Post by The Curmudgeon on Oct 2, 2016 19:11:43 GMT 2
Comedy songs. Always a mixed bag, usually only good for one or two listens. Some are terrible, some are novelty fun but only some remain listenable due to the fact they're actually good songs. Spinal Tap nailed it. Flight of the Conchords nailed it. And this weeks act? Well, you be the judge, obviously.
This one is different, though. Whereas groups like the Mighty Boosh and the Conchords are setting out to make purposefully silly songs or parodies, here we have a guy recording a full album in character, and that character is talented musically but painfully unaware of the world around him or his place in it, so even though the music is supposed to be good, it's also supposed to be flawed. The more you think about it the more it boggles the mind.
Anyway, the man in question is Fortress favourite Ricky Gervais, reviving his greatest creation David Brent for the "Life on the Road" movie, and the soundtrack album that accompanied it.
It's a good album, for the record. Gervais is clearly a talented guy, and the songs scream midlife crisis and trying to be something you're not (there's a Stone's type rocker called "Thank Fuck it's Friday" for example, that you could almost imagine on a lot of pretty terrible band's albums that aren't trying to be funny). There's a few hip-hop songs on there, ham fisted "messages" that take Bono's preachy mannerisms and dial it up to 11.
But I thought I'd share the first single from "Life on the Road", a folksy ballad about meeting a beautiful gypsy girl. It's a bit like the Shining, where Kubrick filmed it in a way where everything just seemed..wrong. And here, with Brent's too-long gaze into the camera, little comments about how "clean" the gypsy was, the scarf, that look at 2:20.. it's all wrong, but it's a comedy song I've had in my head for a week.
Take a look.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQD3EjukimI
This one is different, though. Whereas groups like the Mighty Boosh and the Conchords are setting out to make purposefully silly songs or parodies, here we have a guy recording a full album in character, and that character is talented musically but painfully unaware of the world around him or his place in it, so even though the music is supposed to be good, it's also supposed to be flawed. The more you think about it the more it boggles the mind.
Anyway, the man in question is Fortress favourite Ricky Gervais, reviving his greatest creation David Brent for the "Life on the Road" movie, and the soundtrack album that accompanied it.
It's a good album, for the record. Gervais is clearly a talented guy, and the songs scream midlife crisis and trying to be something you're not (there's a Stone's type rocker called "Thank Fuck it's Friday" for example, that you could almost imagine on a lot of pretty terrible band's albums that aren't trying to be funny). There's a few hip-hop songs on there, ham fisted "messages" that take Bono's preachy mannerisms and dial it up to 11.
But I thought I'd share the first single from "Life on the Road", a folksy ballad about meeting a beautiful gypsy girl. It's a bit like the Shining, where Kubrick filmed it in a way where everything just seemed..wrong. And here, with Brent's too-long gaze into the camera, little comments about how "clean" the gypsy was, the scarf, that look at 2:20.. it's all wrong, but it's a comedy song I've had in my head for a week.
Take a look.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQD3EjukimI
