Deadletter – "Fit for Work" (2020)

Johnny’s missing two arms

But his legs look dandy

Fit for work! Fit for work!

“Who the hell is Deadletter?” you may be asking yourself.  

Good question!  

Here’s the answer, from Jordan Carrigan’s article about the group in Yuck magazine:

I have spent more time than I care to admit knee-deep in the streams of Spotify, panning for gold.  [I wade] through the never-ending network of related artists in a bid to find the next big thing and secure the associated clout that comes from having heard them first.  More often than not, these extended listening sessions end in little more than avant-garde noise records blasting into my ears at two o'clock in the morning, stuck in an existential spiral of my own thoughts. . . . However, every now and then my efforts are rewarded.

(That one dude is TALL!)

I can recall with great clarity my first encounter with Deadletter.  In the midst of a lockdown evening, already hours down the rabbit hole, I stumbled across the band and was immediately grabbed by the skipping chug of the opening refrain in “Fit For Work.”  That infectious bass line paired with the track’s priceless opening line – “Johnny’s missing two arms but his legs look dandy/Fit for work!” – set the tone for what is perhaps one of the best political songs of recent times with its scathing annihilation of the quickly deteriorating British benefits system.  After multiple listens I concluded that the search was up, I’d found the new band. My new band. 

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Carrigan could have saved a lot of time and effort by listening to Drew Carey’s “Friday Night Freakout” show on Sirius/XM.  That’s where I heard our featured record for the first time.

Click here to listen to “Fit for Work.”

Click here to buy that record from Amazon.

Wet Leg – "Chaise Longue" (2021)

All day long

On the chaise longue

My dog spends all night – but not all day – on a chaise longue:

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Chaise longue is French for “long chair.”  It’s my favorite piece of furniture because you can make the transition from reading a book to taking a nap without ever leaving a chaise longue – it’s perfect for either activity.

I don’t see why a chaise longue is classified as a chair.  To me, a chair is something that you sit on with your feet on the floor.  

It’s possible to sit in a chaise longue with your feet on the floor.  But doesn’t that sort of defeat the  purpose of a chaise longue?

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Have you ever thought about how many different types of furniture have English names derived from French words?

In addition to chaise longue, there’s armoire, bureau, couch, etagére, and wardrobe (among others).

Many of the terms we use for lingerie are derived from French words as well: e.g., brassiere, bustier, negligée, peignoir . . . and, of course, lingerie itself.

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“Chaise Longue” was released as a single in 2021 by Wet Leg, a British musical duo consisting of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers.

Teasdale has the primary role in the Wet Leg videos I’ve watched, all of which are pretty damn twee.  She’s front and center in the “Chaise Longue” video, doing the singing while Chambers stays in the background, wearing a bucket-shaped straw hat that completely obscures her face.

Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers

The two women became friends while they were in college in the UK, and I can picture them meeting at a party at school.  Quiet little Hester sitting in a dark corner  when Rhian sashays over and sits next to her.  “Check out what the guy with the red hair is wearing,” Rhian says after a moment. “Do you think they make those pants for men, too?”  Hester would snort, and then sit and wait for another bon mot from Rhian she could laugh at.  After that, they would be fast friends.

Teasdale is super cute, but I feel like she would be super annoying to be with.  She usually has this incredibly smug and self-satisfied look on her face – I’m guessing that men have been kissing her ass for a long time, and that such ass-kissing has convinced her that she is the cat’s pajamas.

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I decided to feature this song on 2 or 3 lines after hearing it on Drew Carey’s “Friday Night Freak-Out” show on Sirius/XM radio.  (It may be hard to believe, but Drew Carey – of all people – consistently plays more interesting music than any other Sirius/XM DJ.  Go figure.)

I was planning to quote these lines at the top of this post:

Is your muffin buttered?

Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?

But upon further review, I decided not to because those lines aren’t original to Wet Leg – they were “borrowed” from a famous scene in the 2004 Lindsay Lohan movie, Mean Girls.

Click here to watch that Mean Girls scene.

Click here to watch Wet Leg performing “Chaise Longue” a month ago in Hollywood.  (Based on their outfits, I'm guessing they shot a cheerleader-porn video after that show.)

Click here to view the official music video for “Chaise Longue.”

Click on the link below to buy the record from Amazon:

"Weird Al" Yankovic – "Hot Rocks Polka" (1989)

 

If I could stick my pen in my heart

And spill it all over the stage

Would it satisfy you? 

If you ask me – or even if you don’t – I would say that the best radio show that’s currently on the air is Drew Carey’s “Friday Night Freak-Out” show on Sirius/XM.

Yes, I’m talking about the same Drew Carey who hosts The Price Is Right – one of the lowest-common-denominator game shows in history. 

Carey’s playlists are incredibly eclectic and interesting.  He includes some well-known classic rock – Beatles, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, etc. – but relies mostly on obscure garage rock, hardcore punk, and crazy novelty records.  I’d say that I’ve never heard at least half of the records he features.

Drew Carey

For example, one set from his most recent show kicked things off with “Never F*ckin Know” by Poutyface.  It’s a song sung by a girl who went to a party at a stranger’s house and woke up the next morning unable to remember anything about the random guy she had sex with after getting blackout drunk:

I wash the puke out of my hair

What was I on?  I’m unaware

I guess we’ll never fuckin’ know

I tried to piece it all together

I wish I could remember

I blacked out like a hero

Next came “Ain’t Nice” by the Viagra Boys, a Swedish post-punk band that formed in 2015:

I’ll borrow your stuff and never put it back

I’m kinda hungry, can you give me a snack?

I ain’t nice, I ain’t nice, I ain’t nice

Then we heard the truly remarkable “Mutha F*kka On a Motorcycle” – a 2000 hit for the Australian band, Machine Gun Fellatio:

Well, my pills are white

My leather’s black

My chick grips tight

To my mutha f*kken back

‘Cause I'm a mutha f*kka on a motorcycle

Carey delivered the coup de grace with the final record in his set, which was “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Polkas on 45” – a medley that begins with an excerpt from Devo’s “Jocko Homo” and also includes snippets from “Smoke on the Water,” “Hey Jude,” “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” “L.A. Woman,” “Burning Down the House,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and Lawrence Welk’s theme song, “Bubbles in the Wine” . . . all performed polka-style.

That is one set out of a dozen or so that Carey plays every week, boys and girls.  “Friday Night Freak-Out” airs Friday nights between 800p and 1100p Eastern on Sirius/XM’s channel 21 (“Underground Garage”).

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I’m not a huge “Weird Al” fan, and I wasn’t aware that most of his albums contain medleys of polka-style covers.

“Weird Al” Yankovic

“Polkas on 45” – which was released in 1984 on his second studio album, “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D –   was the first of his 12 polka medleys.

Today, we’re featuring his fourth polka medley, Hot Rocks Polka.  The title of that medley – which includes excerpts from a dozen Rolling Stones hits – was inspired by the Stones’ famous “greatest hits” album, Hot Rocks 1964–1971.  

However, only nine of the 12 songs in the medley are on the Hot Rocks 1964-1971 album – “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It),” “Miss You.” and “Shattered” were released after 1971.

Click here to listen to “Hot Rocks Polka.”

Click on the link below to buy that record from Amazon: