 | S O U N D T R A C K I N G Soundtracking is a weekly column featuring indie and alternative music, published every Tuesday by Laura Cushing on Gather.com. As an official Gather Music Correspondent, I'm pleased to bring my knowledge of indie and alternative music to the community. Soundtracking will feature some of the best up-and-coming bands in indie music today. Soundtracking will feature interviews, CD reviews, music playlists and mp3 downloads, and music discussions.
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This Week on Soundtracking: Music to Laugh By! Need a good laugh? This week, Soundtracking explores some songs to tickle your funny bone. Links are provided to listen, or to videos of the songs on YouTube - most of these are twice as funny when you have the visuals to go along with them. | |
1. Weird Al - White And Nerdy
I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour creme
I was in AP club and Glee club and even the chess team!
Only question I ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk or do I like Piccard?
I spend every weekend
at the renaissance fair.
I got my name on my underwear!
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy. No really, I am. I play D&D, I drink Earl Gray Tea, and my MySpace is 'all pimped out' just like the guy in the song. I guess that's why this song makes me laugh so much. The video is super entertaining as well - Weird Al's still got it!
2. Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom
Stacy, do you remember
when I mowed your lawn? (mowed your lawn)
Your mom came out
With just a towel on. (towel on)
I could tell she liked me
From the way she stared. (way she stared)
And the way she said
' you missed a spot over there.' (spot over there)
Not quite The Graduate. A phrase you never want to hear from one of your friends is 'Wow, your mom is HOT!' My mom was 40 when she had me, so she didn't quite 'have it going on' by the time I was a teen. But according to my brothers, she was the subject of a couple of their generation's crushes. Go mom!
3. Ogden Edsel - Dead Puppies Aren't Much Fun
Dead puppies, dead puppies,
Dead puppies aren't much fun.
They don't come, when you call,
They don't chase squirrels at all --
Dead puppies aren't much fun.
Made famous by airplay on the Doctor Demento show way back in the day, this is one song I remember chanting all through childhood whenever we saw roadkill. Not a real classy song by any means, but certainly funny.
4. Bowling for Soup - High School Never Ends
The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex,
Who's in the clubs, who's on the drugs,
Who's throwing up before they digest
And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
And you're still listening to the same sh*t you did back then
High school never ends
A lighthearted but true social commentary from Bowling for Soup. Best known for their song 1985, which is the song that plays briefly during the high school talent show sequence in the begining of the video.
5. Barenaked Ladies - One Week
Chickity China the Chinese chicken
You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'
Watchin X-Files with no lights on, we're dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man's in this one
Like Harrison Ford I'm getting Frantic
Like Sting I'm Tantric
Like Snickers, guaranteed to satisfy
Like Kurasawa I make mad films
Okay I don't make films
But if I did they'd have a samurai
What is this song about? What does this video have to do with this song? Who knows! I certainly can't tell you. It's a bunch of random things all strung together - and it's really funny if you try to sing along and get tongue tied at the rapid fire parts.
6. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - I Believe I Can Fly
Lyrics / Watch Video on YouTube
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I can believe it, there's nothing to it
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes perform punk covers of songs. This one is a cover of I Believe I Can Fly by R Kelly. Plus, it includes Karaoke! Did you read our Karaoke special? The funny part here is all in the delivery.
Seeking people to participate in next week's Sound Off question. This month's question is - What is your opinion in regards to the ownership rights of music? Does music ultimately belong to the publisher, the artist, or the fans? Drop us a line and let us know your answer, along with few words about who you are and what you do (indian chief, taxi driver, musician, dog lover, etc. ).
Do you have a music project that you've self released? We'd love to include your music in our upcoming column about self-released CDs! Get in touch, there's still time to send your music in.
Have a funny song we should check out? Leave a comment and let us know!
Soundtracking is now a GROUP! Come and join us in the Soundtracking group - catch up on Soundtracking, read about upcoming pariticipation opportunities, or post your own music related articles.
TJ Thompson writes:
I love your new Soundtracking banner. Keep at it! Thanks for your weekly column!
Thanks TJ! The banners were designed for Soundtracking by the very helpful Kevin V.
Do you have a question or comment? Send it in!
Soundtracking on the Road:
I'm hitting the road this week - we're heading up to North Jersey for a vacation and hopefully to take some concert photos to share in an upcomming edition of Soundtracking. We'll still have internet access though, so please feel free to keep sending mail in. We especially need some folks to participate in next week's question. Thanks!
Next Tuesday - Sound off: This month's question is - What is your opinion in regards to the ownership rights of music? Does music ultimately belong to the publisher, the artist, or the fans?
Two Tuesdays - Sound Bites: Self Released CD special. Soundtracking reviews some self-released CDs. If you've got one, there's still time to get it in to us!
Three Tuesdays- Interview with Matt Dusk! Soundtracking interviews jazz crooner Matt Dusk.
First, the answers to last week's questions - how many did you know ?
1. Who had a posthumous hit with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay"?
Otis Redding - Rob Apell
2. What was the Beatles last number one single in America?
"The Long and Winding Road" - Felicia R
3. According to The Ramones, what is Sheena?
Sheena is a Punk Rocker
Sheena, I believe, is a reference to some psychotrophic? drug/sedative? Hard to believe, but hillbilly here was a punk/Ramones fan back when - the only one at the concert NOT wearing a spiked Mohawk with purple lips and green hair! Never too far from the hillbilly at all times - Tim S.
4. What is Neil Young's song "Ohio" about?
Ohio by Neil Young is about the shooting at Kent State University in 1967 - Don N.
5. Who are Herb Fame and Francine Barker better known as?
Peaches and Herb - Lloyd aka Dr. Curmudgeon
1. Who released their first single "Anarchy in the UK" in December of 1976?
2. What is John Denver's real name?
3. Who recorded the 80's hit "If This is It"?
4. Name the hit song originally recorded by The Marvelettes in 1961, and later covered by both The Beatles and The Carpenters.
5. What was The Supremes' final big hit in 1970?
CDs, promotional materials, interview and/or review requests can be sent to:
Soundtracking
PO Box 141 Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141
Email: Soundtracking@labarc.com / AIM: Lab Arc Designs
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| Laura Cushing, Music Correspondent -Soundtracking | ||||
| Laura's column, 'Soundtracking' is published every Tuesday in Gather Essentials:Music. Soundtracking is your guide to indie and alternative music -- featuring musician interviews, CD reviews, MP3 mixes, and discussions. Laura Cushing is a 36 year old writer from the New Jersey Pines. In addition to music journalism, she writes fiction and poetry. Keep up with Laura's music series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content. | ||||
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Comments: 18
"What is your opinion in regards to the ownership rights of music? Does music ultimately belong to the publisher, the artist, or the fans?"
Laura, while it's an interesting question to toss out there, I think you do your readers (and the people whose intellectual property you are asking about) a disservice by phrasing it like this. Especially here, where copyright infringement is an ongoing issue.
Music, like any creative endeavor, ultimately belongs to the person who created it, unless they specifically sign those rights away. In that case, the copyright usually goes to the publisher/record label, but almost never to the fans (i.e., public domain). In fact, I'd wager that the number of songs that have been placed in the public domain prior to copyright expiring is minuscule (and contains almost nothing you or I would listen to).
Songs, like all of those you used in this article, belong to someone, and you are required to pay when you use them. Not even "Happy Birthday" is free.
What music evokes in you belongs to you, as does the earwig (tune that won't get out of your head) but the music itself is NOT "yours" and never will be.
No matter how you vote on a public opinion poll.
I did state my opinion, just like everyone else did. I did not tell you what to write, nor how to write it. I weighed in on your question. Wasn't that the point of asking a question?
If you have some personal problem here, then talk to me privately. Otherwise deal with the comments to your column as if they came from a reader who you don't know...since you really don't know me... ya know?
~km