Euphemismia

I am so very tempted to ramble on about my beloved Sox snatching victory from the jaws of defeat this weekend. So very, very tempted. But, rather than subject myself to the inevitable backlash that follows when I merely mention something sports-related, I'll refrain . . . for now. We are in the World Series, after all.

Instead, I thought I'd take this opportunity on a dreary Tuesday afternoon to wax nostalgic for a moment. Plus, I'm really under the weather and exerting much more effort than what will follow just ain't in the cards. So here we go...

It's funny how random little moments from the past will occasionally rear their heads when you least expect. A few weeks ago, my brother sent me an MP3 of a song we recorded together from our first band, Ska-Ka-Doodle-Doo!. We were in high school and were just about as awful as our name would imply. I was the drummer, my good friend and current musical comedian, Jon Murray, was the lead singer and trombonist — despite never having actually played the instrument before — and Tyler played bass. He was probably the only reasonably talented player in the band at the time, as the rest of the group was made up of random kids with very marginal ability — though I do recall we had a pretty good sax player for little while.

Anyway, that song — a ska cover of the jazz standard "All Of Me" — really knocked me down memory lane. We totally sucked. But we had a blast and you can hear that, even on the crappy Tascam 4-track recording. I sent the file to Jon, figuring he'd get a kick out of it too. He did, and then he one-upped me, sending back a song that I had completely forgotten ever recording.

At some point between the dissolution of my other ska band, The Skamaphrodites — who were much better than the name implies — and moving to Boston, we recorded this bizarre little tune that Tyler wrote, presumably while on a Beach Boys kick. Again, I'm playing drums — poorly — Tyler is on bass and lead vocals, Jon is on rhythm guitar and a guy by the name of Mark Aronsen is on lead guitar. We all help out on backing vocals and hand-claps.

Here it is, for your listening pleasure, "Super Woody" by Richard & The Rhythm Kings, recorded in a random basement somewhere in Burlington, circa 1999ish.

Comments

[Tyler]

I don't know what you're talking about, I've never heard that song in my life. I would never.....Besides, I think we all wrote that one, while recording it.

[Sean]

i heard that ska is making a comeback in this city.

http://www.myspace.com/husbandsmusic

[arthur]

Wasn't this song somehow involved in that rock-opera super-group thing we did for a few months?...I totally think you guys wrote and recorded this one day that I didn't come to rehearsal...

Wasn't there some song about a robotic dog? And a Faustian plot involving trading football skills for guitar-shredding ability? Didn't I leave my Rhodes and drum kit in Mike Duplessis's basement for sixth months or something?

Anyway...memories.

[Msd3k]

As far as I remember, y'all broke into my basement when I wasn't there to record this because the equipment from the aforementioned rock-opera super-group was there.

And it's good to hear that ska in Burlington is on the upbeat.

[casey]

That made my fucking morning.

[DAN]

i love this song so much...please post more strolls down memory lane

[Thirtyseven]

Shit, I remember listening to the Skamaphrodites back in high school.

[dan]

More strolls down memory lane, huh? Tyler seems to be the guardian of the archives, so I guess that's up to him. Any recordings floating around of "No Means Yes," Ty? That would kick ass and offend pretty much everyone — maybe even me and I wrote it. So misunderstood in its time!

Does anyone else notice a striking resemblance between Tyler's voice and Kermit the Frog? Now THAT would be a great Muppets sketch.

[Raph]

This song is juvenile, rude and ridiculous. In other words, fantastic.