A while back, I wrote about this song, which was part of the Master of Song Fu contest originally begun by Kevin Smith's QuckStop Entertainment. I didn't care for it much.
Haleen is a Michigan-based teacher and according to what little I can find out on the webs, he's an aspiring librettist for musicals--and it shows in this song, which tells a little story about the singer in the middle of a dilemma. Faced with his best friend, the woman of his dreams, and an old man who is seriously ill, maybe dying, all in the pouring rain, Haleen's POV character must decide who to give a ride in his car. And he comes up with a solution that gives everyone what they need. It tells a neat little story in a minimum of time, and I could easily see it as part of a small off-Broadway review. And Haleen's voice may not be distinctive, but it is certainly fits the style that he writes songs in--and in that context, he excels. Hell, after hearing this, I'm curious to hear the musical adaptation he wrote of Jean Merrill's The Pushcart Wars.
Going back to that first song I talked about in last year's 30Ds30Ss, I can definitely say that this is the kind of thing I was referring to when I said there is some real gold in those MoSF mixes. Sure, it's not exactly the kind of thing I can imagine grooving to as I make my way down Myrtle Avenue, but it is something cool to listen to when I'm working around the house.
No video, but you can read the lyrics, download the mp3, and/or read a little essay Edric wrote about how he came to write the song here.
This is one of the songs that came from the irregular 'Master of Song-Fu' contest that was run on Kevin Smith's old site, QuickStop Entertainment. These contests took a number of up-and-coming musicians (mixed with some internet faves like Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm), gave them a subject and challenged them to write a song about it.
It's....okay. As someone who followed all six of these competitions, I can safely say there is some real gold in the mix, and also some crap....this is neither. The Baltimore based comedian's paen to ignorance being bliss doesn't really show any creativity--hell, it even ends with a joke stolen from Tom T-Bone Stankus' excellent novelty song, "Existential Blues."
I did make a trip to his website to see if I can glean more about his musical stylings. A quick scan of his web site makes it clear that he's something of a Weird Al manque, producing such novelty numbers as a Beatles parody about House, a Ke$ha parody about the old school video game DigDug and other,similar easy jabs at pop culture. Nothing really made me want to investigate further.
Damn....that's two songs out of five that have been disappointing so far. I fear this year's cycle of 30 Songs, 30 Days may be a rougher ride than I thought....
No video for this one...but here's Ian performing the above-mentioned House parody live...be prepared to be unimpressed.
