Ain't it Fun: 5 Songs About Fun & Games
This week's songs are from Robert Palmer, The Gap Band, Public Service Broadcasting, Barbara & Ernie, and Slum Village
Starting this week with a bonus song for Peter Yarrow, whose passing was announced earlier today. I’d seen them a number of times, as Peter, Paul & Mary played Ravinia Festival (where I worked in high school) what felt like every year. I remember hearing a gruff, smoke-riddled voice and asking “Is that Peter or Paul?” and it turned out to be Mary. Peter’s voice was still soft in his later years. And he was always smiling. You could tell music was fun for him, too.
Peter Yarrow - “That’s Enough For Me”
Music is supposed to be fun, right?
Listening to it can be a past time, inspiration, mood enhancer, and compel one to dance (even alone). Speaking from experience, making it is more fun than listening to it. Think of the most fun song you can, and know that R.E.M. probably had more fun making “Everybody Hurts” than you do listening to whatever song that comes to mind.
When messing around on an instrument or with a melody, landing on something that sounds good is a bolt of joy. But often times taking that initial spark and turning it into a complete song, can take some tinkering and experimentation. Solving for that can be even more fun. You’re chasing something. That chase is almost as fun as sharing that music with others. I expect that’s why it can take a lot longer for musicians to get sick of their own music than it does their audience. They’ve heard it hundreds of times before their fans will.
Here are 5 songs about fun, games, and play. The songs also serve as a showcase for the experimentation and playfulness of their creators when making them.
“You know that Jamaican expression, ‘It's gone clear’? It means when you get a harmonic resonance and rhythmic coherence the song will ‘go clear’ and the individual parts within it become invisible. You can no longer pick out who is doing what because the syncopation is so exact.” - Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer - “Woke Up Laughing”
It’s hard to believe this is the “Addicted to Love” guy. That song is all sharp right angles, starts and stops, and heavy; played loud start to finish. “Woke Up Laughing,” is the opposite: fluid and constantly moving; if it starts quiet, you’ll be turning it up when you settle into the groove, and maybe once again to sit back and enjoy it with a smile. This version is on Palmer’s compilation of hits and remixes “addictions” volume 1. For the remix, Palmer took inspiration from the mbria, a Zimbabwe “thumb piano,” and set two different rhythms in sequence, but off time. It’s something he apparently couldn’t crack when first recording the song, but figured it out when revisiting it for the compilation. The second try is infinitely more fun than the original. And damn, what a great title.
“"I don't like players whose main goal is to show that they're technical wizards. Bass is all about creating a mood. I connect with the spirit and let it take over." - Robert Wilson
The Gap Band - “Big Fun”
The Gap Band were a popular LA nightclub act, brought to prominence by that nightclub’s owner, Lonnie Simmons. They were one of those bands that had a huge success in the late 70s and early 80s, but lack iconic hits that put them in the retro compilations. And yet, they were hugely influential. A fractional list of hip-hop and R&B acts to sample the Gap Band include Tyler the Creator, Nas, SWV, Notorious BIG, and the Pharcyde. There' is also this charming anecdote from Dave Grohl, where he admits he ripped off the Gap Band for the iconic fill in the beginning of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
I don’t know many songs that live up to their titles as much as “Big Fun.” There’s not much to the lyrics and there doesn’t need to be. There’s polyrhythms—it sounds like every instrument on the track is percussion—voice samples on a keyboard, triangles, bongos, whistles, and a steady, dancing bass groove. This tune is guaranteed to get your shoulders bouncing and put a smile on your face. It’s a mood corrector. A perfect Tuesday afternoon pick-me-up.
Public Service Broadcasting - “The Fun of it” feat. Andreya Casablanca
Public Service Broadcasting is a London-based post-rock group that typically uses audio clips from public service broadcasting and old TV clips in place of vocals. “The Fun of it” includes a featuring credit for singer Andreya Casablanca, one half of the German rock duo Gurr, singing over the guitar-driven track. There’s also the band’s typical spoken-word inclusion of a matronly woman stating, “I do it for the fun of it.” The combination makes for a bright, bratty burst of feel-good pop.
Barbara & Ernie - “Play With Fire”
Barbara & Ernie make for a band name, duo, and album cover that could only happen in the early 1970s. Odd couples can make from some great music. “Play With Fire” is the first track of their ironically titled first-and-only album Prelude to… The song is a perfect summation of the psychedelia-tinged funk/soul sound that rides throughout the album. Barbara Massey was a backing vocalist for Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, and Quincy Jones. Earnie Calabria was a jazz guitarist who played with Nina Simone. Both were known to have played on Harry Belefonte recordings, which could offer a connection. However the two got together, there is a rich and consistent point of view to the album. “Play With Fire” starts off with a Robby Krieger-like guitar intro before settling into a smokey R&B kiss-off jam. Massey is sitting the listener down to offer a warning that she’s not one to be messed around on.
“The shortest version: it’s the equivalent of watching someone solving a 10,000 piece puzzle in record time. This sounds normal to you—it sounds like a natural loop—and you can’t hear the micro-chops in it.” - Questlove, on J. Dilla
Slum Village - “Players”
Slum Village was the rap group J. Dilla formed and then abandoned on the cusp of the release of a long-gestating first album. Dilla is something of a monumental figure in hip-hop production, having invented a new time-feel (“Dilla Time”). As a short explanation: it’s the collision of European even rhythm and the un-even rhythm of Swing. Un-even parts, intentionally set off-time against even parts. They might sound sloppy or out of synch, as if done by a human, rather than as the rigid and perfect grid-like samples typically generated in a drum machine. None of this may sound particularly ground-breaking anymore, because basically all of hip hop and R&B sought his beats or lifted his sound in the late 1990s. After hearing J Dilla beats, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson gave up his quest for metronomic timing and learned “Dilla Time.”
James Dewitt Yancey aka J. Dilla was a crate-digger, who would sample obscure records, pulling out odd elements and reconstructing them into something entirely new. Unlike the typical sampler, who would take clear drum breaks or intro riffs from soul and funk records, he would pull instruments and voices from all over a track, or manipulate their sound by speeding it up or slowing it down. And this was long before Pro-Tools (or Kanye) came along. He did it analog, using a Linn drum machine and an MPC3000. Take for example, “Players,” which samples “Clair” by The Singers Unlimited—a 1970s a cappella jazz quartet that featured the voice of the Jolly Green Giant. Putting that original up against the Slum Village track is an educational point of entry into his process and artistry. Dilla was also known for keeping a routine and a committed work ethic. It was all fun to him.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy the listening.
The Fun of it is an absolute bop.