Roger O Green

Music Throwback Saturday: Weird Al, Part 1

There are several songs, that I had never heard in their original forms until I had heard them in the medley.

The illustrious Illinois blogger SamuraiFrog decided to rank all of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s songs, 165 of them, an impressive undertaking. So, I decided to come up with a list of my 33 favorite Weird Al songs. Why 33? Because LPs play at 33 revolutions per minute. And I’m going to break them up into three posts of 11 songs each, mostly because posting 11 posts of three songs each would be weird.

Why now? Other than the fact that yesterday was Al’s 56th birthday, no real reason. I just like it, and isn’t what blogging is supposed to be about? I’ll post Part 2 in a month or so, and part 3 a month after that, unless I’m desperate for blog content.

First, a couple of nearly on the list:
* The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
(sort-of-based on Harry Chapin’s “30,000 Pounds of Bananas,” from UHF and Other Stuff, 1989)

*This Is the Life
(Original; single from the motion picture Johnny Dangerously, 1984)
This is from some apparently terrible Michael Keaton movie I’ve never seen.

33. Ode to a Superhero
(Parody of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel; from Poodle Hat, 2003)
Spider-Man was the character I most related to in the Marvel Universe, and I own the first two Sam Raimi movies on DVD. No, that’s not true; it was Peter Parker, his beleaguered alter ego. I’m fond of Billy Joel’s music; I saw him live in concert c 1974. If it’s merely telling the story of Raimi’s Spider-Man, that’s OK.

32. First World Problems
(Style parody of the Pixies; from Mandatory Fun, 2014)
When The Daughter made her list of favorite Weird Al songs last year, this was #1. Love the hair, and the acting: the facial expressions, the walk. The misplaced outrage would be funnier if it weren’t often so true.

This is from Al’s first #1 album, and the first comedy album since Allan Sherman’s over a half-century earlier to hit the top of the charts.

31. My Bologna
(Parody of “My Sharona” by The Knack; from “Weird Al” Yankovic, 1983)
Those early parody versions were not as polished as they would develop into. It uses accordion (in lieu of guitar), like much of his early work. If it’s a dumb song, I enjoyed it at that level.

30. Jurassic Park; #5 in Canada, #84 in Australia in 1993
(Parody of “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris; from Alapalooza, 1993)
Have I actually seen the movie Jurassic Park? I’ve seen big chunks of it. The song MacArthur Park is such over-the-top kitsch that I developed an odd affection for the Richard Harris performance. A great pairing.

29. The Brady Bunch
(Parody of “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats; from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
I never actually watched one minute of The Brady Bunch, until it went into reruns. I discovered it was a pretty terrible show, as the protagonist in the Al song notes. At least the theme song at least told you what the show was about.

28. Callin’ in Sick
(Original; from Bad Hair Day, 1996)
From SamuraiFrog: “Man, Given Al’s ability to absurdly paint small dissatisfactions as life-defining (and life-thwarting) obstacles of epic proportions, he really ran with the joke. I think it says a lot that, 19 years later, this song sounds less like a parody of a popular style and more like a legitimate grunge single. He nailed it.” I have over 125 sick days right now; I don’t call nearly often enough.

27. Bob
(Style parody of Bob Dylan; from Poodle Hat, 2003)
Mr. Frog got it right: “I’m a Dylan fan, but if you’ve ever gritted your teeth in patience when someone goes on and on and on and on and on about how deep Bob Dylan’s lyrics are, someone doing a parody of Dylan with nothing but palindromes for lyrics is deeply refreshing.” I especially love the cue card motif, which was used in Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues.

26. Hardware Store
(Style parody of Oingo Boingo; from Poodle Hat, 2003)
As Mr. Frog said: “That refrain is just pure genius. This is one of those great little songs where Al turns the mundane into the glorious.”

25. Mr. Popeil
(Style parody of the B-52’s; from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
Not only is this a great style parody, it reminds me of all those endless Ron Popeil ads where he says, “But wait–there’s more!”

24. The Alternative Polka
(Medley; from Bad Hair Day, 1996) – songs listed HERE
My specific affection for this is that there are several songs, “Loser” by Beck, and “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, for two, that I had never heard in their original forms until I had heard them in the medley, so it was informative. And his treatment of the angst-ridden “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette just cracked me up

23. Pancreas
(Style parody of Brian Wilson; from Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
This is SO much Beach Boys, circa 1967. And given that the Daughter is now studying biology, maybe this should be part of her educational curriculum.

Why the Russians are following one of my blogs

“Found this during a recent archaeological dig.”

ITEM: I created a blog for the New York State Data Center affiliates called Data Detectives some years ago. I post every other day or so.

Sometime in early October, I was showing one of our interns the analytics of the page. I must admit that I almost never look at such things, on that blog, this one, or any of the ones to which I contribute. I’m told that I “should”, but, generally speaking, that conversation makes my eyes glaze over.

Still, I was fascinated that the most popular country among blog viewers for the week ending October 13:
Russia – 1010 page views
United States – 361
France – 35

I theorize that it had to do with my link to the article Lefty Presidents Are Better For Markets. This had to do with handedness, not politics, southpaws, not socialists.

Still, I wonder why even the total going back to May 2010 has so many views from the former Soviet Union:

United States 247,390
Russia 32,066
Germany 17,379
France 13,787
Ukraine 9,387
United Kingdom 9,078
Netherlands 3,294
China 3,278
Poland 3,040
Canada 2,963

ITEM: On Facebook, I forwarded to a terrestrial friend of mine an article about an award received by an author I knew he admired. He thanked me, adding, “It’s like I have my own personal librarian looking out for me.” This pleased me greatly.

ITEM: A guy named Jan, who was in my graduation class at Binghamton (NY) Central High School, asked to friend me on Facebook recently. I agreed, and almost immediately he posted this: “Found this during a recent archaeological dig.”

This was taken around our HS graduation in 1971, I think, though someone theorized that it was from my college years; it DOES look like the ceiling of the Student Union Building offices of the Wind Sun News.

Just got a picture of me for our new IDs at our new work location downtown. Wouldn’t you know that it has that same “glare on the glasses” look? Since I don’t take selfies, you can’t blame ME.

Eddie Brigati of the (Young) Rascals is 70

For DECADES, I misheard the line in Groovin’, “Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly.”

The day the Beatles broke up in 1970, my favorite active band became the Rascals, formerly the Young Rascals, out of Garfield, New Jersey.

Vocalist/tambourine player Eddie Brigati and his fellow Rascals Felix Cavaliere (organ/vocals) and Gene Cornish (guitar/vocals) were once part of Joey Dee and the Starliters of “Peppermint Twist” fame. (David Brigati, Eddie’s brother, was in an earlier incarnation of the Starliters, and sang occasionally with the Rascals.) The Rascals’ drummer was Dino Danelli.

Felix and Eddie were the primary songwriters. In 2009, Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I had, and have, all of their albums, save for the first one, on vinyl.

When the Rascals, proponents of what was dubbed “blue-eyed soul”, left Atlantic Records and signed with Columbia Records in the early 1970s, and segued into a jazzier mode, Eddie and Gene left the band.

Thanks to the efforts of Steven Van Zandt, the Rascals got back together in a multimedia showcase in the past few years.

The Rascals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Here’s their induction speech by Van Zandt.

My personal favorite 20 Rascals songs in the Atlantic era, though only the top six are inflexible:

20. Away Away, from the See album (S). B-side of See, 1969. It’s the drum pattern in the verse, versus the harmony vocals on the chorus. It’s also the best song Gene Cornish wrote for the group; he’d get one song per album, rather like George Harrison with the Beatles.
19. Mustang Sally, from Young Rascals album (YR). B-side of Good Lovin’,1966. The Young Rascals performed a lot of covers, and this was my favorite. Well, except for the song I didn’t know was a cover.
18. A Beautiful Morning, from the Time/Peace album. #3, 36 rb in 1968. This is was the only new song on their greatest hits album, at the point they dropped the “Young” from the group name.
17. I’ve Been Lonely Too Long, from the Collections (C) album. #16, #33 rb in 1967. I loved the Collections, er collection, starting with the cover.
16. Come On Up, (C). #43 in 1966. The Rascals sound was heavily defined by that B-3 Hammond organ that Felix played, though this also has a nice guitar solo.

15. Find Somebody, from the Groovin’ album (G). The guitar line by Felix that bounces back and forth is hypnotic and vaguely psychedelic.
14. I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore, (YR). #52 in 1966. It was all there in the first single. Especially the great vocals, led by Eddie, and that organ.
13. What Is the Reason, (C). B-side of Come On Up, 1966. Especially like the little drum solo in the outro.
12. See, (S). #27 in 1969. The Rascals were deep in their love and peace mode.
11. Love Is A Beautiful Thing, (C). B-side of You Better Run, 1966. The shared vocal in some ways feels like the purest Rascals song.

10. It’s Wonderful, from the Once Upon a Dream album. #20 in 1968. For some reason, this became a song that my sister Leslie and I used to jog around the living room to.
9. People Got To Be Free, from the Freedom Suite album (FS). #1 for five weeks, #14 rb in 1968. One of its pluses: it starts right away, giving DJs of the day no opportunity to talk over an instrumental intro. It’s almost sappily optimistic. But is that so bad? Plus, I’m a sucker for train symbolism, e.g., the Impressions’ People Get Ready.
8. Sueno, (G). B-side of Groovin’, 1967. This is your basic psychedelic-pop-flamenco tune.
7. Ray of Hope, (FS). #24, #36 rb in 1969. Odd thing: for years, I thought this song was just OK. But, for some reason, around MLK Day 2015, it came to mind and stayed there. I hadn’t even heard it for quite a while. But I could hear in my head the wonderful detail of the vocal modulations, and I developed a newfound respect for the song.
6. A Girl Like You, (G). #10 in 1967. From the start, it brought me joy. The call and response vocals. The orchestration, with the horns; is that a harp?

5. You Better Run, (G). #20 in 1966. This is a song that was old enough to have appeared on the earlier Collections album in 1966 but did not. It occurred to me that the rhyme is extremely simple in the verse. Line, same line, a rhyming couplet, the first line. Yet powerful for that.
4. Groovin’, (G). #1 for four weeks, #3 rb in 1967. For DECADES, I thought the line, “Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly” ended as “you and me and LESLIE.” Since Leslie was my father’s name and is my sister’s name, I thought it was them picking a clever gender-non-specific name. But it’s a lovely song.
3. Good Lovin’, (YR). #1 in 1966. From Songfacts: “It was originally recorded in 1965 by The Olympics, a Novelty/Doo-Wop group…[The Young Rascals] recorded the song…, and although the group did not like the outcome, famed producer Tom Dowd loved the rawness of it, and that version was released, becoming a huge hit.” Yes, I love the garage-band vigor of the song.
2. How Can I Be Sure, (G). #4 in 1967. I mentioned earlier in the year that this was a waltz, which surprised some folks who obviously had never danced around the living room to this. Feel like I’m in Paris, with the accordion plus the trumpet and strings.
1. It’s Love, (G). B-side of A Girl Like You, 1967. Lives on the bass line and that Hubert Laws flute. Plus lyrics: “Oh, what a wild sensation, Multiple revelations.”

Uncle Ben Carson as Uncle Tom?

Version B is the ambitious black person who subordinates himself in order to achieve a more favorable status within the dominant society.

The Okie asks:

Some folks are saying this (picture) is racist. I think it’s perversely genius. It takes a still existing trademark with a very questionable past (Uncle Ben is now Chairman of the Board, it seems) and uses it for political satire. I went looking around the net for more information and found this article which I found interesting. Roger Green, I’d be interested in your take on it.

I read the comment on one string. Some felt it was a fine parody, appropriate about Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, someone who has said such outlandish things as that Jews having guns could have mitigated or even prevented the Holocaust. He’s not only been shown to be ignorant of history but, surprisingly for a neurosurgeon, profoundly wrongheaded about science.

Others felt the intent is irrelevant.”Stereotypes like ‘Uncle Ben’ and ‘Aunt Jemima’ are offensive to many African Americans in much the same way the pejorative ‘Uncle Tom’ is. They are used to perpetuate the myth of happy, subservient black people. that it is still being used to sell food products is as bad as a football team being called ‘Redskins’. And one added if it would have been OK if Barack and Michelle Obama had been so characterized.

This is a tricky nut to crack. I’m less concerned about evoking Uncle Ben as I am about the implicit suggestion of Uncle Tom. Though, as you’ll see, they are related.

I wrote about Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the term Uncle Tom quite a while back, so I thought I’d take a look at the article the Okie mentioned, located on the website of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. The piece made sense to me until, in its portrayal of the movie roles of Sidney Poitier, the writer declared all the roles listed to “approximate… the Tom stereotype, even though his characters were never one dimensional. Poitier did not play characters that were submissive, cheerful servants, but many of his characters were white-identified.” Notably missing was In the Heat of the Night, where Poitier returns the slap of the racist.

Next is the “Commercial Toms” section, which notes Uncle Ben’s “using the image of a smiling, elderly black man on its package.” (This begs the question what WOULD have been an appropriate black character?) “Arguably the most enduring commercial Tom is ‘Rastus,’ the Cream of Wheat Cook. While the guy on the package seems benign to me, the patois that he was stuck saying in earlier days was clearly racist: “Maybe Cream of Wheat aint got no vitamines. I dont know what them things is….” Too bad, because he always reminded me of some ancestors of my father.

The real crux of this matter is in the section “Uncle Tom as Opprobrium”:

In many African American communities “Uncle Tom” is a slur used to disparage a black person who is humiliatingly subservient or deferential to white people. Derived from Stowe’s character, the modern use is a perversion of her original portrayal. The contemporary use of the slur has two variations. Version A is the black person who is a docile, loyal, religious, contented servant who accommodates himself to a lowly status. Version B is the ambitious black person who subordinates himself in order to achieve a more favorable status within the dominant society. In both instances, the person is believed to overly identify with whites, in Version A because of fear, in Version B because of opportunism. This latter use is more common today.

“Uncle Tom,” unlike most anti-black slurs, is primarily used by blacks against blacks. Its synonyms include “oreo,” “sell-out,” “uncle,” “race-traitor,” and “white man’s negro.” It is an in-group term used as a social control mechanism.

I have discovered that some white people also feel the need to ascertain whether a black person is “black enough.” In column A, the moderate civil rights leaders of the 1960s (King, Whitney Young, et al.) had been called Toms by those more militant. But the Version B have included Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and pretty much any black Republican.

This is an extremely long way to say, no, I don’t think the picture is specifically racist; it surely did not offend me. Mentioning race, or Uncle Tom, or Uncle Ben, is not perforce inappropriate. But there is an element of what Nelson Mandela used to refer to as racialism, a conversation that has race as a core element.

That convenient trope that all black conservatives aren’t “REALLY black” I find frustrating. Their philosophy certainly doesn’t represent MY POV at all, but to drum them out of the ethnic grouping as “inauthentic” by those who act “blacker than thou” really bugs me. Even when it applies to Ben Carson, who, if I were inclined, I might mock as foolish or crazy, but not as an Uncle Tom, which, I believe, the drawing is, at least partially, designed to do. Perhaps he was targeted as a result of his total lack of understanding of Black Lives Matter.

Still, I found the graphic mildly clever. The Wife grimaced when she saw it, but the tween daughter, who’s pretty political savvy for her age, found it hilarious.

O is for Old-Timers’ Day

This was the first time I had been in the new Yankee Stadium, opened in 2009 to replace “the house that Ruth built.

The day before Father’s Day, my father-in-law and I took a bus, along with a bunch of other folks, from Oneonta in upstate New York to the Bronx in New York City, NY to see the New York Yankees play a night game versus the Detroit Tigers.

So why did we leave a little after 10 a.m. for a 7 p.m. game? It was Old-Timers’ Day. Former Yankees come back and get recognized; think of it as a family reunion. There is a certain relational connection, too; six widows of former Yankees were noted as well.

Before that ceremony, fans got a chance to visit Monument Park, beyond the center-field fences, where former Yankee greats, such as Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio, are honored with plaques.

It had been long announced that Willie Randolph (pictured left), long-time second baseman and then coach, was going to be honored, with his #30 being retired. His picture appeared on the cover of the special commemorative program. Willie spoke about growing up in Brooklyn, rooting for the Yanks.

A large number of returning Yankees are announced individually. The always entertaining and hugely popular Yogi Berra, who had turned 90 back in May, and who’d subsequently die in September, was not present but was mentioned. Some of the former players, coaches, and staff who had died in the past 12 months were mentioned, including former Oneonta Tigers pitching coach Bill Monbouquette.

Then a surprise. Mel Stottlemyre (pictured right), a fine pitcher for the Yankees when I was growing up, before becoming the long-time pitching coach, was also celebrated. His family obviously knew, but he was clearly gobsmacked. He had multiple myeloma in 2000, was in remission for several years, but the cancer reappeared in 2011 and he apparently was still battling it. Before Willie was #30, Mel was #30, and so his plaque in Monument Park will also bear that number.

Some of the younger retirees played a couple of innings of an intrasquad game. A few of the players, such as Paul O’Neill, and even 60-year-old Randolph, looked as though they could still play at Major League level.

As for the real game, the Yankees routed the Detroit Tigers, 14-3. Some young Yankee pitcher was put in the game late, gave up the three runs in the 7th, but shut out the team in the last two innings.

This was the first time I had been in the new Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009 to replace “the house that Ruth built (1923-2008). I don’t think I’d been to the old stadium since 1977, so this was a rare treat.

Our bus didn’t get home until about 3:30 a.m., and it was 4 a.m. by the time I got to bed. (I got up at 7 a.m., and we went to Albany to go to church, but that’s another tale.)

ABC Wednesday – Round 17