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Posted By: Ezekiel's Storm The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/21/20 08:26 PM
The Chicken and Cheese Song

This one is a bit different than my usual. There is a little backstory to this slightly nonsensical song.

When I was a wee lad, I would amble about the house singing, “Have you heard of the chicken and cheese” over and over and over. Of course, my parents didn’t recognize my precocious verbal dexterity and melodic acumen. smirk This little song would have been relegated to the dustbins of my mind (B. Hill allusion), but my older sister had recently requested that I record the chicken and cheese song. Unfortunately, the song has undergone genre reassignment surgery and is now suffering from genre confusion. However, the original lyric and melody are preserved in the chorus just as it was sung a half century ago.

If you are looking for art, this ain't it.

I’ve been working on this song in bits and pieces, and it contains a lot of bits and pieces. I still have some tweaking to do.

For those outside of the United States, Hamburger Helper was and is a box of dried noodles, powdered sauces, and other unknown ingredients that you mix with a liquid and ground beef. I never much cared for it---then and now.

The lyrics are on SoundCloud.

The Band
Me: Vocals, voices, some laughter, and general mayhem.

In the “dance” sections, I am playing the bass line on the keyboard that comes in at the :25 mark in the first section, and regurgitates and reverberates throughout the other dance sections. The rest of the dance section is made from loops (royalty-free, naturally).

For the “jazz” verses, I used the style Depart Dreamy Smooth Jazz:
RealBass 2960 Bass, Acoustic, SmoothBallad
RealDrums-SmoothBalladBrushes
RealPiano 910 Piano, Electric, Rhythm SmoothBallad
RealGuitar 367 Guitar, Electric, Background Dreamy
RealStrings 1219 Vibes, Rhythm JazzBallad

For the “country” chorus, I used the style Branson Acoustic Folk and added a cowbell. I think I need more cowbell.
RealBass 2421 Bass, Acoustic, RockabillySlapBoomChicka
RealDrums-CountryTrain
RealPiano 1610 Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm
RealGuitar 2518 Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking BoomChic
RealStrings 2517 Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking BoomChi
RealDrums-CowbellEv
Posted By: Torrey Bliss Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/21/20 10:04 PM
Bizarre, odd, strange, beautiful and wonderful all in one package! This is some of the most creative stuff I've ever heard here or anywhere Scott! I beg to differ with you on your statement "this ain't art". This is artistic to the hilt!!!! I enjoyed it and your vocal work was great too! Thanks, Torrey
Posted By: Rustyspoon# Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/21/20 10:28 PM
Ezekiel's Storm,
You got me all intrigued with the story, honestly I expected something completely different.

THAT WAS AWESOME! I can only imagine how much fun you had making this. Such a cool non-kosher musical dish with other "unknown" ingredients! It is art alright! Whimsical, colorful and fun. Really cool vocal modulations. Enjoyed it!

Thank you for sharing.

Misha.
Posted By: Al-David Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/21/20 10:45 PM
Well now ... was that a surprise, or what??!!! I smiled all the way through it. This gets a full A+ for creativity and imagination. This is such great entertainment. I may have to ante up for another ticket and take that ride again ... what a great listen!

BTW, I love Hamburger Helper. I make it about once a month (I do all the cooking as my wife is significantly disabled). But i add a few of my own magical touches. YUM YUM!!!!

Seriously, that was great listen ... still smiling! Wishing you the best and be safe ...

Alan
Posted By: dani48 Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/22/20 02:59 AM
Hi, Scott !


This was something extraordinary
and I cannot even begin to
figure out how difficult
this must have been to produce !

Magic, is the right word for this
magnifique tune !

Cheers
Dani
Posted By: TuneMonger Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/22/20 02:37 PM
Wow, it actually sounds like you put a lot of care and craft into this. I got a kick out of it. Being a vegan, I'm not into Hamburger Helper either. But sounds like it was worth a song! Good work!
Posted By: AudioTrack Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/22/20 04:00 PM
Well delivered nonsensical fun. Yes, you must have enjoyed gluing that together.
Different? Yes, very grin
Posted By: Robertkc Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/22/20 07:33 PM
My thanks to your sis for prompting this wacky concoction out of your childhood archives; its highly polished silliness I thoroughly enjoyed. Mooo!

Robert
Posted By: MarioD Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/22/20 08:46 PM
Kidney beans? Chickens and cheese? Squash? Hamburger helper? How in God's name did you make these into one fantastic song? Lots of variation in rhythms also. Not to mention a audience!

Were in hell did the cow come from?

I really liked this one.
Posted By: Janice & Bud Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/23/20 11:58 AM
The extremely well written backstory was worth the price of admission!

Speaking of admission you could probably charge it for folks
to be inside your head while you were putting this together smile

Strange, different, polyrhythmic...but ultimately CREATIVE to the max.

We like Robert's words, "highly polished silliness."

In our wildest imagination we could never see putting something like
this together. My head spins after 6 tracks.

I suspect many, many listeners would add this to their definition of art.

It's an amazing display of you, BiaB and loops all melded into a heckuva production.

FUN!!!!

J&B
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/23/20 12:56 PM
Well, I can honestly say I've never heard anything quite like this before!

Man, what a ride! One of the coolest songs I've ever heard here actually.

"I can't even hear myself think", great way to end it!
Posted By: floyd jane Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/23/20 07:43 PM
HA! Very clever, Scott. And Entertaining. And ear-worm-y...

Excellent arrangement/production and mix. Nice vocals.too!! Which is all secondary to how "artsy" this is - regardless of your comment to the contrary...

(My first year in college, I subsisted on Hamburger Helper - Lasagna flavor. Haven't had it since)

fj
Posted By: Tangmo Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/23/20 08:33 PM
This one is a bit different than my usual. This one is a bit different than anybody's usual.

I'm not sure words have been invented to describe just how hard I laughed hearing this (and the accompanying back story). All I can tell you, "I'm HEALED!" Thanks.

I was the same kind of kid and never really outgrew it. Happily, I seem to be passing that on.

Hilarious, but not artless. This is just fantastic.
Posted By: Ezekiel's Storm Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/25/20 08:25 PM
Torrey, Misha, Al, Tunemonger, Video Track, Robert, Mario, Janice & Bud: Thank you for your encouraging and positive comments because I was a bit apprehensive about posting this song.

Dani: Thank you. I worked on this sporadically when I found the time. Doing it that way made it less overwhelming and gave me more time to create (and mess around).

Dave: Thanks. That end line goes back to my basement band days and my mom would tell us it was too loud and that she couldn't hear herself think. She likes the song, by the way.

Floyd: Thanks for the listen. Hamburger Helper - I feel your pain. laugh

Tangmo: My mom has always told me I was a smart a**. The back story and the song is just me being my smart a** self. I never outgrew that either. grin
Posted By: Scott C Re: The Chicken and Cheese Song - 04/27/20 12:26 PM
I must say I got a real chuckle from your song. I think this is very creative and well done. Vocals were excellent Thanks for sharing.
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