On The Banks of Sacramento (wubmachine remix)

June 18, 2015 12:06 PM

Whereupon we invite an algorithm to make mincemeat of a rather squalid song and out comes happy accidents.

I decided that there was no point trying to make friends with the wubmachine, I decided instead to just punch it in the bits with rock bottom.

I have a particular dislike of Lale Andersen's "The Banks of Sacramento." Sacramento, you see, is not the cultural capitol of anywhere. Its not a shining destination, not a golden opportunity; Its a lovely town with lots of great things but unless you're a local its just a mid-state roadsign.

Vexatiously then is the cannon of foreigners singing the praises of this fair valley. I don't speak enough German to get the whole context of GG Anderson's song but I know how painfully distant we are auf der Highway One. Similarly its clear that Middle of the Road wouldn't know a tender feeling of confusion if it bit them in the early Indian spring, whatever the hell that is. Apparently we here are not "they" but we have nice syllables or something. I don't get it.

Anyhow, Andersen takes a perfectly serviceable song and turns it into some weird cabaret tune with pipe whistles. Its hard to outdo Lawrence Welk but here we are.

Anyway, I wanted so badly Lale and the Wubmachine to just step on each other's faces and make a horrible trainwreck of things.

Call this output a happy surprise then and a fine representation of modern life here for the challenge.

posted by Ogre Lawless (2 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

I love your description of this process and the output so much that I want to make "cover a song you hate" a future challenge.
posted by greenish at 3:27 AM on June 22, 2015


38 seconds of F U N . I want more, and yet it's such a poppin' little kernel it doesn't need more.
posted by BlackPebble at 11:20 AM on August 4, 2015


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