I went to a play last night -- actually, a one-man show written and performed by the Brooklyn artist Mac Premo (full disclosure: My brother-in-law). It was an autobiographical piece of performance art, and it closed with a song I hadn't heard or thought of in many years: Camper van Beethoven's version of "Pictures of Matchstick Men", which was originally a hit for Status Quo back in 1967.
The CVB version came along 22 years later, just prior to the band's dissolution. Frontman David Lowery went on to form Cracker, a more straightforward rock outfit that largely did away with many of the folk, psychedelic and world music elements that made Camper van Beethoven so good. The track starts with a fiddle part -- vintage CVB -- before launching into something sounding more like what Lowery would go on to do in Cracker.
One of the Discordants celebrates a birthday today -- a rather monumental birthday. And to mark that milestone, I present my top five birthday songs of all time. I tried to pick songs that are out of the mainstream -- everyone knows "Birthday" by the Beatles, Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", "Birthday" by the Sugarcubes and the Smiths' "Unhappy Birthday". And frankly, none of those songs would crack my top five anyway. Here's my list:
#5 The Ting Tings - "Happy Birthday" (from Yo Gabba Gabba)
Cover of the classic Altered Images song complete with 80s dancing and a slew of adorable kids. Not to mention birthday boy Brobee and DJ Lance. After all, listening and dancing to music is awesome.
#4 Lee Scratch Perry - "Happy Birthday"
The Beastie Boys did a song with him and named it in his honor. Plus, everyone needs some classic dub on their birthday.
#3 The Fall - "Birthday"
Cover of the 1968 Idle Race song which was written by Jeff Lynne. Interesting note, this song contains no apparent contribution from Mark E. Smith. The Fall also have another very good song called "Birthday Song", which was written and performed by MES. (See below)
#2 The Vandals - "Happy Birthday to Me"
Huntington Beach's finest. Great punk rock lyrics like "It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to. F--- you, it's my birthday." And it gets better from there. This is not the same song as the Cracker song of the same name, which is also a great tune.
#1 Cibo Matto - "Birthday Cake"
Grand Royal's own. You'll laugh your way through this one when you play it for the first time, but after a couple of spins, you'll love it. "Extra sugar! Extra Salt! Extra oil and MSG!!"
So there's my five favorite birthday songs. Now, I would expect you to ask me to name ten, so here goes:
