dos Telefones as Bob Lee discovers he’s Wanted for Questioning. Zappa’s usual slashing of all senses in Dancin’ Fool paves the way for the glimmer of hope in the voice of a “crucified” Eric Idle asking us to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Meanwhile, in Geography class, the thing is really lost: Rose & The Arrangement, duo known on the weirdest circuits of Las Vegas, with The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati while, on the other side of the room, no doubt facing the wall, ” Weird” Al Yankovic exacerbates The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota.
This is not that silly Croquete & Batatinha rich clown poor clown schtick type of thing. No… In my book, silly belongs to cultured people, to people from the counterculture or, as Woody Allen said, “to get even” with said sad thing.
Famous TV characters is chockablock… From the Star Trek series I chose two important characters from the SS Enterprise bridge. On one hand Captain Kirk, ie William Shatner who has never let us down with the amount of idiocy he has played, makes here a version of Garbageman that the Cramps originally put out in 1980. On the other hand, Leonard Nimoy who in 1967 presented to the world a highly schizophrenic disc. The Two Sides Of Leonard Nimoy has an A side (Mr. Spock) that starts with the song Highly Illogical, of course. Side B (Leonard Nimoy) begins with my choice of The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins, an ode to Tolkien’s original work. Please don’t miss the “little treasure” preserved on YouTube that is the appearance of Nimoy and a chorus of “Vulcan” girls in another television show of the time, Malibu L: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg
About to reach the finish line, we find an Adam West, responsible for the most campy Batman ever (even counting George Clooney) serving a big yummy slice of silly while singing Miranda, something he sometimes did, dressed the way Bruce Wayne would in the dead of night. All this to end with the contribution of Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian, California pianist, singer, songwriter and actor who with his fictional alter ego David Seville became producer and manager of the animated vocal group Alvin and The Chipmunks which in the late 50s reached number 1 on the US music charts with this The Chipmunk Song.
May the weekend be full of ideas, idiotic just like the doctor prescribed.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
The Social Outcasts – Mad
Hoopii Brothers – Hawaiian Cowboy
Ken Nordine – Fliberty Jib
David Lynch – Strange and Unproductive Thinking
Bob Lee – Wanted for Questioning
Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Der Fuehrer’s Face
”Weird” Al Yankovic – The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota
Tony Burrello – There’s a New Sound
Fred Schneider – Fluffy
Francis Bebey – Pygmy Divorce
Napoleon XIV – They’re Coming To Take Me Away
Maria José Valério – Menina dos Telefones
Leonard Nimoy – The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins
Los Angeles T.F. – Crazy Song (For America)
James E. Van Zandt – Rep. James E. Van Zandt Supports the Use of the Atomic Bomb in Korea
Frank Zappa – Dancin’ Fool
Lonnie Donegan And His Skiffle Group – Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)
Ivor Biggun & The D. Kups – Bras On 45 (Family Version)
Jim’s Big Ego – Stress
Barnes & Barnes – Fish Heads
Groucho Marx – I’m against it
Dicky Doo & the Don’ts – Nee Nee Na Na Na Na
Moloko – Party Weirdo
Alpendub Vs The Man Cable – Jaga Ode (Dubtronik)
Ray Stevens – Butch Babarian
Steve Martin And The Toot Uncommons – King Tut
Tom Lehrer – Masochism Tango
Kishore Kumar – Main Hoon Jhoom Jhoom
Ena Pá 2000 – Para Dentro Para Fora / És Cruel
William Shatner – Garbageman
Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
The Five Blobs – The Blob
Stan Freberg – St. George And The Dragonet
Ogden Edsl – Dead Puppies
Television Personalities – You, Me and Lou Reed
The Trashmen – Surfin’ Bird
Rose & The Arrangement – The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati
The Firm – Star Trekkin’
Adam West – Miranda
David Seville and The Chipmunks – The Chipmunk Song