O Canada: Green Eggs and Ham

Moxy Fruvous: Green Eggs and Ham

[purchase other Fruvous classics]

I came late to the Fruhead table, but like many fans, once I fell for their irreverent, geeky lyrics, lightly instrumented four part harmonies, theatrical performance, and political savvy, I was in for the duration. We've posted crowd favorite King of Spain before, as part of our Aristocrats theme; head back in time if you want to hear my favorite Moxy Fruvous track, or to learn more about the band in its heyday.

Today, in an attempt to match the irreverence introduced by David's McKenzie Brothers post earlier in the week, we turn to what is perhaps the most requested cover ever to have been posted on Cover Lay Down: Moxy Fruvous' nerd rap remake of Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham, which came from their eponymous 1992 six-song demo tape. I converted the track from cassette myself; to this day, the song, like the demo it came from, remains a complete rarity.

Sadly, Moxy Fruvous broke up in the early Naughties after a decade on the road. But all four band members remain quintessentially Canadian: Murray Foster performs and tours with Great Big Sea; Dave Matheson produces other Canadian singer-songwriters and is an active member of the Guild of Canadian Film & TV Composers; thanks to a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, Mike Ford tours schools with a repertoire of historical songs about Canadian history. And after a failed attempt at a solo musical career, Jian Ghomeshi hosts an arts and cultural program on CBC, where he made the blogs last year for an awkward moment with Billy Bob Thornton in which the popular actor-turned-rockabilly singer made several inappropriate comments about Canadian audiences, calling them "mashed potatoes without the gravy."

Shorties: How To Find a Shorty

In the course of finding songs for this week’s theme, and reading other people’s posts, I have developed a set of rules for finding shorties. If we ever decide to do a second week of shorties, I hope this will help.

1. Find a song by an artist or band who are known for short songs.

When They Might Be Giants first got together, they had a common problem; no one would sign them. They came up with an unusual solution. They recorded songs that were under a minute long each, and put a different song each day as an answering machine message. Then they plastered signs all over New York City to let people know about their Dial-a-Song service. It caught on, and was even reported in the New York Times where I first heard of it, and soon enough They Might Be Giants were signed to the Bar-None label. Many of the Dial-a-Song tunes found their way onto their early albums.

They Might Be Giants: Token Back to Brooklyn

[purchase]

2. Go with a TV theme or a cover of one.

Spiderman has been made into an animated TV series many times, but this Spiderman theme comes from the first series, made in the 1960s. The original Spiderman cartoon was animated by Ralph Bakshi, who went on to make the movies Fritz the Cat and Wizards.

Moxy Fruvous: Spiderman

[purchase]

3. Use a kid’s song.

From My Head comes from an episode of Sesame Street. It is a rare example of a jazz singer doing anything in less than two minutes. Kid’s songs often come in at under two minutes; there seems to be a widespread belief that no kid will pay attention for longer than that.

Betty Carter: From Your Head

[unreleased, no purchase info]

and, 4. Go with an older song.

Generally speaking, the older a pop song is, the shorter it is. That is because recording and transfer technology limited the length of a recording that would fit on a vinyl single and still sound decent. At the time that the Clovers cut their classic, the upward limit for a single was 2:30. But Love Potion #9 is even shorter.

The Clovers: Love Potion #9

[purchase]

Leftovers (Fifty States): Arizona, Florida, North Dakota, Utah

I would have loved to have been around for this theme – even in retrospect, I can read between the [state] lines of the mad scramble in being first to post, as all 50 finally were covered, albeit with some boundary-stretching. I have perused the entirety of submissions, as well as related comments, and feel fairly confident my picks below were not mentioned!

The Nudes: Arizona

[purchase]

The Nudes (a.k.a. Walter Parks and Stephanie Winters) were a musical- and romantic–duo, he on guitar and she on cello – their sound was jazzy, moody, sultry (BH cover alert: Norwegian Wood)… and quite captivating until they went their separate ways in 1999. The first time I saw Dar Williams in a tiny bar in Ft. Myers, Florida (January 1998) she was accompanied by Stephanie (and Ellis Paul was her opener!) – post-breakup, Walter became a touring sideman for Richie Havens… and now Stephanie has joined the two of them on the road, she and Walter reuniting as Winters & Parks.

Richard Julian: Florida

[purchase]

I first saw Richard Julian at the Cleveland Folk Alliance (2000), introduced by Buddy Mondlock, who I was already a fan of – we exchanged cards, I invited him down for a house concert and put together a mini-tour as enticement. He was only just beginning to open for Norah Jones, and has since formed The Little Willies (also with Norah), as well as continuing a solo career – love this dark side of the Parrothead pendulum swing (which was written and recorded *before* the visit with us!).

Kris Delmhorst: North Dakota

[purchase]

Ah, Kris – she would have been my first house concert (January 2000), had not her flight been delayed from Boston, due to snow – I had to call/e-mail all 35 invitees and tell them the show could not go on (as they re-routed her through Texas, arriving in Ft. Lauderdale the following morning for our South Florida Folk Festival). Appetite is in my Top Ten, her songwriting so wise for someone so young – love the spare instrumentation on this tune, her heart beating for the state in which he’s never stepped foot…

Brian Joseph: Utah

[purchase]

Brian Joseph too was a Folk Alliance discovery (San Diego 2003) and a house concert artist later that year – BH, I should send you his version (with Melanie Hersch) of Walk Like An Egyptian. Brian is tall, funny and quirky - Utah, the hidden track on We’re Gonna Laugh, cleverly describes a state of long-distance mind over matter…


P.S. This theme would of course not be complete without Fruvous’ The Lowest Highest Point!

The Bountiful Feast: Johnny Saucep'n

Moxy Fruvous: Johnny Saucep’n

[purchase]

I’m thinking my two-fer of songs here is a perfect segue from Ramone666’s serving… of food and… um… Bill…

Ten 10 years ago, a friend (who at the time was a record store manager) enticed me with the “if you like Barenaked Ladies, you’ll love Moxy Fruvous" philosophy – he was, of course, absolutely right and Live Noise was my first purchase, which remains in my car and is an Absolute Must for any more-than-two-hours road trip my family and I undertake. My children were raised to chime in on “don’t mention Lisa”… and even my husband, Neil Young/James Taylor devotee that he is, appreciates the a cappella version of Gotta Get a Message to You…

Boyhowdy waxed most poetically about the group a few weeks ago during our Aristocrats theme – since we’re both Falcon Ridge attendees, wondering if he, like me, secretly wished to hear Johnny Saucep’n performed at the festival. Every song on every stage is signed by ASL interpreters – this fast-paced ditty would have been quite the challenge even for Jody, the most experienced!

My aforementioned friend was devastated when the group announced a split… and still thinks they’re “on hiatus” – as with Santa, I’d prefer to continue believing as well…

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And... as a ginsu knife/bamboo steamer bonus, I’d like to offer up a tune written by Maggi, Pierce and E.J., a delightfully talented and eclectic group from the Philadelphia area I hosted in house concerts a few times, and booked gigs for – they wrote this song (not available on any official recording) as an homage to Fruvous... about a different sort of cooking (shades of Joni’s “sittin’ on my groceries”, eh?)…

Maggi, Pierce and E.J.: Saucy Johnny

P.S. BH, check out their Live Covers CD...

The Aristocrats: King of Spain

Moxy Fruvous: King of Spain

[purchase]

Royalty, lord it looked good on me
Buried in silk in the royal boudoir or going nuclear free
Or playing Crokinole with the Princess of Monaco
Telling my jokes to the OPEC leaders, getting it all on video

Like so many folkies, I once considered Canadian ex-folkrockers Moxy Fruvous "our" rock band, though looking back, I find that such ownership was primarily endemic to a particular New England ruralfolk mindset -- one extraordinarily provincial, in fact, as evidenced by in-joke C-side Beware The Killer Tents, which name-drops a good several dozen older folk musicians who were in attendance at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival the year that the winds were so heavy that at least one camper's tent took to the air, soaring above the festival mainstage like a bright and tiny hot air balloon, to live forever in infamy and song among a tiny slice of those who were there, and care.

But no matter the in-crowd, and no matter the unplugged geekrock sound, the folk connection is obvious, as is the glee with which they present it. As a general case, though their mid-career work got a bit folksappy, Moxy Fruvous at their best present a particularly ecosensitive mindset mapped in vocal-heavy madness; here, on one of several catchy numbers from their indie label debut Bargainville, they apply this winning solution to a delightful tale of an honest royal's rise and fall a la the same bait and switch that made the classic tale of the Prince and Pauper so memorable, with the abdication of the throne in favor of socialized foodstuffs and good honest work in the northernmost lands of the American continent, where royalty is still celebrated at a distance via coinage and faint-praise tribute, but the people truly rule.

I considered this silly ditty for our previous theme, but it belongs here, too, and I'm happy to have a second chance to share it. Though the band remains on indefinite hiatus after a mere decade of existence (circa 1989 to 2000), I'd encourage those charmed by the Fruvous sound to pursue the Fruhead archives.