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yarstruly 
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 Topic: Does humor belong in prog?
Posted: October 23 2006 at 11:58 |
Inspired by the "Song Ruined by one Bad Moment" thread....
It seems to me that some proggers miss the inherant humor put into songs from time to time....The Rap section of RTB for instance....Can proggers be to seroius?
To paraphrase FZ:
Does humor belong in prog?
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bhikkhu
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:04 |
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Absolutely. Humor belongs everywhere. Pink Floyd showed humor with "Seamus" and "San Tropez." King Crimson had "Cat Food," "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream," and "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum." Genesis was never afraid to include a laugh or two. Then there is Frank Zappa ...
Edited by bhikkhu - October 23 2006 at 12:05
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alias10mr
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:07 |
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Why should'nt humour be in prog? Harrold the Barrel by Genesis is a song that comes to mind. I think sometimes when an artist takes him(her)self too seriously they become a caricature instead of credible. The opposite can also be true, though. Generally it's always fun to see a group that shares their humour with their audience. The duplicity makes the audience feel involved.
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Ricochet
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:14 |
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Absolutely. It's practically a taste and a style.
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WaywardSon
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:15 |
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Seriously, although a lot of people like Zappa´s humor, it actually puts me off listening to him. A little bit of humor here and there is OK but songs about giant poodle dogs and song titles like "Titties and Beer" just don´t do it for me.
Edited by WaywardSon - October 23 2006 at 12:35
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Peter
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:15 |
Ah -- I think this was the first thread I ever posted here, and it's been done several times since then. 
Expect mixed opinions....
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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yarstruly
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:16 |
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Oh yeah...the humor is definitely THERE....but it seems that so many prog fans take the music so seriously that they can't enjoy it...that's what I was trying to get across....
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Neil
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:18 |
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Genesis certainly included an English public school humour into their lyrics. What about Aisle of Plenty at the end of SEBTP? Word play with supermarket names and discounted products. It's scrambled eggs!
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When people get lost in thought it's often because it's unfamiliar territory.
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yarstruly
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:20 |
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Actually...I think that there is a lot of self-perody on Toramto on songs like Arriving UFO & Circus of Heaven, but many Yes fans take Yes music so seriously that they missed it.....
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Fassbinder
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:24 |
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Humour belongs to Prog as an integral part of the life, not much and not less. Also, every listener has a right not to accept any particular attempt to be humorous from the side of an artist.
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Peter
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:26 |
 For anyone interested, here's version # 1 of this oft-explored topic:
(For the record, it seems my first ever thread was "Is classic prog timeless?")
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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yarstruly
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:27 |
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I apologize for not checking 1st :)
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sm sm
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:34 |
With Zappa, it was either humorous pop songs or classical/jazz compositions.
Personally, I find his humorous stuff becoming dated, like Disco Boy, Valley Girl, but compositions like Peaches in Regala will stand the test of time.
It's tough to write a humorous song/compostion and not sound like Weird Al Yankovic.
Progressive music, like jazz and classical is very serious in nature and humor is understandably very rare to find it
It may be an adventerous avenue more proggers will take, but more in the instrumental area like "flight of the bumblebee", than songs mentioned in above posts
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fuxi
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:37 |
 Peter Rideout wrote:
(For the record, it seems my first ever thread was "Is classic prog timeless?") |
I just had a look, and I'd recommend this previous thread to anyone, if only for the wonderful parody of the lyrics of 'And you and I' by Dan Bobrowski!
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Peter
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:37 |
yarstruly wrote:
I apologize for not checking 1st :) |
Hey, no problem. That really doesn't bother me -- I don't think it's realistic to expect folks to always check, especially when they are inspired, as you were.
I just thought that perhaps you and others might find it interesting to check out some earlier thoughts on this matter, and also catch a glimpse of the forum in its infancy. (See how opinions then & now compare, & see who was here then, but gone -- or still here -- now.)
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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el böthy
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:38 |
I remember, before I got into prog I saw some special in TV about 70 music ( I think it was from the BBC) and the only think they said about prog was about The Dark side of the moon, and then the guitarist of Fleedwood Mac said something like "In the early 70 there were some musicians that thought they could so classical music and started to ruin rock..." or something like that, and then they showed a clip of Rick Wakeman in studio playing three keys like if that was a bad thing, and to finish this stupid statement this guitarist (dont know the name, not interested either, but it was not Peter Green) says that this kind of music was murded by their musicians because they had no humour and took themself to seriuosly...ahhhhh how stupid can this people be!!! So my first thought about prog were that its too serious
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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fuxi
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2006
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:46 |
WaywardSon wrote:
Seriously, although a lot of people like Zappa´s humor, it actually puts me off listening to him. A little bit of humor here and there is OK but songs about giant poodle dogs and song titles like "Titties and Beer" just don´t do it for me. |
I'll admit the title of 'Titties and Beer' may sound banal, but let's be honest: this is a subject many guys are interested in. Zappa sang about the way people really are. And have you actually heard the tune? It's really funky, and wonderfully played.
But perhaps the most humorous Zappa composition is 'The Illinois Enema Bandit' (on IN NEW YORK). It brings a grin to my face every time I hear it. And it's an outrageous parody of the blues!
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Peter
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:47 |
fuxi wrote:
Peter Rideout wrote:
For" border=0
(For the record, it seems my first ever thread was "Is classic prog timeless?") |
I just had a look, and I'd recommend this previous thread to anyone, if only for the wonderful parody of the lyrics of 'And you and I' by Dan Bobrowski! |
 Yeah, that was a howler all right (though ol' Dan didn't pen that parody).
Geez -- we were so few then, and thus we knew each other fairly well. You can see friendships which still endure emerging.
Excuse me a moment....
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Cynic
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 12:48 |
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Humor is great to have, its just it wears off and becomes dated very quickly.
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Peter
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Posted: October 23 2006 at 13:15 |
Cynic wrote:
Humor is great to have, its just it wears off and becomes dated very quickly. |
What a cynic....
 I see your point, though -- but does the doom and gloom or "everything sucks/all hope is lost/the grave awaits/we're so serious about Our Art" stance not wear thin too? Is a balanced view  not better?
All of these unsmiling band publicity shots (see any number of the "darker" sig photos here) look so lame and contrived to me. "Okay, I get it: you're all so bad, and despite your girly hair, so much tougher than I am. You'd kill me as soon as look at me!"
 Give me a feckin' break, and smile for the camera sometimes, please. I'll pay for the stitches if your face breaks....
Edited by Peter Rideout - October 23 2006 at 13:18
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Does humor belong in prog?
