Marscon Mix CD Exchange

[barondave]

Okay, it's time for another round of Mix CDs. This is a long-standing project for me, and I think it would make an interesting mix to exchange along the ides of the previous ones, spurred on by mle292 and dreamshark. Plus, I get to play DJ.

Crossover Songs: Music you want to hear done by artists at Marscon (or in other venues).

More than just covers: "I think it would be great if you did this!" The artist is under no obligation, of course. I plan on making a label with a blank line: "I suggest you perform this one _____". Give enough info for a proper cite so they can get the rights/assign parody credit.

We all have music that isn't familiar to others, and we all like to watch our friends perform. Indeed, I have a lot of music from friends who don't travel in the same circle, and would love to cross fertilize fandom. (Sound's kinky, neh?) Marscon will be full of Demented Artists, but they songs don't have to be funny. They can be filked, though. Some are well known songs that deserve a new audience; some are unfamiliar to most that deserve a wider audience.

Cover These!
(still being formed, and this is not the final playlist; just to give examples of what I mean)

Small Things -- Isabelle Delage 6:29 (for Riverfolk, chasophonic and chirosinger)
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron -- Royal Guardsmen, The 2:46 (everyone should do this, and would make a great lukeski cover)
Renaissance Faire -- Blackmore's Night 4:16 (any festie)
The Bare Necessities (The Jungle Book) -- Phil Harris & Bruce Reitherman 4:11 (ericcoleman? ripped to shreds by the Gothsicles?)
I'm A Little Cookie -- Schmidt, Claudia 2:56 (gamerchick)
If Pigs Could Fly -- Andina, Sandy 2:36 (Carla Ulbrich and/or pixelene)
Little White Duck, The -- Kaye, Danny 2:43 (somebody's bound to figure a way to update this great song)
Martian Hop -- Bartels, Joanie 2:32 (Power Salad)
A Girl On Theology -- Electric Amish, The 3:10 (Power Salad)
Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night? -- (From Deadwood) Beatnik Turtle 3:22 (wormquartet)
O Holy Night Cha Cha Cha -- Brave Combo 2:51 (I keep hearing DJ Particle, emiofbrie, doing this one, just as is...)
Voice of the Spirit -- Craig & Co. 3:43 (Sudden Death)
Einstein the Genius -- Cranberry Lake Jug Band 3:40 (wormquartet and Sudden Death)
Happy Trails -- Roy Rogers 2:16 (Smackdowns should end with this)
Stone Age Bayou -- Dinosaurs 3:10 (Carla Ulbrich)
Starship Jingle -- Intergalactic Touring Band 3:43 (Ookla the Mok)
Pollution -- Lehrer, Tom 2:03 (most anyone, needs updating)
John and Marsha -- Freberg, Stan 2:31 (I keep hearing wormquartet and Sudden Death getting very deep into this one)
Preposterous -- Nate Bucklin 3:23 (gamerchick)

I'm sure more will come to mind. What would be on your cover suggestion CD?

Comments

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Hoo boy. I may need more thought on this, but off the top of my head...some oldies but goodies.

Downtown (Allan Sherman parody version) - I see this being sung by Tom Smith. Lyrics could use some updating, and made a little darker (having the teenage kids arrested for selling crank or something, or found at a murder scene with a knife).

Lydia the Tattooed Lady - A certainty for ShoEboX. Done in his standard speed-metal style with a bunch of updated tattoos (like a tattoo of Osama bin Laden on Lydia's bicep, and Michael Jackson on the inside of her thigh - a place the real Michael would probably never go).

Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets - The song from Damn Yankees, sung by Carrie Dahlby. ("You're no exception to the rule,
I'm irresistible, you fool, give in!...Give in!...Give in!")
This is a video performance, with her in a slit-skirt cocktail dress, slinking through the audience, coming up to fanboys and sliding onto their laps, running her fingers through their hair. (And wiping off her hands, in a very un-ladylike fashion, on her skirt after said running-through, maybe with a muttered aside of "Yecch! Brylcreem!") Very funny.

Sweet Transvestite - In his song Fanboy, Luke Ski said that he painted his lips red for this song. How about him doing a full Frank-n-Furter performance? Fishnets, Speedo's, corset and wig? And just like the above, doing it through the audience? (Immediately after Carrie's Lola number. Let's see if the same fanboys Carrie hits on would react positively to Luke sitting on their laps.) I've done this, so Luke should have no problem.

Ya Got Trouble - The song from The Music Man. Or maybe I'm thinking of the parody version done on the Forbidden Broadway Volume 3 CD's, that complained about the disintegration of Broadway. This is considered the most complex song in the English language. I know Tom Smith could probably do it, but I'd like to see Devo Spice perform it. Without notes. Strictly from memory.

The Pretty Little Dolly - This is an old novelty song by Mona Abboud. I would love to hear Carla Ulbrich sing this one. (I saw it years ago, done by Rita Moreno on The Muppet Show. To refresh your memory, it starts out as a cute little song, then gets brassy at the very end...

OH THE PRETTY LITTLE DOLLY CAN WET.
THE PRETTY LITTLE DOLLY CAN CRY.
IF YOU PUT A PLASTIC BAG AROUND HER HEAD...
SHE'LL CHOKE, TURN PURPLE AND DIE.

OH SANTA, REMEMBER YOUR PART.
DON'T BREAK A LITTLE GIRL'S HEART.
DON'T FORGET THIS CHRISTMAS,
THE PRETTY LITTLE DOLLY IS THE PRESENT YOU MUST LEAVE.

REMEMBER THAT FAT BOY,
BRING THAT KID,
IF YOU WANT TO SEE NEW YEAR'S EVE.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Oh, one more possibility.

Howard Johnson's Got His HoJo Workin' - This song by NRBQ was a favorite of mine in college. I can't find the lyrics on line, but it's a rocking little song about life on the road...

He's got his hand in my pocket
And his heart is cold
I'm so hungry and I'm
On the road
Want a grilled cheese
And an order of fries
Have to drink water
Or I can't get by

I just want to see you
On your own
How we ever gonna tell you?
Howard Johnson's got his HoJo workin'
HoJo workin' on me.

Again, updated lyrics and additional material in the bridge would help this song. It would have to be sung with guitar accompaniment, but given the road experience every Dementia artist has had, everyone singing it at the end of the show would be appropriate.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Luke could do Rocky Horror all by himself. Could be fun.

The problem with any of the interactive songs (eg "Trouble in River City") is that the audience will disrupt the timing, so singing to recorded music is tricky. You'd have to do it acappella.

Yeah, I can see wormquartet doing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Also, "Hello, I Must Be Going".

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

The live songs don't have to be acapella. They just need a live musician. I know only about one third to one half of Dementia artists play an instrument, but songs like "Lola" would only be done with live accompaniment. I just wish more were accomplished keyboard players used to improvisation.

I'm not surprised that Luke could do Rocky Horror by himself. I did too. Honestly. On a Halloween, with a packed theater, with the rest of the cast off doing a "concert" performance for a MENSA group which was illegal as hell. (It also gives you an idea of the low intelligence level in Florida, if a MENSA group would request this instead of going to the damn theater.)

I was the only cast member willing to show up at the theater and do the show. I had to flip back and forth between Janet, Riff and Frank before the whole crowd, changing costume pieces faster than anything. And I had to keep the more screwed up people from squirting water on the screen and getting management mad.

After that, I decided I'd paid back Ritz O'Brien tenfold for whatever confidence performing in his show had given me, and my Live Cast career ended soon after.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

How can giving a concert performance for MENSA be illegal as hell? How illegal is the netherworld? Isn't Hades deregulated?

Still, you could come out of Live Cast Retirement for a song or two. At least "Science Fiction Double Feature" at a filk circle.

I too with more Dementia artists played an instrument. But for some, it would get in the way of the Performance Art.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

The point is that the rest of the cast (the long-dead Daytona Beach cast) was performing FOR PAY. And no one was paying for rights to the music. Unlikely they would have gotten busted by ASCAP, but it was still wrong to me.

I preferred to help out with the theater audience - who came to see the film out of the love of it, rather than the "intellectual curiosity" of the MENSA folk - and found myself alone. Not even the regular backup players showed up.

And no, I don't sing filk. I would have to use a karaoke tape, again running into that rights problem, and I don't think any of the Rocky songs make any sense outside of the movie. Given the arthritis, overweight tendencies and general exhaustion at cons, it'd be pointless trying to get the room up to dance The Time Warp, about the only song that could be done out of the film context.

The songs I usually did in my most ambitious performances were The Time Warp as the Criminologist, and Eddie's Teddy as Dr. Scott. And I no longer have my old wheelchair. So you'll have to wait until I can pay the several hundreds of dollars to the Harry Fox Agency for the mechanical rights, and another hundred to slip to a pianist friend, to do the Sinatra parody I want to do.