The Music Men from Mars
Using the hook of a new compilation CD released a few days ago, Lileks bleats about song-poems, the scam where you’re supposed to send in your lyrics to a company for evaluation, followed quickly by a check to pay for the recording of Your First Top 40 Hit Record. Like Lileks, I’ve long been a fan of the genre, much to the discomfort of my long-suffering fiancee. A small cadre of hipsters has been collecting these efforts for a long time, finding the evidence of misplaced self-confidence and naivete in thrift shops around the country. And they’ve been generous enough to share their finds with the rest of us. Phil Milstein maintains a web site devoted to the phenomenon. The new compilation on Bar/None records, entitled The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush, is kind of a compilation of compilations; Tom Ardolino and Phil Milstein have been releasing LPs and CDs of this stuff on a tiny, poorly-distributed label for years. You can find most of those "original" compilations still for sale at Forced Exposure, in case you find your appetite whetted by Bar/None’s compilation and want, nay require, more. And you may want to; the track list of TASPA:DYKTDBBWANB sadly omits my favorite track, Rodd Keith’s "I Died Today". Fortunately, there’s a CD filled with Rodd Keith-produced tracks of which that classic tune serves as the title track.
Posted at 4:21 AM
I’m stunned that you didn’t mention the song A Blind Man’s Penis (aka Peace and Love) written by John Trubee and sung by Ramsey Kearney (see www.aspma.com/trubee.htm). Maybe you didn’t point it out because it is a faux song poem and not the REAL thing. I just want to know how could anyone not love lyrics like:
The Zebra Spills Plastinia on Venus/And the Gelatin Fingers Ooze Electric Marbles/Ramona’s Titties died in Hell/And the Nazi’s want to Kill/To kill Everyone.
Posted by lilbro at 3:55 PM, February 13, 2003 [Link]