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April 2008
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songspeak
Turk does the Safety Dance
Scrubs has a ton of songspeaks. This is one of my favorites, and a classic example of what songspeak really is:
Tags: 80s music, men without hats, safety dance, scrubs, turk
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songspeak
It was the heat of the moment
Among the many bands named after geographical locations (Kansas, Boston, Europe, Chicago), the band Asia scored big points with their catchy song, Heat Of The Moment. The creators of South Park noticed this, and paid tribute in their episode about Cartman attempting to get stem cell research legalized in order to save his friend Kenny.
You have to watch the tender sappy moments before the song begins:
Tags: 00s tv, 80s music, 90s tv, asia, cartman, kenny, south park
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songspeak
Once Upon a Box is Hot
Sitting in my office listening to the radio (mix 93.1 to be exact) with Runaround by Blues Traveler playing, I’m reminded of one of the most ridiculous songspeaks I’ve ever been a part of.
When Matt and I both worked at Silver Screen together, we’d carpool most days. We’d always sing along with the radio and make our own lyrics, the usual end-of-the-workday zaniness. Every day, we would pass the Dunkin Donuts, but at one point, they were remodeling it. Through the window, written on the wall next to an electrical box/circuit breaker of some sort was written in large block letters, “BOX IS HOT”. Well, one day as we drove by, Runaround was on the radio and one of us sang, “Once upon a box is hot…” and the other finished with “That’s the Dunkin Donuts they remodeled!” to the tune of the song. It stuck, and we can’t think of anything else whenever we hear that song.
And speaking of Dunkin Donuts, who doesn’t absolutely love doin’ things? I know doin’ things is what I like to do (YES!). Also a very popular songspeak in and of itself.
Tags: 00s tv commercials, 90s music, blues traveler, box is hot, doing things is what I like to do, dunkin donuts, remodel, runaround
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songspeak
My name is Jamie, and I like to Yo Gabba Gabba
Songspeak can start at a very early age. This is proof.
Having a 2 year old will open your eyes to all sorts of new television entertainment. So when Yo Gabba Gabba premiered last year on Nick, Jr., it didn’t take long for Quinn (and moreso, her parents) to become obsessed with it. There are random bits in the show where they show a little kid, and they say, “My name is (whatever), I like to dance!” Then they dance to some crazy song. Well, whenever Quinn would dance, I’d always say, “My name is Quinn, I like to dance!” and every now and then she’d say it.
But one day she was standing at her little table in the living room having a snack, and as she was eating, she said (unprovoked), “My name is Quinn, I like to eat!” We got a kick out of that, and she would crack it out every now and then for different activities (”My name is Quinn, I like to jump!”, etc.). This just makes me impressed with the instinctual nature of songspeak (TVSpeak?).
Anyway, here is an amusing example of that show from The Soup:
Tags: 00s tv, britney spears, children's TV, the soup, yo gabba gabba
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songspeak
What you want, bucky done gun?
My fiance Kristen and I regularly jam out to Bucky Done Gun from M.I.A.. Kristen was intrigued by M.I.A. in 2005 while covering music in a podcast (her first) for MassLive.com.
This songspeak tends to come up when we’re trying to decide on dinner and one of us says, “What you want, Bucky Done Gun?”… or if we’re trying to get going and one of us says, “get crackin, get-get crackin”.
Tags: 00s music, arular, fire done burn, M.I.A.
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songspeak
Ladies and gentlemen, this is combo no. 5
For the longest time, whenever I went to Subway, I tended to order Combo Number 5 (which is the Italian B.M.T. in case you’re curious), so if anyone happened to be with me, I started singing, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is combo numba fahv”, thinking I’m absolutely hilarious (even though most people just roll their eyes). Even if I’m alone, I think it (songthink?). Every time.Lately it’s come to my attention that they have gotten rid of the order-by-number system. Stupid Jared Fogle. He ruins everything. Anyway, this is a absolutely hilarious reference to the Lou Bega song, Mambo No. 5. A little bit of something and something else.
Tags: 90s music, italian b.m.t., jared fogle, lou bega, subway
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songspeak
Friday, I’m in love
For years while we worked together in Greenfield, Jamie and I carpooled to work. We would pass the same people frequently on our commute. One of those people we saw so much, we affectionately named her “The Crazy Lady With The Funky Sunglasses”. There was also “The Guy Who Loves The Nields” and “The Car With The Wing” but this story isn’t about that. It’s about “The Crazy Lady With The Funky Sunglasses”.
When one of is would see her, we would go “Ohhhhhhh!” which eventually evolved into just a shriek. One day one of us recognized that that there’s a similar shriek at the end of Friday I’m In Love by The Cure. To this day, even though Jamie and I no longer work together, we both see her still around the valley. She’s since traded in her silver Chevy for a green Kia, but after that we still recognized her because she was either wearing the funky sunglasses, or put the funky sunglasses on her dashboard on cloudy days. These funky sunglasses are hard to miss.
She must live in or around Easthampton, because she’s been seen at various spots around Easthampton and Northampton as well as on the commute to Greenfield.
Anyhow, to this day, if I see The Crazy Lady With The Funky Sunglasses, sometimes my excitement cannot be contained and I’ll leave a message for Jamie on his cell phone or something and give him a classic Friday, I’m In Love shriek.
When he hears it, he knows that The Crazy Lady With The Funky Sunglasses has been spotted about the area.
Actually… a similar message was one of the early impressions I made on Jamie’s wife, Jo. Oh, what she must have thought.
Tags: 80s music, carpool, greenfield, shriek, the crazy lady with the funky sunglasses, the cure
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songspeak
It’s Mrs. Dalloway
Jamie and I used to work at the Smith College bookstore in our college days and of course, had various songspeaks for various book titles. One time, Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones came on the radio and I walked by Jamie holding a copy of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. He knew what I was talking about, and started singing “It’s Mrs. Dalloway, it’s Mrs. Dalloway-y-aaaay!” instead of “It’s just a shout away”.
Other songspeak moments for this song include:
- Watching early seasons of ER and singing “It’s Carol Hathaway, It’s Carol Hathaway-y-aaaay!” whenever Julianna Margulies was on screen.
- Corresponding via email between Jamie and myself about how far our friend’s house in NJ is from my grandmother’s house on Long Island and typing “It’s just an hour away, it’s just an hour away-y-aaaay!”
Tags: 20s books, 60s music, ER, gimme shelter, julianna margulies, mrs. dalloway, rolling stones, virginia woolf
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songspeak
I’m Mohegan Sun, Bitch
Songspeak in commercials is a tradition as old as songspeak itself. Sometimes it’s done well, sometimes it’s cringe-worthy. When Mohegan Sun decided to do it with Super Freak by Rick James, the results were truly horrifying:
Tags: 00s tv commercials, 70s music, mohegan sun, rick james, super freak
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songspeak
Song charts
We have to give a shout-out to the Song Chart Pool on Flickr for showing us the phenomenon of songspeak on a whole other level. Some of these are really hilarious.
And of course, there’s this classic chart from the Kenny Rogers song, The Gambler. You really have to hand it to whomever created this chart… (more…)
Tags: 00s web, flickr, kenny rogers, meme, rick astley, song charts
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