Monday Mash Up

Today's song was a little confusing. This was because, as it turned out, there were four songs running into each other in my head. It took my barely awake brain a little while to prise them apart and work out what they all were. So, here they are in order of appearance:

DNA vs Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner

ORIGINATION pass
LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT St Kilda
RATING

As far i can recall, Vega had originally released this track as an acapella on one of her albums. When a couple of naughty sample-boffins nicked the whole thing and put it out as a bootleg, her record label didn't like it but she did and it was given a proper release. The result is a fairly sparse song mixing electronic beats and basic electronic instrumentation with Vega's original lyrics. It went on to become a hit.

Danny Elfman - Augustus Gloop

ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING

Danny Elfman is one of the best and most unique composers working in films today. He has been a long-time collaborator with director Tim Burton, working on films such as Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks!, as well as countless other projects (including the theme for The Simpsons). His scores always carry his particular brand of fair-ground otherworldliness and darkness, that not only make them instantly recognisable as his, but also perfectly suited to the kind of dark fairy tales that Burton often spins.

Last year he scored Burton's remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which saw him using lyrics in his score for the first time. Augustus Gloop is the first song we see sung by the Oompa Loompas and is comes about when that 'great, big, greedy nincompoop' is sucked away up a chocolate pipe.

The has something of a rock-meets-primitive-tribe feel. Many voices sing the ludicrous lyrics and a variety of drums pound away. There are also lovely big stabs of brass. The song ends with drums and chanting, echoing the supposed tribal background of the Oompa Loompas that was about to be revealed.

Danny Elfman - Violet Beuregarde

ORIGINATION Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
LAST LISTENED TO saturday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Scotland
RATING

Violet met her end by chewing bubblegum, a disgusting habit. Here the Oompa Loompas get funky in the tale of her end. For not having been known as funky, Elfman pulls of mid-'70s funk with discoish flourishes incredibly well.

The song builds up slowly from random sounds and (more) chants of Oompa Loompa, until disco strings and funky guitar take over. From then on it's funktastic: organ! bass! brass! even the comedy ultra-low voice. It returns to the random sounds again at the end, as if the whole thing had never happened. Quite excellent!


Nouvelle Vague - Friday Night, Saturday Morning

ORIGINATION Nouvelle Vague
LAST LISTENED TO december
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT Eigg
RATING

This is a nice, easy version of a not so well known Specials track. The dreamy, washy sound of the track contrasts well with the unpleasant story of british friday night binge drinking.