- The essential stories behind the tunes -
(in among all the non-essential nonsense)
People As Furniture
(From EP1)
First of all, here's me playing a little bit of the song...
Although it's probably got the worst title I've come up with so far, I'm fond of this song. Not only was it the first (and maybe last?) time a recording came out sounding close to what was in my head, it holds the prize for being the *first ever* LC Pumpkin tune to get on the radio.
Extraordinarily, Jarvis Cocker played it on his Sunday Service programme on BBC 6 just after a Led Zeppelin tune, which is not a sentence I imagined I'd ever be in a position to say, especially about a song recorded in our 1 bedroom flat with only one microphone and some free recording software.
(Jarv looking moody)
Want to hear what he said? Have a listen...
And if that wasn't joyous enough, upon returning home from celebratory drinks in the pub I found that my Italian mother had left this lovely, slightly backhanded compliment on the answer machine:
(Jim's my dad in case you were wondering, and I'm not sure why she was in the loft)
As I'm sure you can tell, she tries her best to be supportive although my music really isn't her cup of tea at all.
She often tells me it's because she prefers listening to music where she can hear some kind of melody...
Speaking of melody, the first four notes of the song's verses were ripped off a song called 'Enemy Destruct' by San Francisco garage-rock titans Thee Oh Sees (who I'll be mentioning again in the not-too-distant-future).
I think I disguised it enough to get away with it but see what you think.
I think I disguised it enough to get away with it but see what you think.
(OK - that's enough of the audio clips)
More Background Information About the Song
When I was a teenager my Italian friend Valeria used to lend me her brother's compilation cassette tapes of rare and obscure 60's music which later led to the discovery of the fantastic Pebbles (Italians pronounce it 'pee-bels') compilations which were a similar thing but put out on record by professional collectors.
My aim for the recording of People As Furniture was to try and make it sound like it would fit alongside those recordings as much as possible, and I think I did a reasonably good job of it.
The Lyrics
I have absolutely no recollection of how, why or where I got the idea for the lyrics. Like most of my songs, they're largely ludicrous and it's probably a good job no-one can make them out. They describe a couple of cartoon-like characters which are pieces of furniture - a bit like a furniture based version of the Mr. Men.
One of them's the low-budget Formica Joe who strives to be seen as someone more impressive than he really is, but unfortunately it's obvious to everyone that deep down he's just a piece of chipboard.
The other character is the pompous, anachronistic old Mahogany James whose family history was built on proud British colonialism and other dubious behaviour.
I did start to come up with a third verse about a plastic school chair which aimed to be full of insightful social commentary about one-size-fits-all mass produced throwaway furniture and symbolically relating it to aspects of how the education system treats children, but in the end the song seemed long enough without it so I just stuck with the initial two inane, inconsequential verses I already had.
If you fancy singing along, here are the words:
Formica Joe has a go at trying to hide behind a thin veneer all the crud he keeps inside.
But he hopes in vein one day he'll be able to show that he's more than just OK for those with standards low.
Formica Joe doesn't know it's a fruitless use of his time.
Mahogany James shows no shame about his ancestry. It's both colonial and featuring incestry. No more a cut above, ways deemed no longer sound, so now he's only loved by those six feet in the ground.
Mahogany James, times have changed and have left you generations behind.
Not my proudest lyrical moment but at least the tune's catchy. It also features what must be one of the very few psychedelic banjo solos in popular music today.
Reader's Contributions !
Originally this page ended with the decorative stars above, but I received a couple of responses which were too good not to include.
Charlie sent this:
Charlie
sent this:
And Crayola Chris sent this:
I think they're both magnificent - a coincidental match made in heaven
(or some sort of peculiar version of it at least)
I think they're both magnificent -
a coincidental match made in heaven
(or some sort of peculiar version of it at least)
Thanks for reading!
