MLT Club Member David Herrick
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Okay, thanks, guys. I wasn’t aware of the sore history with regard to ABBA, so I retract my suggestion that MLT cover them.
My main point was that I was surprised that no one in this group had mentioned ABBA as a favorite of theirs. Maybe I’m unique here in that I discovered them after their star had faded, and I had no idea that they were propelled to fame by winning a contest. I just heard a group with great melodies and harmonies that I fell in love with, which is exactly what drew me to MLT.
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Technically the 70’s happened for me too, but I was just 14 when they ended, so my memories are only formative. My siblings were all younger, so I didn’t even get to overhear any cool music. Pretty much all I was exposed to were the sanitized versions of songs on TV variety shows (Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, The Captain and Tennille, etc.)
The only 70’s group I’ve ever really grown fond of is ABBA. I’m surprised they haven’t been mentioned here, because I can’t think of any group whose sound is more similar to that of MLT. If Lisa and Mona ever decide to follow up “Starman” with further 70’s covers, they should be able to channel ABBA effortlessly.
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I should have noted that some of the kids’ TV shows I watched in the early 70’s contained some well-crafted pop songs that probably could have charted if they had been marketed to an adult audience. Here’s exhibit A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrc-B-su2gU
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And this one, featuring Denise Nickerson (Violet from Willy Wonka) and introduced by Morgan Freeman. (Look for Rita Moreno too!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVnNdFWG0Q
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I can recall three instances of my mishearing lyrics from 60’s songs back when I had only heard them on AM radio. All happened to involve the lyrics of the title, and frankly I was disappointed when I found out that the actual words were less interesting than what I had imagined.
1) “Dirty Water” by The Standells. I was sure that they were saying “curly water”, and I constantly tried to imagine in what physical or abstract sense water could be described as curly.
2) “Ventura Highway” by America. I wasn’t familiar with the town or the road, so I heard it as “venture a highway”, and wondered how you could sensibly pair that verb with that noun.
3) “Lodi” by CCR. Again due to my ignorance of California geography, I heard “stuck in Lodi again” as “stuck in a low dive again”. I thought that was a brilliant line, because the meaning was ambiguous. Did “low dive” mean a seedy bar where he was drinking despondently, or was it a metaphorical description of his life trajectory as being like that of an airplane which would crash if it couldn’t pull up in time?
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Ah, now I understand the Oasis reference in the recent “Yesterday” movie. I had never heard of them.
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Of historical note, this is the song that launched Weird Al Yankovic’s career via his parody “My Bologna”.
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When I conducted my initial reconnaissance of 60’s music after discovering the Beatles, “Undun” by the Guess Who quickly became one of my favorites.
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I can’t hear this song anymore without thinking of this scene from The Simpsons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iPJqVVGxx8
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Yes, Howard, I also would love it if MLT tried covering something by CCR. You tend to think that it just wouldn’t sound right without John Fogerty’s unique voice, but you know that Mona and Lisa would somehow find a way to rework the song into their own idiom while maintaining the integrity of the original sound.
Back to misheard lyrics, I once saw a comedian comment on another CCR song, “Bad Moon Rising”. He said he heard “there’s a bad moon on the rise” as “there’s a bathroom on the right”.
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Hey, this photo is from “Upper Class Twit of the Year”: another great sketch!
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Well, it’s great to learn that my grade school music experiences weren’t as atypical as I had always thought. “Downtown” featured one of my music teacher’s most notable lyrical flubs: he rendered “Happy again” as “How can you win?” Even as a little kid I could tell that that made no sense.
Hey, Jung and Jacki, speaking of Marlo Thomas and grade school music class, did you guys sing the soundtrack to “Free To Be… You And Me”? Those songs are really burned into my memory, especially “William’s Doll” as sung by Alan Alda.
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Oh, yeah, I have seen and enjoyed “The Kids in the Hall”. I didn’t realize it was Canadian. Thanks, Thomas!
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It’s a shame that the U.S./Canada TV pipeline didn’t flow equally in both directions, Jacki. The only Canadian shows I know are YCDTOT and SCTV, and I wasn’t able to see either of those until we got cable.
U.S. cable TV lineups now have a channel called BBC America. You’d think there would be room for equivalents with Canadian and Australian programming.
Just curious: were you able to enjoy Sesame Street and The Electric Company as a kid in Canada?
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Found it!
I love “The Far Side”, John! When I was a teenager our refrigerator was covered with Far Sides clipped from the newspaper. Now that I think about it, its sensibilities (or lack thereof) are pretty similar to Monty Python.
I’ve also seen this same punchline set up with the premise that some grave robbers open Beethoven’s casket and find him busily erasing sheets of music.
