The Elton John Style Parody Mystery

[Big Spoon]

Congrats, remmy! Now that we have the answer, I can definitely hear that it.

[remmy]

I can definitely hear the intention behind it, but the two songs had enough differences that I was only 75% sure my guess was right before Bermuda confirmed it. But now that he has, his comments about instructions being unclear up front make a lot of sense to me. The songs are very similar from a songwriting perspective but Cable TV could have been so dead-on with a little bit of different instrumentation and style.

[TMBJon]

It didn't turn out quite as intended, and I think the instructions just weren't clear up front. I recall hearing afterward that it wasn't really the desired Elton vibe, and thinking 'that would have been simple enough... if only we'd known!'

But the song did turn out nicely, and once you know the answer, you'll hear how it was heading in the Elton direction.

Yep, this checks out.

Cool! Thanks for letting us in on this!

[remmy]

Agreed, thanks Bermuda!

[mrmeadows]

Thank God! This has been torturing me! Great work, Remmy!

Can't say I'm that familiar with Hercules, but plan to listen to it and compare as soon as I get a chance. Although the commenter who said Cable TV was a Randy Newman style-parody doesn't sound like he's completely off-base. I hear Newman in it, too.

[Big Spoon]

I definitely hear a little Newman in Cable TV.

[Genius in Maine]

While I can definitely hear how "Hercules" inspired "Cable TV", it does sound like Al is trying to do Randy Newman's voice in "Cable TV" as well.

[mrmeadows]

Cable TV even sounds lyrically like something Newman might have written.

[Bozarth]

Well, that was a fun thread to read!

[dysequilibrium]

Dang this thread was a rollercoaster to read. I KNEW that Cable TV had to be the Al song because of his deeper vocals and the dominant piano. But I wrongly thought Love Lies Bleeding was the Elton song. In hindsight, Hercules is a better fit.

There’s a few similarities I now see between Cable TV and Hercules, I’ll list the ones my untrained ear has noticed below

• As mentioned before, Al’s deeper vocals

• “I LOVE MY CABLE TVVVV” = “A CAT LIKE HERCULESSSS”

• The aggressive piano jamming at the end of both songs

I’d love to hear if anyone found any other lyrical similarities, I’ve counted syllables and all but found nothing else.