Monthly Archives: November 2017

  • The Troups — “Motoring West” in America’s Heyday

    Lame DogR & B

    In 1946, a young couple left Pennsylvania for Hollywood, where the husband hoped to make his mark as a songwriter.   At one point during the journey, the wife suggested that he write something about Route 40.  He rebuffed her on the ground that they would be spending far more time on a different highway — Route 66.  After a pause, she replied, “Get your kicks on Route 66!”  And with that, what is arguably the greatest road song of all time was born.

     Here’s a performance by the author himself:

     

    Bobby Troup came from a family that ran music stores in Harrisburg and Lancaster.  Cynthia Troup (nee Hare) was a strong-willed girl from the Philadelphia Main Line who delighted in telling the boys at parties, “I’m only wearing (more…)

  • Meghan Trainor — All About That Parody

    Lame DogPop

    The song was written in forty minutes.  It was reportedly offered to Beyonce and Adele, who turned it down.  So the author (in collaboration with Kevin Kadish), recorded it herself.  The rest is history.  Following its release in June 2014, “All About That Bass” became a cultural phenomenon, reaching number one in nineteen countries and generating well over two billion views for the accompanying video, along with endless buzz.  Not least among the reasons for its astounding success is the most obvious one — the tune is maddeningly catchy.  But behind the hoopla was a perfect storm of deeply felt issues involving body image, self-assertion, and the evolution of intimate tastes.

     As day follows night, a host of parodies ensued.  A few were direct send-ups, most famously one by Bob Barker featuring a grotesque Meghan Trainor caricature spewing venom at “thin people.”  Most of the imitations, however, co-opted the song for unrelated purposes.  There was a Star Trek version (“All About Deep Space.  No Tribbles”) and a Harry Potter version (“All About That Magic.  No Muggles”).  Some boosted sports teams (“All About the Saints.  No Cowboys”) or private businesses (“All About That Brace” by Showtime Orthodontics — not to be confused with “We’re Taking Off That Brace” by Mori Orthodontics).  There were occasional  commentaries on political issues:  “He’s Just a Pretty Face” (an attack on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau”), “All About That Hill. No Donald” (total views to date under 450 — an omen), and even “Police Will Shoot You in the Face.”  Two different videos were made by women advocating the practice of breast-feeding (“All About That Breast” and “All About That Boob”).  Two others poked fun at Bill Cosby’s legal difficulties (both entitled “All About That Rape”).  Several focused on fishing (“All About That Bass. Same Spelling,” “All About That Bass.  No Minnows,” etc).  And there were further permutations I could never have imagined:  “I Go to Palengke” touts Filipino street markets;  “All Aboot the Toon,” sung in the Geordie dialect, celebrates the Tyneside region of Northeastern England.
     
    Of the many versions I have sampled as a dogged investigator, however, this is the one that sticks in my mind.  And not in a good way:

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