I heard this from a friend, Angel, who introduced me to Wait's music years ago. This song, is a strange one. Much of Waits' music is odd and whiskey soaked and filled with accordions and late nights, but this one struck a chord with me. It reminded me of a house I grew up near.
When I was young I used to spend my summers back east, in a small town called Greenland NH. I stayed in my Great-Uncle Albert's huge 100 year old house. It was right across the street from Town Hall and a cemetery. I loved that cemetery, but I was a weird kid. I met a dear friend one day outside the cemetery when I was little. Next to the cemetery was a house. That house creeped me out all the time. It was a worn down house, with a few chickens. I never saw anyone leave or enter that house in all the years I visited. I know I had an active imagination, I still do, but that house creeped me out. I swear I never had any idea how those chickens were fed, I never saw a single person go in or out.
When I heard this song, that house was the one I thought of. Instantly. I hadn't thought of that creepy house in ages, until I heard the song.
Crazy huh?
Here you go:
Okay, so this is an exceptionally weird one my friends. This song always creeped me out as a kid, so you're not alone. Little did I know there was a video. No, really. They made a video. I know, I grew up in the age of MTV, I should know all the videos, but sadly, I failed my fellow Gen-xers and I know few videos, even to music I love (for ages I didn't know there was a video to Men At Work's "Overkill" and that's one of my favorite songs) go fig.
So, that all said, you've been warned. The video is weird and the actual song doesn't start until about 2 minutes into the video.
I'm not sure what you would expect for a song called "Fish heads" but, here is what you get.
From Wikipedia:
Barnes & Barnes are the fictional twin brothers Art Barnes and Artie Barnes (Bill Mumy and Robert Haimer, respectively), are a comedy rock duo based in "Lumania", a fictional mythologicalcivilization (similar to Lemuria or Atlantis). Most of their music is standard rock or pop with heavy comedic elements. They are best known for their 1978 song "Fish Heads".
Robert Haimer and Bill Mumy were childhood friends who occasionally
performed together on their musical instruments. Following the ending of
Mumy's role on the TV series Lost in Space, they would shoot short films with a Super 8 motion picture camera, dubbed "Art Films". The two began calling each other "Art" in joking reference to these films. Bill Mumy is also best known for playing, in the original Twilight Zone the kid who terrorizes a town through his psychic powers.
They formed the band Barnes & Barnes in 1970. Their surname Barnes was taken from a Bill Cosby comedy routine called "Revenge", in which a character called Junior Barnes throws a snowball
at Cosby as a child. Originally, both Haimer and Mumy were named "Art
Barnes", but Haimer's alter ego was publicly renamed "Artie" in 1979 to
differentiate between them.
They first received airplay on The Dr. Demento Show in 1978 with their songs "Boogie Woogie Amputee" and "Fish Heads".
The latter recording was released as a single on their own Lumania
Records in 1979 and remains their best-known song, as well as the most
requested song in the history of The Dr. Demento Show. They produced a video for the song, which was broadcast frequently as a novelty item on MTV. The song was often misattributed to The Chipmunks for its processed high-pitched chorus[citation needed]:
In the original Wikipedia article it states that Barnes and Barnes were inducted into the Comedy Music Hall of Fame, but I can't find that the Comedy Music Hall of Fame exists. Sometimes Wikipedia is inaccurate, so take it all with a grain of salt.
This is a multi-color tentacle I made. It could be used as a pendant or it could be used anywhere. They're a little delicate. FIMO breaks easy, but it also glues easy, which is okay.
These are two project next to a chapstick, for size reference. These aren't huge. They're smallish and intricate. I like how they turned out. I do wish I could harden with a resin or something but I'm still really wary of using chemicals. I had a hard time using the spray paint for the chalkboard. It's tough but I can sometimes use the chemicals. Hopefully, with therapy and possibly medication I'll get over that, or at least manage it better. I just get afraid I'm going to harm myself with the chemicals and need help. I'm not really sure where this all came from, but I'm trying to manage it. The weirdness of my mental health problems have snuck into my life like so much dust in my life. It just accumulates slowly. The art helps me keep busy and calm but when I have to use chemicals it sorta busts up the groove of the zone I'm in. It's tough. I'm sure though soon I'll work it out. We're working on getting in to the doctor so I can sort out all of this. Hopefully we'll figure it all out. I've been under unusual amounts of stress lately. I found out about some distressing family news and I've been sorta mulling it about in my brain and trying to make sense of it all, therapy would likely help with it. I really do hate the holidays. I'll be happy when spring happens and I can plant veggies.
This black and white necklace has no suckers on it, I just thought it looked very Beetlejuicy. I'm sending it to a friend of mine's daughter. What's nice about these projects is that even if they break, they're fixable with glue or I can even make another, they're 6$ in material to make, a few hours of time, that's it.
Another close up of the blue-green tentacles. I like how they turned out. Also, I was able to use up the leftover green I had.
One of two black and white striped tentacle with glow in the dark suckers I made. I was surprised at how easy these were to make. I was worried the black and white would bleed and that the glow in the dark wouldn't glow.
None of that was an issue really. It was quite nice. So nice, I made two. I gave one to my friend Jeau, because it's lovely to see her smile. The other I'm mailing to a friend in WA, who is doing an art exchange with me. This is the other tentacle. I would really make oodles of these if I could. I really like the look and it was easy to do.
A dark/light blue tentacle I made for a friend. I attached a chain to it and I like how it turned out. I was worried I'd burned it, but didn't. I like how the tentacles curl over each other. I've seen a lot of other tentacles but I kinda like how mine are turning out. For me they remind me of Davy Jones in The Pirate movies. I'd like to try some realistic ones at some point. I might just do it one of these days.
Okay, so these are the projects I've been up to. The photo to the left is when I bedazzled a wine glass and used it for a vase for some flowers made from watercolors and coffee filters. I thought the bathroom could use some pretty in it. Since it will take me a while to get the bathroom up to snuff I'm working on making pretty little by little. Eventually I will have my oasis. I made some more flowers out of coffee filters. In the photo with the chalkboard the flowers in front are coffee filter flowers. They're cheap, relatively easy to make and if they get ruined, no big loss. Also, they add color which is nice.
The chalkboard project was interesting. It was originally a mirror but I hate mirrors (they just creep me out) so I made it a chalkboard. Now I can have a menu. I just need to buy a real chalkboard eraser for it. In front are two battery operated candles (I love those!) and some holders for chalk. Eventually I'd love to be able to daily leave Walter messages.
My purple bathroom roses. Never wilt. I love them. They by far turned out better than all the others I did.
This is an eyeball project I originally made with a more play-dough like substance. I decided to upgrade to hard FIMO that glows in the dark. I also added on of the doll's eyes I had. I think it would look just awesome anywhere, in anyone's house. I like the tiny frame it's in. I might just mail this to my friend in WA for shits and giggles. The below photo is it in the dark, all glowy.
These are pendant backs. The little circles are lyrics from CDs and maps. I hope to make some necklaces for peeps with these. I'm waiting for my order of clear crystal to go in the front of these pendants. Hopefully this will look cool. When it's done I'll share the photos.
The stack of scarves and a hat I made. I've made 8 scarves and 1 hat so far. I can't tell you how much I love it. I really do. I wish yarn was cheaper. Anyhow. It's one of my favorite things to do now, another great crafty thing. Who doesn't need a new winter scarf?
Okay, the bird below. He's a raven I bought on sale at Michael's around October, because sadly, that's the only time they have these guys in the store. I cut open his closed mouth and placed part of a toy I had. The toy I had was a bunch of silicon-like green tentacles with little eyeballs attached. I opened his mouth and put the tentacle with the eyeball in it. I like the look. I could mail these to peeps for Halloween next year. I just might too. Anything with eyeballs is a winner. I love the look. He lurks outside my bathroom on an old heater. I call him Matthew (if you know the reference, well then, you really know me).
Okay so I've been slowly changing the kitchen and trying to make it more inviting. It's been a month by month project. Since I have REALLY limited funds, it's going to take a while. All the house projects will take a while. I'm saving a little bit every month for various projects. Currently, not that anyone cares, I'm saving for cat emergency funds. My next saving will be for the bathroom shower. I'll save up to replace the walls and shower stall so the tub will be safe and a real tub so I can have a real bath. I miss baths. I love baths, they're as close to meditation as I get.....sigh. Anyhow. That will take time. In the meantime I'm doing little things around the house. Putting up art, painting cabinets, getting planters for the yard, etc.
In the last couple of months here's what I've done.
Here's what the kitchen looked like:
Here's what it looks like now:
We got rid of the broken fridge, sold the stove and I made a chalkboard out of the old mirror. When I repaint the cabinets I'll paint the chalkboard frame to match it. All of this is sitting on an old trunk of Walter's. The kitchen is a lot more opened up. Once I get a new eraser (the one I bought was crap and broke already) I can write up messages or menus. Which is all really nice. I hope to improve my chalk art.
The flowers I made with paint and coffee filters. The candles aren't real candles, they're battery operated. I'm hoping to get more candles and fill up the fireplace with them and some thick wood pieces. I'm not really a fireplace person, plus I have to get it checked out before we use it. For now it will be atmospheric only. All in all the kitchen looks nicer. It's getting there. Once I paint the walls we'll take down the rock posters and it will look pretty nice and cozy.
I love me some Python. I own one album of theirs and several movies. I can quote with the best of them. This song, stumps me. I have no idea what it's really about, other than a bisected bee. It's just really really wrong.
Here's the song.
Here are the lyrics, just to prove how weird and wrong this song really is:
A one, two
A one, two, three, four
Half a bee, philosophically
Must, ipso facto, half not be
But half the bee has got to be
A vis-a-vis its entity, d'you see?
But can a bee be said to be
Or not to be an entire bee
When half the bee is not a bee
Due to some ancient injury?
Singing
A laa dee dee, a one two three
Eric, the half a bee
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
Eric, the half a bee
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric, the half a bee
A fiddle de dum, a fiddle de dee
Eric, the half a bee
Hoh hoh hoh, tee hee hee
Eric, the half a bee
I love this hive, employee
Bisected accidentally
One summer afternoon, by me
I love him carnally
He loves him carnally
Semi-carnally
The end
Cyril Connelly?
No, semi-carnally
Oh, Cyril Connelly
I used this for years as the ringtone for my friend Jenn, largely because we both just about died the first time we heard this song. I think, we were sitting in her car listening...The song slayed us. It still slays me.
I have no idea how you can love a bee semi-carnally. It's just weird and wrong. So, there you go peeps. Enjoy!
I first knew of Doodles from Spike Jones. He was part of the band for a time. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the late great man: Winstead Sheffield Glenndenning Dixon Weaver (May 11, 1911 – January 17, 1983),[1] known professionally as Doodles Weaver, was an American character actor, comedian and musician.
Born into a wealthy West Coast family, Weaver began his career in radio. In the late 1930s, he performed on Rudy Vallée's radio programs and Kraft Music Hall. He later joined Spike Jones' City Slickers. In 1957, Weaver hosted his own variety show The Doodles Weaver Show, which aired on NBC.
In addition to his radio work, he also recorded a number of comedy
records, appeared in films, and guest starred on numerous television
series from the 1950s through the 1970s. Weaver made his last onscreen
appearance in 1981.
Weaver was married four times, with all his marriages ending in
divorce. He had two sons from his last marriage to actress Reita Green.
Despondent over poor health, Weaver fatally shot himself in January
1983.
Radio and recordings
On radio during the late 1930s and early 1940s, he was heard as an occasional guest on Rudy Vallée's program and on the Kraft Music Hall.
In 1946, Weaver signed on as a member of Spike Jones's
City Slickers band. Weaver was heard on Jones's 1947-49 radio shows,
where he introduced his comedic Professor Feetlebaum (which Weaver
sometimes spelled as Feitlebaum),[1] a character who spoke in Spoonerisms.
Part of the Professor's schtick was mixing up words and sentences in
various songs and recitations as if he were suffering from myopia and/or
dyslexia.[11]
Weaver toured the country with the Spike Jones Music Depreciation Revue
until 1951. The radio programs were often broadcast from cities where
the Revue was staged.[12]
One of Weaver's most popular recordings is the Spike Jones parody of Rossini's "William Tell Overture". Weaver gives a close impression of the gravel-voiced sports announcer Clem McCarthy
in a satire of a horse race announcer who forgets whether he's covering
a horse race or a boxing match ("It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive
is on the rail! Apartment House is second with plenty of room! It's
Cabbage by a head!"). The race features a nag named Feitlebaum, who begins at long odds, runs the race a distant last—and yet suddenly emerges as the winner.
In 1966, Weaver recorded a novelty version of "Eleanor Rigby"—singing, mixing up the words, insulting, and interrupting, while playing the piano.
Weaver made his television debut on The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1951. He performed an Ajax cleanser commercial with a pig, and the audience reaction prompted the network to give him his own series. In 1951, The Doodles Weaver Show was NBC's summer replacement for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows; it was telecast from June to September with Weaver, his wife Lois, vocalist Marian Colby,
and the comedy team of Dick Dana and Peanuts Mann. The show's premise
involved Weaver dealing with an assignment to stage a no-budget
television series using only the discarded costumes, sets, and props
left behind by more popular network TV shows away for the summer.[14] The series ended in July 1951.
Weaver went on to guest star on numerous television shows including The Spike Jones Show, The Donna Reed Show, Dennis the Menace, and The Tab Hunter Show. He also hosted several children's television shows. In 1965, he starred in A Day With Doodles,
a series of six-minute shorts sold as alternative fare to cartoons for
locally hosted kiddie television programs. Each episode featured Weaver
in a first-person plural adventure (e.g., "Today we are a movie actor"),
portraying himself and, behind false mustaches and costume hats, all
the other characters in slapstick comedy situations with a voice over
narration and minimal sets.[14] The ending credits would invariably list "Doodles... Doodles Weaver" and "Everybody Else... Doodles Weaver."
He portrayed eccentric characters in guest appearances on such TV shows as Batman (where he played The Archer's henchman Crier Tuck), Land of the Giants, Dragnet 1967, and The Monkees. He appeared in more than 90 films, including The Great Imposter (1961), Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (as the man helping Tippi Hedren's character with her rental boat), Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor (1963), Pocketful of Miracles (1961) and, in a cameo, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). He appeared in Six Pack Annie in 1975. His last movie was Earthbound in 1981.
On January 17, 1983, Weaver died of two self-inflicted gunshot wounds
to the chest. His death was ruled a suicide. Weaver's son later said
that his father had been despondent over his failing health.[18] His funeral was held on January 22 at Forest Lawn mortuary in the Hollywood Hills. He was buried in Avalon Cemetery in Santa Catalina Island, California.[19]
Weaver's memoirs, Golden Spike, remain unpublished.
He was Signourney Weaver's Uncle too.
At a later date I'll have a few more of his spoonerisms on here and some of his work with Spike Jones. I loved his music and he is missed.
