There is a strange question I started being asked after my one-man band act; “Are you a musician or a comedian?”
“I’m a musician.” I would say.
“Well why are you funny, then?”
For those that never saw my one-man band, I should paint a picture: in my show, I played several instruments at once, I tap danced and (arguably) told humorous anecdotes. It was, in fairness more of a one-man show than a one-man band. Perhaps I did this to disguise what I thought were my own musical inadequacies. And why not? People liked it and I think it’s fair to say that if you ever saw Mayor McCa play, you’d remember it.
Some memorable song titles include, “Hooray For Beer, Hey Man, You Gotta Nice Job and I Love The Summer Cause I Love The Women”. All of these songs are funny but there is a genuineness to all of them. “A Love Song For Queen Victoria” is an ode to a Queen I know very little about but I love because in Canada, we get a day off on her birthday.
I’ve always thought that an honest song is a good song. If the lyric comes from a place of honesty, then people see and relate to it. For example, when Bob Marley sings, “every little thing is going to be alright” or John Lennon sings, “imagine all the people living life in peace” we believe it, because it’s honest. If an insincere person sang it, we wouldn’t buy it. Well I don’t, anyway.
For some reason, people refuse to take a humorous songs seriously. Most of my favourite songwriters are really funny but for some reason, some listeners feel that quality and humour are separated.
Let’s choose a pretty serious songwriter as an example: Bob Dylan. Have you ever heard any of his Talking Blues songs? They’re absolutely hilarious and poignant. He wrote these around the same time as he wrote some of his most serious, topical songs. I don’t think one detracts from the other.
My favourite songwriter is Randy Newman who really knows how to make a point and make one laugh at the same time. This sometimes makes difficult subjects easier and more palatable to consider. Just listen to, ‘Political Science’ to catch my drift.
The Beatles were known for their charm and sense of humour on and off stage but it doesn’t detract from their songs’ excellence.
I could go on about bands like Ween or songwriters like Nilsson. I could even remind you that one of Canada’s greatest indie-rock heroes are actually The Barenaked Ladies, who in 1991, when people still bought music, outsold Michael Jackson with an indie cassette! Yet, it’s unfashionable to mention this fact because many do not consider them, ‘a serious band’.
To be clear, I am not in any way trying to compare myself to any of the above mentioned artists. I just mention this because often the same people who enjoyed my amusing show would kindly suggest that if I was less funny, perhaps I’d be taken more seriously. The funny thing is; I think they were probably right.
By the time I was getting ready to record my fourth studio album, I decided to address these concerns of humour with a serious music industry head on with a song I called, ‘A Liddabidda Fun’.
“A man in the paper
Said that I stink
Because I am not serious
He said to thee,
In the opinion of me,
“Music is serious business”
But there ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
It’s funner than counting
Back from three, two, one
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
If you’re stuck outside
And you cannot find your key
Just sing this little tune,
“Tweedle-deedle, deedle
Deedle dee dee”
A squirrel will help you out
Yes, he will sure help you
He’ll climb through the window
And open the door
And that is how you’re
Going to get through
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
It’s funner than counting
Back from three, two, one
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
If you eat an apple
And you eat the core too
Be very, very careful
Cos here is what
Apple cores will do
A tree will grow
Inside your tummy
And even though
That may sound yummy
The leaves in your throat
Will make you choke
And that’s no fun
For the girls and the blokes
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun
It’s funner than counting
Back from three, two, one
Ain’t nothing wrong
With a little bit of fun”
The final recording include a verse in French, a belly solo and a fart verse.
To answer to the question am I a musician or a comedian, I'll quote Bob Dylan; "I like to think of myself as a song and dance man".
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