Well, here we are right in the middle of August with the annual existential crisis that marks the near end of summer. (I realize that in some parts of the country, school started weeks ago, but I've still basically got a week to go before real work kicks back in.) What better way to mark an existential crisis than by bringing together a world-weary Sondheim anthem and a Europop cultural critique of empty-headed materialism? But first, a little background.
This project actually began almost three years ago when someone posted the following faked [?] but funny note 'from' composer Stephen Sondheim, who was indeed famous for corresponding regularly with handwritten notes such as this: ['panto season' refers to a British tradition of lighthearted, satirical stage productions]
Someone else commented: "No, you may not mash up 'Barbie Girl' with 'The Ladies Who Lunch' either," and another chimed in: "Barbies Who Brunch?" And we're off! [You might think this is more information than is needed, but the psychiatrists of the future may find it useful in understanding my slow descent into madness.]
If you don't know the original tunes referenced, we have first the great "11 o'clock number" from Sondheim's Company, in which Joanne calmly rips her peers (and herself) to shreds in a slow bossa nova:
And we have the high-energy Scando-pop novelty song Barbie Girl:
I'm pretty sure these are both songs I disliked at first, but each gets under your skin. As I wrote in this blog post from 2023, the Sondheim song is a great example of sad music in a major key while Barbie Girl is a great example of happy (or at least, chipper) music in a minor key. Both are concerned with artificial surfaces which conceal. Sondheim's bossa nova suggests a lounge-style which lacks the life of a real latin groove. Aqua's uptempo Europop beat makes the glamorous plastic smiles seem manic and a bit unhinged. Sondheim's anthem builds to a devastating climax. Aqua's song is just plain catchy, with irresistibly silly rhymes (plastic/fantastic).
I threw this intro verse mashup together pretty quickly back in 2023, with lyrics shown on screen but no synth singing. It already has multiple elements which have remained - notably, the use of motifs from Barbie Girl in the accompaniment, with the Sondheim melody also altered in some places to quote the pop song. Perhaps my favorite feature is how the Barbie Girl melody is incorporated into the faster bossa nova tempo in Sondheim, though that original version just trailed off there....
About a week ago, reference to an upcoming cabaret performance called "The Ladies Who Brunch" reminded me of this, and since I've been experimenting with the singing software Cantai, I figured it would be fun to hear this sung and see where the verses lead. I found a voice in Cantai which has a Barbie-esque quality - a little synthetic/plastic, for sure, but that's good! The structure is pretty much Sondheim's throughout, both in the music and lyrics, while Barbie Girl provides the subject matter and motivic variety.
Maybe it stands on it own, I don't know. But it is perhaps helpful to understand a few of the references, especially if you don't know both songs well. The iconic "I'll drink to that" from Sondheim converted naturally into a more Barbie-appropriate verb in Barbie World, and I'm pleased with my solution to the desperate "Everybody RISE" repetitions which end Joanne's song.
The popular Greta Gerwig Barbie movie also is referenced a few times. In fact, the detail which made me most excited about finishing these lyrics was that Joanne's "A matinee/a Pinter play/perhaps a piece of Mahler's" could convert nicely by switching from Mahler to Mahler's frenemy Richard Strauss. Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra is quoted at the start of Gerwig's movie in a parody of 2001, A Space Odyssey. So now we get: "That movie Greta Gerwig made / starts with a piece of Strauss's."
I also enjoyed ways in which specific Sondheim words could be repurposed. Joanne makes fun of the ladies "keeping house by clutching a copy of Life / just to keep in touch." Here, Barbie makes a direct reference, lyrically and melodically, to the Aqua song lyrics "smiling while they each try to catch the same men / saying "You can touch!" Joanne's "too busy to know that they're fools. / Aren't they a gem?" converts to "too clueless to know that their jewels / don't contain a gem."
At the end of the day, it's quite silly, but Joanne's critique of empty-headed socialites certainly slides naturally into a Barbie world! [view below or HERE]
No comments:
Post a Comment