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SONGSPEAKeverytime we think of you, we go blind |
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April 2008
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songspeak
Scarlett Johansson covers album of Tom Waits songs
I can’t believe Scarlett Johansson recorded an album’s worth of Tom Waits covers. Remember the ‘Ya gotta get yourself a chandelier!’ skit from Saturday Night Live?
Anyway, here’s a video to ScarJo’s new song, Falling Down. I was prepared not to like it, but alright… I’ll admit it…. I think it’s okay.
Tags: 00s music, chandelier, falling down, saturday night live, scarlett johansson, snl, tom waits
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songspeak
Give a little bit of your chips to me
I’m a poker player, so I watch a lot of poker on TV. Especially old World Series of Poker reruns and The World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel. There’s more songspeak than one would expect in poker, and I always love it when it happens.
At the 2004 World Series of Poker main event, Marcel Luske belted out his own version of Give a Little Bit by Supertramp. You can view it here (the video is lengthy, but the songspeak in question appears at about the 5:05 mark):
Tags: 00s tv, 70s music, give a little bit, give a little bit of your chips to me, main event, marcel luske, poker, supertramp, travel channel, world poker tour, world series of poker
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songspeak
Wesley Snipes is Bad with paying taxes
Actor Wesley Snipes should pay taxes, just like everybody else. Instead, he’s going to jail for 3 years. Way to go, guy from Blade and White Men Can’t Jump.
But you know what? “He ain’t bad, he ain’t nuthin… He ain’t nuthin!”.
What, am I the only one who remembers him being the rival gang leader in the long version of Michael Jackson’s Bad video?
Tags: 80s music, jail, michael jackson, taxes, wesley snipes
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songspeak
Trapped in the closet
Jamie and I have been making Songspeak Greatest Hits mixes for years now, and while we’ve tried to make them reasonably listenable, we can never deny a truly awful song’s inclusion if it falls under the category of (what we consider to be) songspeak.
That said, even some of these types of songs are just so damn long for a mix… A lot of Pink Floyd songs, Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, pretty much anything by Tool, and of course, Trapped In The Closet by R. Kelly.
Trapped In The Closet, R. Kelly’s ridiculous hip-hopera with all the soap opera elements (sex, betrayal, gunplay) was released in installments of one chapter at a time. Its first twelve chapters run over 30 minutes long. I know this because I own the dvd. When he wrote it, in 2005, he always left the storyline open ended. In 2007, he wrote another ten chapters, and apparently we can expect more chapters. By the way, the dvd is great because there’s commentary on it. First of all, the song itself is basically an R. Kelly singing narration of the storyline. The commentary, therefore, is R. Kelly commenting on the narration of the storyline… just in case the story wasn’t clear or whatever.It’s been parodied a bunch of times, but I think my favorite is South Park’s Trapped In The Closet, the infamous Scientology episode where Tom Cruise thinks Stan is L. Ron Hubbard and gets upset because he doesn’t like his acting. Eventually Tom Cruise and John Travolta are both stuck in the closet and R. Kelly tries to coax them out.
Tags: 00s music, 00s tv, best week ever, hip-hopera, r. kelly, south park, trapped in the closet
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songspeak
Songs in the FreeCreditReport.com tv commercials
For awhile now, FreeCreditReport.com has been running some clever commercials featuring Eric Violette singing clever songs about how he should have gone to FreeCreditReport.com instead of that tool on the stool saying, “I’m THINKING of a number…”. These commercials feature clever songs sung in English, even though Eric Violette is French-Canadian whose primary language is French.
The Car Song: I was shopping for a new car, which one’s me… A cool convertible or an SUV?
Tags: 00s tv commercials, car song, dream girl, dreamgirl song, eric violette, free credit report, freecreditreport.com, pirate song
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songspeak
Paradise by the GoPhone Light
Yet another recent example of songspeak in advertising. I can’t help it, but I love this GoPhone commercial featuring Meat Loaf and Tiffany. My wife’s (and now my) favorite part is when the kid starts rockin’ hard right after Meat Loaf sings, “You ask about that cell phone every night and day”. Truly phenomenal.
Tags: 00s tv commercials, 70s music, cell phone commercial, gophone, meat loaf, meatloaf, paradise by the dashboard light, paradise by the gophone light, tiffany
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songspeak
Presidential candidates lay the smack down
Perhaps this falls under the banner of wrestlespeak more than songspeak, but last night on WWE RAW, the three main presidential candidates (Clinton, Obama, and McCain) made pre-recorded comments to air during the show.
Yes, I enjoy wrestling, and yes, most wrestling fans get a bad rap and are stereotyped into the “unintelligent trailer trash” category. However, most wrestling fans are just average people who watch wrestling as any other form of entertainment.
So imagine how I felt my intelligence to be insulted when watching these candidates’ comments. Not only did they talk in circles and not actually say anything, they littered their mini-speeches with lame wrestling metaphors and catchphrases of wrestlers who haven’t been active for about 6 or 7 years (most notably, The Rock). If you’re going to try to relate to your audience, wouldn’t it make sense to, you know, make some more current references? Good God, I was half-expecting John McCain to say, “Where’s the beef?” Don’t get me wrong, hearing Barack Obama say “If you smell what Barack is cookin’” was pure gold, but I just got the feeling I was being talked down to. It was obvious they know nothing about the WWE and were just spouting lines. They blew a good opportunity to say something real and intelligent and instead let some speechwriter make it obvious that they knew nothing of their audience. And it didn’t help McCain’s case that his message appeared last and he used the same “If you smell what the Mac is cookin’” line.
Below is a snippet of each candidate’s clip so you can see for yourself.
Tags: 00s tv, Barack Obama, dwayne johnson, hillary clinton, john mccain, raw, smackdown, the rock, trailer trash, wendy's, where's the beef, wrestling, wwe, wwe raw
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misheard lyrics
I want a slab of coleslaw, I want a ham and cheese
I don’t really know why Rogue Wave places an order for lunch in their song, Ghost, but “I want a slab of coleslaw. I want a ham and cheese” is the first line of the song, I swear… I don’t know, maybe I should look it up…….Okay, I looked it up online, and supposedly the lyrics really are “I want to slam the coastline. I want to hammer trees. You know I like it. You know I like it.”
I think my lyrics actually make more sense, though I have to say, I usually think coleslaw is pretty damn gross.
You can listen to a clip on iLike. Did you know the songspeak has an iLike page now?
We also have a Last.fm page too.
Tags: 00s music, iLike, Last.fm, misheard lyrics, rogue wave
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misheard lyrics
Sometimes I feel like the only cat in the road
The real lyric is “Sometimes I think I’m the only cab on the road”, but Kristen likes to think that her version is better anyhow. Neither one of us is a Train fan, but somehow we like to joke about their song, Cab, from time to time.I found this video on that YouTubes. I have no idea what it’s all about, but maybe the guy from Train could be a little more literal about the lyrics of the song in the video next time.
Oh, and speaking of cabs on the road, has anyone ever watched Cash Cab?
Tags: 00s music, cab on the road, cash cab, misheard lyrics, train
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songspeak
Six Flags old guy dancing commercial
It has come to my attention that the new ads for Six Flags feature a younger dude saying “Six Flags. More Flags. More Fun.” These are kinda creepy, but not as creepy as the campaigns a few years ago featuring Mr. Six dancing to We Like To Party by Vengaboys.
The actual actor who danced around like a maniac to earn his paycheck is Danny Teeson from the Bravo tv show, Queer Eye For The Straight Girl, a spin-off on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.See for yourself.
Tags: 00s tv, 00s tv commercials, more flags more fun, old guy, six flags, vengaboys
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