28 July, 2007

More Magical Than A Blue Ford Anglia...



It's obvious that I want a Spiderpig as my blog mascot. He can't swing from a web, but who really cares?

I LOVE WEIRD MUSIC!! I especially love eccentric tunes that make me laugh. In this post I hope to convey some of my love for odd music, while opening my readers to the world of all things strange and amusing. I'm not as talented as Spiderpig, but I hope you'll come along for the ride anyway.

"Love Today" by MIKA. A song that originally garnered attention in an iPod commercial doesn't sound amazingly promising, but this song happens to be one that, no matter how I scrub my ears, just won't leave my head! It's a contagious track that would be the perfect backdrop to your life as an inhabitant of Candy Land. Underneath all of the pink bubbles and horses, MIKA sounds a bit like Freddy Mercury, albeit a more notably flamboyant Mercury (I don't know how much more flamboyant you can honestly get!) The song is pure fun, and any underlying meaning is secondary to the ridiculously fun feeling of the music.

"Save Ginny Weasley From Dean Thomas" by Harry and the Potters. I've written about these bookish boys before. There music has graced many an obsessed bibliophile's ears, and was the soundtrack to the release of the final Harry Potter book in Boston. This is absolutely the kind of music I play when I want people to think I'm really weird, not that most people need to be coaxed into thinking that I'm weird. This particular song is an ode to Harry's redheaded love interest, and although the structure and music is pretty basic, the lyrics are out there! Let's just say that Luna Lovegood would be a big fan of these boys. However crazy the song is, I love the sentiment so much that my "wizard star still burns for" it.

"Music Box" by Regina Spektor. This song plays with opposites, as Regina sings with her softest and sweetest voice and then quickly changes to her sharpest voice (sometimes even gagging on a particularly pretty note). The song also moves lyrically, from child's play to dealing with death and violence. In some sections of the song that speak of feeling trapped, Spektor actually traps the listener, giving you a little taste of clostrophobia and then freeing you again. The juxtapositions are a nice tool used to create a perfect patchwork quilt of song. Read the lyrics below, and feel the weirdness:

"Life inside the musicbox ain't easy
The mallets hit
The gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one I always sing
But when I do the dishes
I run the water very very very hot
And then I fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then I set all the bottle caps I own afloat
And it's the greatest voyage in the history of plastic

And then I slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then I dip my tongue in and take a taste
It tastes like soap but it doesn't really taste like soap
And then I lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp
And start to feel mortality surround me
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But life inside the musicbox ain't easy
The mallets hit
The gears are always turning
And every one inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out"

"Spider Pig" by Hans Zimmer. Almost operatic in sound and scope, this song completely encompasses the grandeur of Spiderpig. With high and low notes playing up his moral virtues and vices, the Spiderpig theme song is certainly music for the ages. This song has a sound that its contemporaries cannot hope to match. Listen, and you'll hear the sweet voices of angels.

(A little much? I think not.)

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