3/27/2007

I’ve been meaning to ask you guys this question- which came to mind as we were working on an upcoming show, where we’ll be doing a more contemporary song as part of the show (I’m talking- gasp -Justin Timberlake here!) What I’d like your opinion on is- do you prefer for me to parody oldies- classic rock- or newer songs? In the past, I’ve heard from viewers who don’t recognize some of the newer songs- and, on the other hand, younger viewers who have no idea what song I’m doing if it’s earlier than the 90s. I know, I know- even if you don’t know what song it is, you do tell me that you were still entertained- but it works better for you if you know the song I’m doing. One of our recent favorites is coming up this weekend- the take-off on Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”- which we gave an Egyptian slant, and called “Tomb Digger.” (By the way, I have no doubt that one of the reasons it is a big fave with some of you guys is the presence of our lovely B 96 – FM friend Candi and our “yummy mummy” Sarah!) even though the original tune got a LOT of exposure, and still plays on some radio stations, I heard from people who couldn’t figure out what the song was supposed to be. Personally, I prefer when you guys know the song and the lyrics to see how we try to approximate the same sort of lyrics and sounds in our parodies. I guess that makes sense with anything that someone parodies- if people aren’t familiar with it, it’s not going to be as much fun for them! But, I guess we also broaden the horizons of those unfamiliar with, say, a song- it might entice them to find the original, so they can understand how we changed the words- or, to see how well Doug Graves did the arrangement and instrumentation. I think that we currently do a pretty decent mix of songs from different eras- yes, I know that when we had “Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff” and I did “Swanee” as “Swami”- we were presenting a song from around the 1920s or so! Now- THAT’S an oldie! But- most of the time, if we’re not doing songs like that, that many of us might have learned back in school, we’re doing popular songs ranging from the late 1950s all the way up to today. You’ve seen me rap (or, at least, TRY to) like I do in the “Tomb Digger” song. I think there have even been times when we veered dangerously close to operatic numbers. Regardless- let me know how you feel- svengoolie@wciu.com - even if it’s just to say that, whatever we do is fine by you. I’m not saying that I’ll limit what kind of songs we do after your feedback, but I might try to lean in the direction of the type of tunes that most of you want to hear…