Edwin Birdsong : Cola Bottle Baby

Okay, now, if you've been paying attention, you should recognize this tune. That's because Daft Punk sampled it for their awesome "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Edwin Birdsong was a minor player in the 70's funk field with his song "Rapper Dapper Snapper" that's also been sampled a bit.

The song is a loping funk piece built on a descending hook crafted with bubbling late-70's analog synths that gives it a very warm feel. It's not a burner, but it's got a good groove and reminds me a bit of P-Funk tracks from the same period. 


I really don't have much more to say about it. It's a fun track, though, and leads off Edwin's 1979 self-titled album, on which it's followed by the track "Phiss-Phizz".  Apparently he was into carbonation.  I pulled my copy from the appropriately named compilation Discovered: As Sampled By Daft Punk.

[You can listen to Edwin Birdsong's "Cola Bottle Baby" by navigating to the post "Song092" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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The Eagles : The Disco Strangler

I don't have much to say about the Eagles. I mean, they're the fucking Eagles for god's sake. What could I say that hasn't been written already? Except that one of the functions of this blog is to introduce you to interesting music you probably haven't heard before, and this song almost certainly falls into this category (unless you're a huge Eagles fan).

It is a very strange song. It sounds a bit like someone rammed "Life in the Fast Lane" headlong into Studio 54 and the result was this mangled wreckage of a tune. It's funky, fooling around with a disco offbeat, but it's hypersyncopated, too funky to really dance to. The angular guitar is clearly a Walshian Eagles lick, but it's off-kilter with the rest of the track and the snare staggers around like a drunk at closing time. The whole thing stumbles along, seemingly ready to come crashing down at any moment, but it manages to hold itself together, and in the end you end up with a frustratingly catchy tune.

"The Disco Strangler" is available on the Eagles' final 70's release, The Long Run, which has a bunch of hits on it, as well as the so-awesome-I-almost-posted-it-instead "Those Shoes".

Listen to "The Disco Strangler" on Spotify.
Listen to The Long Run of Spotify.

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The B-52's : 52 Girls

I'm not a huge fan of The B-52's, but some of their stuff is pretty good. You've almost certainly heard "Love Shack", which despite it's over-saturation is still a good song, and I'm assuming you've heard "Rock Lobster" at least once. "52 Girls" comes from the same eponymous debut album as "Rock Lobster" and has that same stripped down dance rock feel.

The song itself is relatively simple, with just your basic guitar/drum/bass combo jamming on a very danceable groove that barely changes across the entire song, even from verse to chorus. The two female vocalists, Kate and Cindy (Fred is nowhere to be found, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view), sing the lyrics together in a nice close harmony throughout the song.

What really makes the song so arresting is the vocal phrasing. The lyrics are stretched and condensed over the constant beat, like verbal rubber bands. For instance, in the chorus, 'name' is sung three times in succession, and each time it gains an extra syllable. 'Tina and Louise' are crammed together almost into a single syllable, whereas 'Madge' gets four and 'Reba' stretches over nearly eight bars. It's an odd but very effective technique, resulting in a very prog, almost jazz-like feel.

Then, there's the lyrics themselves. Who are all these people? Why on Earth do I need to 'name them today'? The only clue I can find is they mention Kate and Cindy, so perhaps these are just names of women they know. Also, the names seem to trend from old-fashioned to modern as the song progresses, so maybe the song is a shout out to their relatives. Or maybe it's just a list of names. In any case, there aren't 52 of them, but don't let that stop you from enjoying it.

As previously mentioned, you can find "52 Girls" on the B-52's 1979 self-titled album, which also houses "Rock Lobster", both of which are great songs. The album itself is considered a true classic, though for the most part, I'm ambivalent.

[You can listen to the B-52's "52 Girls" by navigating to the post "Song049" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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