One Time Only Concert Songs

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 10:55 am

QUOTE performed for a limited time - sometimes just once or twice - but never again.

Actually, it's hard to say how many times these songs were played. I think it's pretty clear Albuquerque was only performed live once, and for obvious reasons.

QUOTE I know its a fan favorite, but its just very hard to do live. We performed it when we did a show in Albuquerque (we pretty much had to), but then my voice was trashed for a week afterwards.

But I wonder about songs like Such A Groovy Guy, which is one of my favorites. (I wonder if Al could be persuaded to do it again live, in costume?)

And I do wonder what the Albuquerque fake out was.

Hey, JD. Good topic. And you get bonus points for surfing the setlists just for fun! You are a good fan.

:biggrin:

Post by **JDTurnbull272** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 10:58 am

What kind of costume did he wear for "Such A Groovy Guy"? The patchwork pants?

Maybe the ALbuquerque Fake Version was shorter or had some new stuff in it.

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:02 am

QUOTE What kind of costume did he wear for \"Such A Groovy Guy\"?

QUOTE I got my aligator boots

I wear my pants skin tight

I wear my dark sun glasses in the middle of the night

And when I look in the mirror, I'm such an awesome sight

He's so cute I can hardly stand it...

Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:03 am

QUOTE But he was opening for \"Missing Persons\" so perhaps there weren't too many young kids. And the ones that were there were already warped.

Huh? :dontgetit: The way I'm reading the setlist archive, both "Bottle" and "Orgy On My Own" were played at Knott's Berry Farm, not in Santa Monica at the Missing Persons concert. Come on down some time and I'll show you how far apart Buena Park and Santa Monica are.

My theory is that, since for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, those songs were Al's reaction to his mom's careful edits of the Sears catalog and Nat'l Geographic, not to mention the kibosh on Dr. Demento, while he was growing up. And once you've written your declaration of independence, you don't have to keep on writing it. You can go on to other things.

Post by **JDTurnbull272** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:09 am

Well those songs weren't made too long after he got out of his parents control. He probably felt like expressing....Silence....well, something. Or he could just have been trying to have some fun! It would be funny to hear him sing something like that. But only because we are used to the non-disgusting songs(I mean topics he doesn't sing about! Not stuff like "The Night Santa Went Crazy")

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:10 am

QUOTE

Huh? :dontgetit: The way I'm reading the setlist archive, both \"Bottle\" and \"Orgy On My Own\" were played at Knott's Berry Farm, not in Santa Monica at the Missing Persons concert. Come on down some time and I'll show you how far apart Buena Park and Santa Monica are.

Oops. My mistake. Hey, for me anything south of the Oregon border is all LA.

QUOTE My theory is that... once you've written your declaration of independence, you don't have to keep on writing it. You can go on to other things.

Good point. Not that there's anything wrong with those songs. Just seems a bit out of character. But then, he was still developing that character. And I think as a parody, it is pretty good. I mean he took a deadly serious love song, gave it a twist and it still works as a love song.

What surprises me is how early he was doing some of the songs like Yoda. That song is a bit timeless. Probably because he chose to put it to a classic tune, but it sounds like something he wrote much later.

Either that, or I am in serious denial about how old I am...

Post by **JDTurnbull272** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:18 am

QUOTE

Either that, or I am in serious denial about how old I am...

Well you may be older than some of us, but at least you have the capabilities to remember times before us and understand more of Weird Al's 80's songs than the younger later 80's and childhood 90's kids have.

I used to think that Yoda was written during the making of the "Dare To Be Stupid" ALbum. Well to find out it was an earlier song (one of Al's first concert songs for that much.) Isn't "Wipeout" ALready a song?

We Won't Eat Another Hero (We Don't Need Another Hero) sounds HILARIOUS!!! I would give anything to hear a full version of the song! (Heck even the Medley Version.)

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 11:46 am

QUOTE Isn't \"Wipeout\" ALready a song?

If it is the song I am thinking of (it was a favorite of every band that ever played for a dance at my high school) I don't know who did the original. I'm not that old, but it is basically a song that showcases the drums.

In fact, I don't know that I have ever heard lyrics, so perhaps it is just an instrumental number? Done with an accordion lead in Al's cover, no doubt. Now that is funny.

I googled Wipeout and found out that it is an instrumental by someone named Scott Elson, recorded in 1967. Yes, I was alive at the time, but not tall enough to reach the radio tuner.

And for you young whipper-snappers, if you haven't heard it here is a midi that will give you an idea of what you are missing. The way I have usually heard it, it just gets faster and faster and faster....

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/9151/wipeout.mid

It would be great to hear Al and the band do this song.

Post by **Dr_Dad** » Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:47 pm

====================================================

Hmm?? What?!? Hey!! Wait a minute -- what are YOU doing here?? Why on earth are you looking in THIS long forgotten post?? Are you trying to ... Oh! OHHH!! Oh, *I* get it!! Are you looking for some kind of winning phrase? Did you think you had found the Hidden Challenge in this post or something?? You DID???? HA HA HAAA!!! Well, guess what? You better just keep looking around here then, smartiepants! HA HA HAAA!!!

Doc Probst

====================================================

Isn't "Wipeout" ALready a song?

If it is the song I am thinking of (it was a favorite of every band that ever played for a dance at my high school) I don't know who did the original. I'm not that old, but it is basically a song that showcases the drums.

In fact, I don't know that I have ever heard lyrics, so perhaps it is just an instrumental number? Done with an accordion lead in Al's cover, no doubt. Now that is funny.

I googled Wipeout and found out that it is an instrumental by someone named Scott Elson, recorded in 1967. Yes, I was alive at the time, but not tall enough to reach the radio tuner.

Mmmmm .... no.
The classic version of the surfing tune standard was written and performed by the group the Surfaris and made it to #2 on the charts in 1963. It starts with a rather maniacal echoing laugh followed by a breathy sigh stating the song's title ["A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA ... wipeout ...."], then blazes into a frenzy of infectious guitar riffs and drumming for the rest of the otherwise instrumental ditty. It IS THE ultimate surfing song to most folks, and has been used as background music for multiple movies and short clips featuring surfing. It has been covered multiple times -- probably also by this Scott Olsen guy -- but most notably when the Beach Boys and the rap group the Fat Boys collaborated on a 1987 cover that made it to #5 [and isn't as bad as you'd think it'd be with rappers].

Some interesting info on the tune. The guy who did the laugh in the beginning was the band's original manager Dale Smallin. The song itself was originally the B-side to a tune called "Surfer Joe", about a mythical surfer the drummer had a dream of and was inspired to write a song for. Written in about 15 minutes, "Wipeout" was originally envisioned as a throwaway tune, the classic drum solos of which were actually marching cadences for the high school marching band the drummer was in. And guess which song became the hit??

:dontgetit: :nervous:

Okay, okay, in case you can't tell ... I love this tune ...

It would be great to hear Al and the band do this song.

Abso-friggin-lutely!! To hear an accordion version of the guitar riffs with Bermuda's incredible drumming would be ...

wow ... approaching nirvana.

It is one of the Al rarities I would most love to have ... that and the cover Al did in his coffeehouse days of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements", one of my all time Lehrer favs ... and one I can still sing in its entirety today.

:choon: *sigh* A guy can dream ....

Dr.Dad
[who regrettably -- to me anyway -- was indeed alive to hear the original Surfaris hit, but not able to reach the radio dial then either ... :lookround: ]
Oh, and, by the way ... yes ... yes, you ARE a smartiepants. Because you did exactly what I said to do -- you KEPT LOOKING. And guess what?? YOU FOUND IT!! YOU FOUND THE "HIDDEN CHALLENGE"!!! PM me ASAP telling me you found the hidden challenge -- and you MUST include the "winning phrase" of "SMARTIEPANTS" somewhere in the body of your message to me. If you're the first to send it to me, YOU WIN!!

Thu Jan 23, 2003 5:36 pm

QUOTE

The classic version of the surfing tune standard was written and performed by the group the Surfaris and made it to #2 on the charts in 1963. It starts with a rather maniacal echoing laugh followed by a breathy sigh stating the song's title [\"A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA ... wipeout ....\"], then blazes into a frenzy of infectious guitar riffs and drumming for the rest of the otherwise instrumental ditty. It IS THE ultimate surfing song to most folks, and has been used as background music for multiple movies and short clips featuring surfing

It's also being played in heavy rotation on the PA music for the Knott's Berry Farm (back to Knott's again!) water park. Listening to it while one floats around a fake river in an inner tube is not a bad way to experience the song, although, thematically, listening to it on some of the wilder flume rides that look like maniacal spaghetti in the sky would be even more appropriate. But I'm not that kind of girl.

[just to wrench this back on-topic: it occurs to me that one positive aspect of Al's chosen genre is that his stuff never winds up on Muzak.)