Published on Mar 27, 2000
Like most humorous singers, filker and parodist Tom Smith has
always had some songs he just didn’t record for one reason or
another. Part of the problem might have been fear of lawsuits, part
of it obscurity, part of it just sheer cussedness. However, it was
a moment of sheer luck when someone or something convinced him to
record a number of parodies that had been sitting around for
varying lengths of time, because the results are uniformly funny.
Thusly, we have
Debasement Tapes.
Smith’s work isn’t easy to find. It took me six months to get a
copy of this CD (mostly because I was stupid and didn’t just order
it directly from his
web page). But it’s
worth it when you do find it. His original songs are alternatively
funny and poignant, surprisingly sensitive at times. The songs on
Debasement Tapes, on the other hand, range from mildly funny
to viciously funny.
There is the usual collection of SF fandom songs, of course.
“Five Years” is a tribute to the best science fiction series in
history,
Babylon 5, and Smith handles it well, though he sings it
slower than the song it’s a parody of, Barenaked Ladies’ “One
Week.””Be Our GOH” is a hilarious look at SF conventions parodizing
“Be Our Guest,” though you have to know some of the injokes to
fully appreciate the song (knowing a GOH is a Guest Of Honor
helps).
These songs are not the true highlights of this CD, though.
That’s reserved for songs like “Honey Glazed Ham” (a parody so evil
I refuse to tell you what it’s about), “Barenaked Cockburn” (toss
Bruce Cockburn’s “Rocket Launcher” and Barenaked Ladies’s “If I Had
$1,000,000” in a blender and hit puree), the geek humour of “On The
PC” and “PC99,” and the brainbreaking “Telly Taley Heart” (yes,
it’s probably what you think it is). “500 Hats” deserves special
mention as well, being Dr Seuss sung to the Proclaimers’ “500
Miles.” (I’m not sure that’s a parody. I’m not sure what it is, but
it’s funny.)
If there is anything that doesn’t work on
Debasement Tapes, it’s the arrangements. Smith’s background
vocalists are competent enough, but for some reason their voices
clash with the written harmonies in a couple of places. “Time
Plot,” a vicious sendup of Star Trek’s plot devices, is a
particularly bad example, and my wife cringes and leaves the room
when it comes on. The same applies to a lesser extent to “Alien
Adventures” and “Smurfin’ Safari.”
On the whole, however,
Debasement Tapes is wickedly funny and worth the effort
it’ll take you to find. There are too few really gifted parodists
out there; we should support the ones we have.