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Last night I went to a bar quiz (my team came in second! hello $10 bar tab!) and the final round–the audio round–was actually kind of great: The two hosts read spoken-word bits from 14 songs, and the audience was charged with guessing the tracks that said lyrics were coming from, as well as their artists. There were a few gimmes (”Hot For Teacher,” “Thriller”) and a couple of tough ones (which I don’t even remember now, thanks to the aforementioned bar tab) and one glaring omission: Len’s “Steal My Sunshine,” which may possibly have the greatest spoken-word bits ever because they, like the rest of the song really, sound like they were recorded during a particularly manic session of baking pot-stuffed butter tarts. Please enjoy the track on the lovely spring morning that’s currently taking place even though it’s not even the middle of January yet. (Also, check out the Vice sticker on the video’s orange Vespa! Canada represent!)
Len – Steal My Sunshine [YouTube]
Far as I’m concerned, spoken-word parts of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” and Clarence Carter’s “Making Love (At The Dark End Of The Street”) are absolutely sublime, yes, sublime in the strict Kantian/Burkean sense.
Also: weren’t the spoken word bits in “Steal My Sunshine” from that ravesploitation movie the song’s in? Was it Go?
KISS’s “Christine Sixteen” has a lovely spoken-word interlude…
“I don’t usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw you coming out of school that day, I knew I’ve got to have you. I’VE GOT TO HAVE YOU.”
Klassy!
Needs more “Nights in White Satin”
My top three (in no particular order) would have to be “Are You Lonesome Tonight” (laughing or non-laughing version), “Panama”, and anything by Lou Rawls.
Don’t forget Boyz II Men’s awesome “That restraining order isn’t
worth the paper it’s printed on” interlude in “End of the Road.”
So, does “No Sex in the Champagne Room” qualify?
“Aw Dave, gimme a break.”
“One break, comin’ up!”
Brilliant but underrated: “Hard Times” by Baby Huey & the Babysitters. Talkin’ bout eatin’ Spam and Oreos and drinkin’ Thunderbird, baby.
Also unforgettable: Beck’s corny/sleazy Barry-White-soul plea in “Debra”. “Girl, I only wanna be down with you…cuz you got something I just got to get with”.
Prince’s filthy free-association towards the end of “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” still slays me.
What about Henry Rollins spoken word piece in the middle of Tool’s “Bottom” off of Undertow? That was back in the days when both of those artists were fairly likeable.
@kiteless: Or his spoken word in “Liar” for that matter.
The (kind of) spoken word interlude in “Clone High Theme (Extended Version)” by Abandoned Pools, aka the greatest television theme song ever, which features a series of snippets from the show in the middle.
Do spoken-word interludes not count if they’re at the beginning of a song? ‘Cuz I’ve always loved the spoken intro to X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!”
I thought you loved me, but is seems you don’t care.
it
“Is he a good dancer?”
“Whaddaya mean is he a good dancer?”
“Well how does he dance?”
“CLOSE. VERYVERYCLOSE.”
Shangri-Las songs >>>> all others. Obviously.
Have You Seen Her – The Chi-Lites, which is part of the Hey Soul Classics collection.
I particularly treasure Jill Jones’ feverish oratory at the beginning of “All Day, All Night” (from her amazingly wonderful and cruelly out-of-print debut album). To wit:
“Oh, what a beautiful morning
Oh, what a beautiful ass
Darling, this is my final plea for love
Take me now or witness the slow and horrible death of your white fox
My time is running out, I can wait no longer
I watch as you make love to others
Disgusting as it seems, it intoxicates me
You might say that I’m amused to the point where my blood increases, my heartbeat accelerates and my mouth waters uncontrollably
For I know that no woman will ever love you like your white fox
No woman will ever kiss you in this lifetime or the next the way you and I kiss tonight
Take me now as I am, for I am becoming confused to what I stand for and desire
Tell me, darling, who I am, who I am, what I am, what am I?
WHAT?
AM?
I?”
I enjoy the interlude in “International Lover” by Prince, the back and forth in Rick James’ “Fire & Desire” and of course, every Barry White interlude/intro ever.
Len’s lead singer was supposedly involved in the founding of Vice, though there’s no mention of it in their own biog stuff, just his. Hey Maura are there still enough $1.99 copies of Can’t Stop The Bum Rush at P-Rex to cover an entire Chelsea loft from floor to ceiling?
You haven’t lived until you’ve dropped the needle on Oran “Juice” Jones’ “The Rain”.
“How bout that fo’ty thousand dolla lynx coat I bought ya?”.
More Oran “Juice” Jones: “I missed you so much I followed you today/That’s right/Now close your mouf, cos you cold busted.” I mean, really, it’s unfair to pick just a line or two.
Dare we forget Britney’s “Oops I Did It Again?”
“But I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean at the end.”
“Well, baby, I went down and got it for you.”
“Awww… you shouldn’t have.”
To this day, I swear that is Jim Carrey’s voice.
@heidiho: that was one of the questions too!
Who can forget Jello Biafra’s hammy impressions of televangelists, MTV hosts and Rambo in Dead Kennedys songs?
best spoken interlude ever:
“But when his drinking and lusting and his hunger for power became known to more and more people, the demands to do something about this outrageous man became louder and louder!”
from Rasputin by Boney M
Any list of spoken-word interludes that neglects the entire Bobby Womack oeuvre is no list at all.
@slowburn: Word.
“What were you thinking? You don’t mess with the Juice!”
@Cam/ron: Who can forget Jello Biafra sounding like a slightly more annoying version of Fred Schneider from The B-52s?
What about the tag team gold on Ma$e’s “Jealous Guys” (off of Harlem World)? It holds up as well as Ma$e’s high notes.
————————-
Puffy: “As I said before, I go by the name of Puffy Daddy
And I’m a Scorpio and I’m not a jealous guy
Come on sing for me Mase”
Ma$e: You see if we had more pimps,
it wouldn’t be no jealous guys
See me, I live by the four pimp rules
Number one, you control the situation
You get in they head before you get in they bed
And number two, girls run like buses, you may miss one
Catch another one every hour on the hour, promptly
And number three, what that girl ain’t willin’ to do
You got a hundred more girls more than willin’
And number four, is a new rule to the new pimp testament
You can’t be a playa and hate the playas
That don’t make no sense
I don’t wanna see no more jealous guys at the end of this song ya’ll
I really don’t wanna see no more jealous guys after this song ya’ll
So can ya’ll sing along with me
I mean put your hands together, sing along ya’ll , sing along everybody
Yo wolf face, Im your worst nightmare. Your ass is mine!