PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase LIFE IS LIKE A SEWER

Hi everybody,

my brother Henni has been claiming ever since that I don’t have a brain like anybody else but that there must be some sort of very strange dough in my skull. He’s been a successful pro comedian for more than 30 years and my loving brother for more than 60 years - so he should be able to judge it. And since my lovely wife Maha tends to share his view, I’m afraid this diagnosis can’t be all wrong and whatever that stuff’s made of: I gently call it ‘my weirdough’.

The project I’m coming up with today is indeed the second weirdest thing I’ve put together so far (the weirdest one is yet to be posted here), so it’s probably not everybody’s cup of tea, but there was a time last year (following the „Nothing’s-Easy-Anymore phase) when I simply had to really let it all hang out. And believe me: Everybody involved (Henni, Maha and my best friend Harald) had the fun of their lives!

Let’s get to the beef: The song title ‘Life Is Like A Sewer’ is a quote from a monologue that my all-time favorite U.S. comedian, Tom Lehrer, put in front of his song „We’ll all go together when we go’ on his live album „An Evening (Wasted) with T. L.) which he released in 1959 (!). It may sound a bit rude at first sight, but it continues like this: ’What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it’, which is something we might all agree upon, don’t we. (Although I’m not quite sure if this philosophical principle is still in operation these days.)

Since T. L. has shaped my sense of humor like nobody else I felt that I finally, after more than 50 years, owed him a tribute song, and so writing the lyrics to it I did my very best to catch at least one minute spark of his immortal spirit, that is his ethics, his elegant eloquence and, yes, his cynicism. Tom, if you ever read this: Please forgive me my hubris!

Musically I had a dream come true that I’m sure every musician has: I created a new fusion genre, even though I’m still not sure how to name it: either PRURF or SURTEST. Whatever, it’s a blend of surf music and protest song, either one genre we all grew up with and will love till the end of time, of course.

Now you might think that it would be an obviousness that such a new thrilling style should be introduced by the best musicians of both worlds... Ah, no, sorry, for some inexplicable reasons they turned me down, so I had to make do with what you might consider the worst of both worlds instead. And worse still: These ‘ersatz’ musicians aren’t even native English speakers... Where was the wall when we - ah, I mean; when you really needed it...?

Although I also posted the somg on Soundcloud I think the mere tune doesn’t really work without the video (I’m not really expecting to get into the Hall of Fame with it), and especially the intro will shed a light on how the heck all this could happen. So I recommend that you give the flick a chamce - even if it’s only for making the fortune I spent on Hawaiian shirts and wigs worthwhile...

LIFE IS LIKE A SEWER (video & lyrics)
LIFE IS LIKE A SEWER (audio & lyrics)
LIFE IS LIKE A SEWER (Soundcloud)

In advance: Thanks a lot for watching and listening.

These are the musical data:

Key=Bb , Tempo 130, Length (m:s)=2:38
Style is _SURFSWP.STY (Swing-8ths Surf Pop)
RealTracks in style: ~1844:Bass, Electric, CountryBoogieArp Sw 110
RealTracks in style: ~1549:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountrySwing Sw 110
RealTracks in style: 2427:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockabillySlowSwingBrent Sw 085
RealDrums in style: SurfPopSwing^01-a:Snare, ClosedHat, b:Snare, OpenHat

I discarded:
RealTracks in style: 2452:String Quartet, Rhythm PopSwingHall Sw 110

and added:
RT 425: B3 Organ
RT424:Harmonica, Soloist Blues Sw 120

To be honest: All the vocal stuff is me, and before you sit down and hammer your disgust at that atrocious falsetto singing into your key pad: I’ve already been nominated for the 2019 Tiny-Tim-Award and as far as I heard it thru the grapevi..., sorry, thru the tulips, of course: I’m still the front-runner.

So if you’re in the right mood you might at least get a bit ... ah, entertained by the flick. And one thing’s for sure: Watching it will undoubtedly leave you with the question, ‘What in the world can make a 67-year old fart spend (did I hear you say: ‘waste’?) three months of his precious remaining time down here on such goofy stuff?’

Weirdough! What else?

Cheers (and please, don't get mad at me)

Stefan

Man, you have a knack for these videos, very well done.

Loved the "band"! Especially the background singers!

Enjoyed watching.

Stefan,
Cool video! I enjoy your offbeat flicks and no matter how funny they are, you are a very good musician. You can't hide it

P.S. I enjoy listening to Space Fart music on your site from 1970s some very cool tunes you had going.

Best regards,
Misha.

Stefan,

A fun song and a fun video (that must be a LOT of work!). Very entertaining.

The vocals are super. Excellent mix.

I think you did T.L. proud...

(a big Lehrer fan here)

fj

ALWAYS entertaining Stefan.

Stefan

Superb video as always and a very nice tune to go with it.
Great entertainment.

Peter

What an excellent way to start my Saturday morning! Hahahaha. I enjoy your humor. Your video editing must take a considerable amount of time, and the effort shows. I like following along the the German translation; it helps me improve with my German.

I don't know if its the unusual "weirdough" in your skull or the water you have to drink,
but it surely results in some fascinating compositions & videos...
I enjoyed it a lot!

Stefan,

Now that was cool! Great song and video... I really enjoyed this one.

Bob

entertaining

toe tapping

well done

enjoyed the video and the soundcloud version


Kenny

Stephan, you must put an incredible amount of work into what you present here and I want to say that you are one talented individual!! This kinda sounded like something from the early seventies like Don McClean or someone similar! Very good work! Thanks, Torrey

Thank you very much, Dave - yeah, like I wrote, 'It was big fun to work on this goofy thing'.

Cheers,

Stefan

Hi Misha,

well, that was quite a compliment - thanlk a lot for your very kind words.

And thanks, too, for having a look and listen at the 'musical fruits of my youth ' I wouldn't have expected that anybody - apart from the people who knew us then - would still like any of those songs.

I normally do not tend to glorify the past, but those days with the band were really something special.

By the way: May I ask you where you're located?

All the best,

Stefan

Dear Floyd,

thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, it took me almost 4 months of daily working on it. Since I always start with the lyrics it took me more than two weeks alone to find all those idioms with HIT, BREAK and KICK and bring them into rhymes.. And searching for suitable video clips with the right license can become an endless job, too.

And it also took a lot of time to get those costumes and and. But that's one of my ways to get along with less pleasant things. Once you have collected all the 'ingredients' putting the video together isn't that difficult anymore.

I was surprises and pleased to read that you're a big Lehrer fan. I think he was not only a very funny and elquent intellectual, but also a man of great musicality and imagination - who would believe that a line like 'Wear a gas mask and a veil, then you can breathe as long as you don't inhale!' was written in 1965.

Again thanks for watching and listening.

Kind regards,

Stefan

Thanks, Ray - I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers,

Stefan

Hello Peter,

thanks for watching, listening and your kind words.

Cheers,

Stefan

Dear Scott,

what more could I have asked for than making somebody's day start with a smile or, more likely, a broad grin ... So thanks a lot for your very kind comment.

But apparently not so many people share my sense of that goofy kind of humor - there's a German saying that goes like this: "'It's just a matter of taste', said the monkey as he bit into the curd soap." And if that ain't the truth...

I'm glad you found the German translation useful.

Have a great week and thanks again,

Stefan

Dear Jim,

I'm very glad that you enjoyed the flick - thanks for your kind words on it. But your comment about the possible cause of my sillyness made me pensive, and a 1965 Tom Lehrer song came to my mind:

'If you visit American city,
You will find it very pretty.
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!'

Since this undoubtedly is true for German cities, too, I better should stay away from the water...

All the best,

Stefan

Hi Bob,

I really appreciate your kind comment on the video and the song.

I just noticed that you're from Woodstock - so Rob's hairdo alone must awaken sentimental memories of a wild, a very wild era.

All the best,

Stefan

Hi Kenny,

thanks for your kind words; glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers,

Stefan