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Sound check: Rocking with Laughter
By David Smyth, Evening Standard 06.11.09
Comic ditty merchants: Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement, far left, and Bret McKenzie
Singalong: Tim Minchin
The long tradition of musical comedy that includes Gilbert and Sullivan, George Formby, The Rutles and Spinal Tap is something to cherish.
However, when a comic song enters the pop charts and sits alongside its sensible peers, it starts to look like the Monster Raving Loony candidate at a by-election — a colourful novelty to amuse briefly and then be ignored.
That won't be the case when I Told You I Was Freaky by Flight of the Conchords hits the albums chart on Sunday. The New Zealand duo, who are well known for their HBO TV series, are leading the trend for comedian songwriters who wish to prove that their work doesn't have to be like one of those washing machines that is also a tumble dryer: doing two things only partly effectively instead of one thing well.
In the show, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement play versions of themselves who are perpetually unlucky in every aspect of their lives. As Kiwi musicians in New York with just one fan, they hobble from empty gigs to failed relationships with bemusement etched on their faces. Many of their songs concern the fairer sex, including the Sixties rock of Demon Woman (“Your hair is like silk but you're curdling my milk”) and the absurdly poetic folk of Rambling Through the Avenues of Time (“She said: Your beard is woven of heartache'/And we'll drink for the lonely tonight”).
It helps that unlike, say, Steve Coogan's Portuguese lothario Tony Ferrino, the music Flight of the Conchords are coming up with is more than decent. A quality backdrop helps to earn the thing that elude so many comic songs: repeat listens.
From the bass-heavy hip hop of Hurt Feelings to the robotic electropop of Too Many Dicks (on the Dancefloor), they expertly flip between styles without ever forgetting the tunes. Clement's deep, slick croon can capably handle soul parodies, while McKenzie's expert English accent allows for spot-on David Bowie and Pet Shop Boys impersonations.
Also, because the duo's songs usually have only a vague connection to the plot of the TV show (how could a track like Petrov, Yelyena and Me, an east European folk ditty about a boat trip that ends in cannibalism, be anything but peripheral?) they can stand alone on the album or as scenes on YouTube.
YouTube has been vital for the growth in popularity of the comic ditty. They are the perfect length to work as clips to pass between friends. Search for Flight of the Conchords, Tim Minchin or The Mighty Boosh on the site and dozens of hilarious compositions will pop up.
The blurring of boundaries between pop and comedy continues with our more serious singers as well.
When Robbie Williams made his live comeback at the BBC Electric Proms last month, every reviewer left less space for critical analysis of his new music in favour of repeating his gag about his gran: “I'm sure she's looking down on us now … She's not dead, just really condescending.”
Jarvis Cocker's recent song, Leftovers, opens with the delightful line: “I met her in the museum of palaeontology/And I make no bones about it”, while Richard Hawley is quicker with the onstage wisecracks than Jimmy Carr.
On the other side of the fence, Minchin, Russell Brand and Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh could all pass for rock stars with their big hair and eyeliner. Brand even played a self-important singer named Aldous Snow in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while The Mighty Boosh have organised their own music festival and appeared on the cover of the NME.
Not everyone seems to approve of the mix, however. Comedy giant Steve Martin performs the bluegrass music he has composed for the banjo at the Royal Festival Hall on Monday. And it's an instrument he takes extremely seriously as it turns out. Joke songs will be notable by their absence, but think of the rhymes he and the rest of the straight musicians are missing out on.
Only the comic song can deliver a priceless couplet like Flight of the Conchords' “I feel like a prize asshole/No one even mentions my casserole”. Long may they flourish.
I Told You I Was Freaky by Flight of the Conchords is out now on Sub Pop/HBO.
Five more musical jokers:
Tim Minchin
The crazy-haired Australian's star is rapidly rising. A songwriter and poet who still slips the odd serious number into his sets, he's currently writing a musical version of Roald Dahl's Matilda for the RSC.
Best line: “Your skin is so smooth/I couldn't afford you with hair/You have all the holes real girls have got/Plus one for the air” from Inflatable You.
Bill Bailey
Now a ubiquitous comic who is undoubtedly a more accomplished musician than his non-funny peers. He's even taking an orchestra out on his latest tour, Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra, 11 Dec, O2 Arena, SE10 (0871 984 0002, www.the02.co.uk)
Best line: “Ja, das Hokey Cokey/Ja, das Hokey Cokey/Ja, das Hokey Cokey/Knien geborgen, Arme gestrecht, Ra ra ra” from his impression of Kraftwerk singing the Hokey Cokey.
Adams and Rea
The winners of the inaugural Musical Comedy Award this year, Sarah Adams and Leisa Rea play guitar and mandolin on stage and also throw in a bit of salacious dancehall reggae for good measure.
Best line: “We're clogging up the farmers' market/Holding ridiculous bread/And feeding rocket to the dog/Cause we're Mr and Mrs Smug” from Middle-Class Mum.
Otis Lee Crenshaw
The country-music singing alter-ego of Rich Hall, Crenshaw sports a stars-and-stripes bandana and pointy beard and sings in a fantastically gruff voice about stalkers and Death Row.
Best line: “The mountain trees are rustlin' and the sun is sinkin' orange/And I'd like to make a rhyme right now but I've painted myself into a corner” from Drunk.
The Lonely Island
This Californian trio are regulars on Saturday Night Live, specialising in parodies featuring high-gloss videos and numerous celebrity guests.
Best line: “Cool guys don't look at explosions/They blow things up and then walk away/Who's got time to look at explosions?/There's cool guy areas
that they have to walk to” from
Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions.
NEW ON THE NET
*Brooklyn's Yeasayer are overdue a proper breakthrough. Their second album is due in February, which they're previewing at www.amblingalp.com with the free download Ambling Alp. It's a confusing flurry of electronica, tribal beats and reggae that lurches all over the place without ever being less than brilliant.
*This week Google launched its new Music Search feature — only in the US for now but hopefully coming our way soon. It brings up links to stream music directly from the initial search results page, making access to the songs you want to hear virtually instantaneous.
*Prior to the release of R&B star Rihanna's latest album on 23 November, three tracks are doing the rounds online. There's the slow-motion drama of Russian Roulette, the growling synths and dancehall feel of Wait Your Turn, and Bubble Pop, which samples Inner City's 1988 dance classic Good Life. Find them at YouTube or The Hype Machine.
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Reader views (1)
The Spinal Tap are pretty competent, as Steve Martin's banjo playing. I've heard some of their songs recently and they rock. Jarvis, on the other hand, if not careful could be another Gunther Levi. He should tone down his wackiness. Initial listens to his latest album would give you the impression that Jarvis is playing around and just being his cheeky best and easily dismiss this effort as lazy tunes that never made it to Pulp's album, but once you get into the lyrics, some of his songs have sad tones underneath. Some tracks may sound like an upbeat garage rock but could be some cry for help like "Hold Still, "Further Complications", "Discosong" and "Leftovers". My dad tells me that his song, "I Never Said I was Deep" was his answer to people who put him into a pedestal and brand him as another Morrissey, but clearly the guy just want to have fun making songs. Incidentally, Cocker is writing some songs for Russell Brands' Aldous Snow, appeared on Mighty Boosh's Festiva, joined the Spinal Tap onstage Glastonbury, and at one time dressed up as a karate fighting cowboy skeleton in Relaxed Muscle . Maybe that's what he really wants to do afterall, be a comedian and not some pop hero, whom people like me loves to overanalyze.
- Stephen, Arkansas, USA
