Did Mister Shouty really be sausages?
Saw clouds for the first time in a hundred years and marveled at them. Incredible.
We went for a walk and I felt the tiniest sliver of what a freed prisoner may feel among air and cars and normalcy, and then this happened:
and I am sated.
Open and shut!
Which is better?
Vote here!
Things I think about all the time, Roud Index #506
Link:
I wasn’t sure about this one because I do keep the newsletter relatively clean, and while you don’t see anything, this is a clip from porn, but do you know that thing about women in stock photography eating salad and laughing? This is a thing!
(with increasing levels of ecstasy)
And like, what does it say about women and “health”/(thinness) and soCIety, and blah blah blah, and a very cheap looking gay stepdad porn tapped into that! I’m not sure what to make of it, but they did!
Moving on to non-porn things, probably forever but you never know, I’m sorry! I’m sorry about the porn!
We watched Eurovision on Netflix (cute!) and I was wondering if the song they reluctantly play to demanding townies is a real song. Turns out Ja Ja Ding Dong is original to the film, but it’s in the tradition of German and Scandinavian schlager music, so then I was wondering what that was and then found this fantastic Guardian article all about it. I mean, look, it’s a great, rich article and you may as well read it ‘cause all I’m gonna do is summarize and highlight it. But maybe you’re busy, I don’t know. So here’s some summarizing and highlights and eventually a different direction than the source.
So, schlager is light, real light, and has a sort of one-two, oompah, polka-y vibe, with thin, happy lyrics. An American equivalent may be something like Afternoon Delight, I guess. Probably the best version I know of it is ABBA’s Take a Chance on Me. (Oh! Sidebar: apparently ABBA’s costumes were over the top because if they were too impractical to possibly be street clothes you could get a tax deduction—a big deal in high-tax Sweden.)(Also, I believe more than anything else that everyone likes ABBA, don’t even bother trying to convince me otherwise. Everyone. Likes. ABBA.) Even ABBA were influenced by the Beach Boys though, who couldn’t have ripped off Chuck Berry more. Example one. Example two. And according to John Seabrook in the best quote in the piece:
Listening to schlager gives you some notion of what American pop music might sound like without the African influence – in a word, cheesy
Which I found especially interesting. In an earlier newsletter I posted an article about the Botswanan metal scene and they talk about how it doesn’t thread through Southern American blues and has its own sound, perhaps ironically, since American blues links directly to Africa.
But really, the true conclusion is that we Americans really are the coolest and have the coolest music and that is the only guarantee you’ll ever get in art. That, and that everyone likes ABBA.
Nicki Minaj knowing what’s up.
JEAN VEST
quasi related:
Whad I tell you. Forgot all about the Mad Daddy segment. Semi-Regular Newsletter Mad Daddy factoid: he drove a pink Pontiac and would wear a Dracula cape and bat-winged sneakers called ‘Batty Bucks,’ I can’t find a picture.
Boy this is so old, but it popped in my head and my dude is so funny so HERE
Also rather old. I don’t know if it translates. I showed it to one person who watched in silence, and showed another who grew up in Northern Virginia and who about fell over laughing. Maybe if you grew up in a strip mally suburban community this will resonate?
And the oldest thing of all:
I would like to noodle with these lyrics for today and record a new version. You want in? Let me know. Let’s record a song.
Mary Kate Korner. We’ll get into the Kids in a future newsletter. Will we ever.
Newsletter charity is Bristow Social Services! My mother-in-law volunteers for them in Oklahoma! They do all kinds of things, like serve as a pantry, help people find employment, provide crisis services, etc etc etc. Website below, but they only accept donations over the phone, which I believe was one of Hercules’ labors. Their number is 918-367-5400.
Bristow Social Services
I always forget to put these buttons in. I can make custom ones and still forget.
Get out of here, I’m sick of ya!