I only remember two things from a dream a couple of nights ago: First, I knew I had a long day coming up so I put on A LOT of deodorant and finished it off even though it was a couple of days old. And second, I asked someone if "President Hummus resigned yet." And then in the wee hours this morning, I looked at my clock and thought it was a Wheel of Fortune puzzle with the answer being the word "obscene." I guess there was a zero, a five, and an eight somewhere in the time. What do these things have to do with each other, let alone today's post? Absolutely nothing. Although come to think of it, some pita and hummus would make a good snack this afternoon. Happy Friday, everyone. Clearly my mind is ready to stop working for the week, and I hope all of yours are too.
I've written a little about songs this week, and it got me thinking about a few things that I'll attempt to fuse together logically. If that fails, I'll just start a new paragraph and forego any semblance of a transition.
I'd always been a big fan of my name actually appearing in songs, like in "Man on the Moon" by REM, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" by the Beatles, and "Stove" by Sloan (actually a cover of a song by Eric's Trip). In fact, I used to have a button on the stereo of my old car that said "LOUD" on it, and I'd employ it whenever my name was coming up in one of those songs. Yes, it was awesome.
I remember many years ago, my friend and prom date twice-over Alissa was singing the beginning of the Beatles' "Don't Pass Me By" as "Alissa for your footsteps/coming up the drive" instead of "I listen." It obviously fit very well. She also sang "Walk on Alissa" instead of "Walk on the Ocean" by Toad the Wet Sprocket, which didn't work nearly as well, but I was still impressed by her ingenuity.
I've been changing song lyrics my entire life. I remember making the entire "Angel of Music" song from Phantom of the Opera into a ballad about having a cold entitled "Angel of Mucus." In fact, a small group of us in fifth or sixth grade even wanted to form a Weird Al-like band and change popular songs into funny ones. We only came up with two that I recall: my friend Adam turned "Twist and Shout" into a song about going to the dentist to have teeth pulled and I turned Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" into a song about plastic surgery. Yes, we were way ahead of our time.
In any case, I've since gone way overboard in changing lyrics when it comes to my dog, but that's another long post for another time. I'm here today to talk about the strange words I put to instrumental music. I have two such stories to share this morning, and I can feel you leaning in closer to your monitors in anticipation. Back up a little, it'll be better for your eyes.
About 5 years ago, my friend Dusty and his girlfriend "the Mills" brought out something that ended up occupying a good deal of our free time: old school Nintendo. They had the game "Dr. Mario," which is basically like Tetris but with more strategy and pills falling instead of blocks. There were two background music options called "Fever" and "Chill," and I had fun with both of them. With "Chill," I mainly inserted lyrics from other songs, like "I made it through the wilderness" from Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and "We like the cars, the cars that go boom" by L'Trimm. (Yeah, I had to look that up.) On "Fever," though, I pretty much just sang the same thing throughout what I can only guess was the chorus: "Your name's Weiner Dude." I don't know why, but it wasn't long before everyone was singing along to that part. I think it was a combination of a Wienerschnitzel commercial and a line from "Waterboy," but why I put them together and why in that song I'll never know.
The second story goes back farther in time. I was probably around 13 or 14 when my mom bought an instrumental tape (yeah, cassette tape) of David Lanz's music. There was one song in particular that she played more than the others, and it was a beautiful piano piece called "Leaves on the Seine." I remember finding myself singing along in my head, "Snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away." I don't know why again, but those were the words I put there. Then I got that song in my head for the first time in a decade or more last week. To my surprise, I added more lyrics. Now, I sing:
And snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away;
And the apple of my eye is orange,
Yes the apple of my eye is orange.
Snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away.
Care to hear what I'm talking about? If you go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IcCI4hy2fc and listen from 1:03 to 1:27, it should match up perfectly with the lyrics I created. I just listened again, and I'm pretty sure Mr. Lanz had those exact words in mind when he wrote that piece. If you think other words fit better there, I'd love to hear them. Yes, that's a challenge.
I've written a little about songs this week, and it got me thinking about a few things that I'll attempt to fuse together logically. If that fails, I'll just start a new paragraph and forego any semblance of a transition.
I'd always been a big fan of my name actually appearing in songs, like in "Man on the Moon" by REM, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" by the Beatles, and "Stove" by Sloan (actually a cover of a song by Eric's Trip). In fact, I used to have a button on the stereo of my old car that said "LOUD" on it, and I'd employ it whenever my name was coming up in one of those songs. Yes, it was awesome.
I remember many years ago, my friend and prom date twice-over Alissa was singing the beginning of the Beatles' "Don't Pass Me By" as "Alissa for your footsteps/coming up the drive" instead of "I listen." It obviously fit very well. She also sang "Walk on Alissa" instead of "Walk on the Ocean" by Toad the Wet Sprocket, which didn't work nearly as well, but I was still impressed by her ingenuity.
I've been changing song lyrics my entire life. I remember making the entire "Angel of Music" song from Phantom of the Opera into a ballad about having a cold entitled "Angel of Mucus." In fact, a small group of us in fifth or sixth grade even wanted to form a Weird Al-like band and change popular songs into funny ones. We only came up with two that I recall: my friend Adam turned "Twist and Shout" into a song about going to the dentist to have teeth pulled and I turned Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" into a song about plastic surgery. Yes, we were way ahead of our time.
In any case, I've since gone way overboard in changing lyrics when it comes to my dog, but that's another long post for another time. I'm here today to talk about the strange words I put to instrumental music. I have two such stories to share this morning, and I can feel you leaning in closer to your monitors in anticipation. Back up a little, it'll be better for your eyes.
About 5 years ago, my friend Dusty and his girlfriend "the Mills" brought out something that ended up occupying a good deal of our free time: old school Nintendo. They had the game "Dr. Mario," which is basically like Tetris but with more strategy and pills falling instead of blocks. There were two background music options called "Fever" and "Chill," and I had fun with both of them. With "Chill," I mainly inserted lyrics from other songs, like "I made it through the wilderness" from Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and "We like the cars, the cars that go boom" by L'Trimm. (Yeah, I had to look that up.) On "Fever," though, I pretty much just sang the same thing throughout what I can only guess was the chorus: "Your name's Weiner Dude." I don't know why, but it wasn't long before everyone was singing along to that part. I think it was a combination of a Wienerschnitzel commercial and a line from "Waterboy," but why I put them together and why in that song I'll never know.
The second story goes back farther in time. I was probably around 13 or 14 when my mom bought an instrumental tape (yeah, cassette tape) of David Lanz's music. There was one song in particular that she played more than the others, and it was a beautiful piano piece called "Leaves on the Seine." I remember finding myself singing along in my head, "Snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away." I don't know why again, but those were the words I put there. Then I got that song in my head for the first time in a decade or more last week. To my surprise, I added more lyrics. Now, I sing:
And snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away;
And the apple of my eye is orange,
Yes the apple of my eye is orange.
Snow fields and wheat fields have slowly gone away.
Care to hear what I'm talking about? If you go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IcCI4hy2fc and listen from 1:03 to 1:27, it should match up perfectly with the lyrics I created. I just listened again, and I'm pretty sure Mr. Lanz had those exact words in mind when he wrote that piece. If you think other words fit better there, I'd love to hear them. Yes, that's a challenge.
Ok, time to put this rambling post to bed. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and don't forget to write to ptklein@gmail.com with thoughts, questions, observations, and general annoyances. Now where can I find some pita and hummus...
2 comments:
I have a whole song about how I'm sweet.
Or, rather, the Allman Brothers do.
More obscurely in "I will not take these things for granted" by Toad the Wet Sprocket, I hear "warm asylum" as a personal reference.
And I let songs with the word "listen" shade into "lissa."
So, apparently, I am as nomenclatially obsessed as you.
(oh for a spell check!)
Oh no. More genetic manifestations making themselves known. Your father, over 30 years ago, used to sing the Moody Blues song "Go Now" as "Gonad". And more recently, "Laynie in Red". But of course, there is a treasure trove of funny lyrics that were misunderstood by the listener, not changed on purpose. In our family, they are known as 'Oh Pierres", as in " he's so fine, oh Pierre". Perhaps a blog enrty on some of the most memorable mis- heard song lyrics would be entertaining.
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