23 February 2004 (Monday)
MP3 Demo - Download Here (3.2mb)
I wrote this one today at work as a bit of a break. I first learned about "cockney rhyming slang" when I was traveling in England last fall and visited with my cousin Kristen who's working as a vet there. She says she'll get calls from farmers saying, "Well, that new calf turned up brown" and she'll say, "Huh? Brown? But I thought she was white!" and the farmer will say, "No, no... brown! Y'know, brown... bread... dead!!"
I also just recently finished reading The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, which is a fun and irreverent history of the English Language (and includes a fabulous chapter on wordplay). If you've seen the re-make of "Ocean's Eleven" there's a few jokes about the slang in there, too. Natalie and I occasionally try to dabble in it and create our own personal vocabulary of rhyming slang, but it's really quite hard.
I think I might try to write a "wordplay EP" combining this with "Captain Anagram" and other songs about Holorhymes, Puns, etc. In fact, I'd like to make a whole series of "schoolhouse rock" kinds of albums for more advanced topics. Oh, and I apologize in advance for the poor cockney accent in this recording. I sound Australian. It's just a demo.
Mick, Me China
lyrics/music by Burr Settles
I've got a good mate and his name is Mick
but understanding what he's saying is a magic trick
if you want to know what Mickey's saying
you gotta learn Cockney Rhyming Slang
take the words you want and make a rhyme
then drop the second half -- it works most of the time!
if Mickey says he's goin' to the pub with his China
"China (plates)" rhymes with "mates"
he might buy a couple rounds of pigs
"pig's (ears)" rhymes with "beers"
after a few he'll be tellin' porkies
"pork (pies)" rhymes with "lies"
and take a Joe on back to his digs
"Joe (Baxi)" rhymes with "taxi"
(repeat chorus)
if you tell Mickey that you need some bread
"bread (and honey)" rhymes with "money"
he'll say that some corn is what you ought to get
"corn (on the cob)" rhymes with "job"
preferably one where you use your loaf
"loaf (of bread)" rhymes with "head"
something a little better than shining ghosts
"ghosts (or boos)" rhymes with "shoes"
(repeat chorus)
and when Mick gets really elephant's
all he wants to do is read
'cos "elephant's (trunk)" rhymes with "drunk"
and "read (and write)" rhymes with "fight"
and he'll tell you to put up your dukes...
"Duke (of York)" rhymes with "fork"
though that's kind of a stretch...
if you tell Mickey a real good rum
"rum (and coke)" rhymes with "joke"
he'll fall flat laughing on his kingdom
"kingdom come" rhymes with "bum"
but if the joke is really sorry
"sorry (and sad)" rhymes with "bad"
he'll blow you a raspberry
"raspberry (tart)" rhymes with "pbhththt!"
(repeat chorus)
Comments: 7
THIS IS SO WEENERIFIC!
ha ha ha. These are hilarious Burr...you gotta do this EP. Send it to Ween, maybe they'll cover some of these tunes.
hopper [12:01AM CST 24-Feb-2004]
y'know... i really don't know any ween at all, save their cover of schoolhouse rock's "the shot heard 'round the world." i listened to "white pepper" the other day in the record store and liked it. maybe i should start listening to them...
burr [12:07AM CST 24-Feb-2004]
I think you would be pleasantly suprised...Ween are a really fantastic, thought provoking band on the cutting edge of what is hip and what is not hip and everything in between.
hopper [01:17AM CST 24-Feb-2004]
also - so does the title refer to "lick my vagina?" or am I way off? ;)
hopper [01:20AM CST 24-Feb-2004]
uhmmm... way off. refer to the first line of the first verse, dude.
burr [08:08AM CST 24-Feb-2004]
Burr, This rocks! If you want any help on the wordplay EP (I.E Mixing, recording, dictionary, whatever!) allow me to stand in line to volunteer.
Eric [12:22PM CST 24-Feb-2004]
yeah, this is another great wordplay song... TMBG is more a wordplay type band. i was trying to think of a wordplay-like song by ween. all i thought of was "pork roll, egg, and cheese"...
willis [10:30AM CST 25-Feb-2004]