Chris Magyar http://chrismagyar.com A daily regimen of whatever Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:33:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 A daily regimen of whatever Chris Magyar no Chris Magyar chris@chrismagyar.com Kid songs I remember http://chrismagyar.com/?p=152 http://chrismagyar.com/?p=152#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:33:55 +0000 Chris Magyar http://chrismagyar.com/?p=152 One side effect of a child’s endless tolerance for repetition is a powerful memory vault for books, movies and music that we consumed to death at a tender age. I had the epiphany this morning that YouTube probably has all my favorite childhood records online by now, and it turns out to be true. I almost want to weep hearing these again, partly from nostalgia, and partly from embarrassment. Here are four songs that I can vividly remember playing to in the unfinished basement, hopping from colored square of carpet remnant to colored square of carpet remnant in a ritual that was part “the floor is made of lava” and part “my house is a disco.”

1“Run Run Run Otis Lee” by the Cabbage Patch Kids. There’s some convoluted kidnapping story that the entire album follows, but I can’t handle listening to all the tracks right now to reconstruct it. I just remember this countrified ditty, especially my fondness for jumping in the air at the appropriate moment and shouting “WOOGIEE!!” I have no idea what that section of the song means, and I didn’t then, but it’s clearly calculated to make a kid participate, and thus, is pure marketing genius. The fact that I can still name three or four Cabbage Patch Kids to this day shows that Coleco got their money’s worth when they commissioned this album.

2“Turning Blue” by Pac-Man. This record was all about the record itself, which was spectacularly painted right up to the spindle hole — no paper label, not a trace of dead black vinyl.

Yep, that circle is the record itself. Anyway, the songs were an amazing washout of early ’80s wimp rock. The one I remember most incorporated actual noises for the video game underneath Ms. Pac-Man lamenting “he’s too busy for me,” which just goes to show that dating is a minefield even when you’re a yellow artifact of geometry. I couldn’t find that one online, though, so we’ll setting for this one, which nonsensically combines the metaphor for being sad with Pac-Man’s excitement at being able to eat ghosts, all to a draggy mid-tempo pop hook.
Turning Blue

3“The Horses Run Around” by Willio & Phillio. I could probably post every single track from Disney’s Goin’ Quackers and call it a day, it’s so hard to pick which one I remember the best. But I’ll go with this track, narrowly over “Turkey in the Straw,” for inspiring an early love of silly non sequitor. Also notable that it didn’t require a single Disney cartoon character to work. Would they be that bold today? Listening now, I especially appreciate the straightforward one-liners that were built in, like “we feed the baby garlic so we can find him in the dark.” Genius.

4“Strawberry Shortcake Rap” by, yep, Strawberry Shortcake. Learning about rap as a white kid from the suburbs before hip hop really went mainstream was … confusing.

]]> http://chrismagyar.com/?feed=rss2&p=152 0 One side effect of a child’s endless tolerance for repetition is a powerful memory vault for books, movies and music that we consumed to death at a tender age. I had the epiphany this morning that YouTube probably has all my favorite childhood records online by now, and it turns out to be true. I almost want to weep hearing these again, partly from nostalgia, and partly from embarrassment. Here are four songs that I can vividly remember playing to in the unfinished basement, hopping from colored square of carpet remnant to colored square of carpet remnant in a ritual that was part “the floor is made of lava” and part “my house is a disco.” 1“Run Run Run Otis Lee” by the Cabbage Patch Kids. There’s some convoluted kidnapping story that the entire album follows, but I can’t handle listening to all the tracks right now to reconstruct it. I just remember this countrified ditty, especially my fondness for jumping in the air at the appropriate moment and shouting “WOOGIEE!!” I have no idea what that section of the song means, and I didn’t then, but it’s clearly calculated to make a kid participate, and thus, is pure marketing genius. The fact that I can still name three or four Cabbage Patch Kids to this day shows that Coleco got their money’s worth when they commissioned this album. 2“Turning Blue” by Pac-Man. This record was all about the record itself, which was spectacularly painted right up to the spindle hole — no paper label, not a trace of dead black vinyl. Yep, that circle is the record itself. Anyway, the songs were an amazing washout of early ’80s wimp rock. The one I remember most incorporated actual noises for the video game underneath Ms. Pac-Man lamenting “he’s too busy for me,” which just goes to show that dating is a minefield even when you’re a yellow artifact of geometry. I couldn’t find that one online, though, so we’ll setting for this one, which nonsensically combines the metaphor for being sad with Pac-Man’s excitement at being able to eat ghosts, all to a draggy mid-tempo pop hook. Turning Blue 3“The Horses Run Around” by Willio & Phillio. I could probably post every single track from Disney’s Goin’ Quackers and call it a day, it’s so hard to pick which one I remember the best. But I’ll go with this track, narrowly over “Turkey in the Straw,” for inspiring an early love of silly non sequitor. Also notable that it didn’t require a single Disney cartoon character to work. Would they be that bold today? Listening now, I especially appreciate the straightforward one-liners that were built in, like “we feed the baby garlic so we can find him in the dark.” Genius. 4“Strawberry Shortcake Rap” by, yep, Strawberry Shortcake. Learning about rap as a white kid from the suburbs before hip hop really went mainstream was … confusing. Four tunes that still haunt my memory