Stop Podcasting Yourself - Our Debut Album: 1 - "King of the Deep"

Episode Date: May 4, 2016

Episode 1 of Dave and Graham's new podcast, Our Debut Album. Subscribe through iTunes or using the RSS feed: http://ourdebutalbum.libsyn.com/rss Our first song features elements of Toto's "Africa," USA hamburger rock n' roll, and that song about sliding into home with your pants full of foam. Support the show and buy the song at http://ourdebutalbum.bandcamp.com

Hi, it's Dave. And as you may know, Graham and I have been working on this new podcast. It's called Our Debut Album, and new episodes are going to come out on the first Wednesday of every month, starting today. What we want you to do is listen to this episode, and if you like it, subscribe to the show in iTunes or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. There's more information about that on OurDebutAlbum.com. But for now, here's the first episode of Our Debut Album. Locked in a room with the time and the tune But it works for us, works for us, works for us, works Our debut album Our debut album Hello and welcome to Our Debut Album

The show where two comedians have one hour to write a hit song A hit song My name is Dave Shumka My name is Graham Clark And you may know us as the host of Stop Podcasting Yourself. You may know us for our various comedic achievements. You might know me from just my regular appearances around town. Your Starbucks's.

Yeah, you're that guy at Starbucks. Yeah, I'm the guy at the diner that's eating by himself. Reading an Archie comic. This podcast is based on the idea that every great song was written in under an hour. Every great song. Every single great song. Here's a list of some of the every great songs that were written. The American National Anthem. Who knows?

They didn't have accurate timekeeping. Yeah, that's true. They didn't have. I'm talking about Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. I'm talking about Losing My Religion by R.E.M. Well, those are the two best songs

right there. Need We Go On? Royals by Lorde. Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. All the Young Dudes by David Bowie. Yep. All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor. Well, I'd be surprised if that took more than 15 minutes. It's under an hour. No, that's true.

Now, Graham and myself, we are not seasoned songwriters by any means. I mean, sure, I co-wrote a musical with Paul Simon. Yeah, sure. The Cape Man. Yeah, I co-wrote The Cape Man. But no one saw it. Yeah, exactly exactly and very few of my songs made it into the show my interpretation is it was about superman right you but it was

mostly about capes yeah different types of different types of capes how good guys have like a regular superman cape and bad guys have kind of like a collar around it like absolutely like the evil ming dynasty is that the guy's name from Flash? Yeah, the Evil Ming Dynasty. Gordon? Oh, yeah, Dracula. Dracula's got one of those bad guy capes. But Doctor Strange has one of those bad guy capes, and he's a good guy. I don't know him.

Oh, he's from comic books. I only read the Dracula comic books. Yes. This show is going to be, well, it's going to be once a month, and it's called Our Debut Album because we're putting together 12 songs that I think will eventually make up an album. We should have called it Your Aunt Flo because it's only going to be once a month. I don't understand that reference. Oh, I'll tell you after.

It was part of my other musical that never got made. Oh, sure. About your demonstration with the blue liquid. And so I guess if we do this 12 times, it's my belief. It's kind of like that a million monkeys that a million typewriters will eventually make Shakespeare. Only the difference is. They will make the man Shakespeare. Yeah.

They will make. They'll type in enough DNA. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Enough monkeys coding will eventually make Google. Our idea is that two monkey men and one guitar over the course of 12 months will write one Shakespeare song. One song the equivalent of a Shakespeare. Well, I guess we should give a little bit of background on ourselves.

As we mentioned, we're the hosts of Stop Podcasting. It's a comedy show, but we've both done music. Yeah. I was a drummer in several punk bands in my youth. So I know that upbeat tempo. Big fan. And I have been in bands and I wrote songs, but we didn't make them. You made an album.

Well, I've been in a couple bands. The band that I was like the strongest creative force in was a band called the Screaming Eagles, and we had no words in our songs. Right. And I think this is sort of like, songwriting is kind of like, you have to be kind of earnest. Yeah. And not the funny Ernest. No. Who's falling off of ladders and whatnot. And it's sort of like vulnerable. And I think a lot of comedians like your Flight of the Conchords or that kind of breed of comedian Garfunkel and Oates, they are actually quite nice songs that they write, but they write in silly stuff yeah so that it's like

oh well we're just we're being comedic yeah we're putting a bit of a shield yeah well graham and i we're taking down that shield yeah because we're gonna write these songs and the only rules are we have an hour to write the song yeah we have to do it naked we yep of course but it's in the dark so you can't tell that's right but i know and that's what's important we have to do it naked. Yep, of course. But it's in the dark, so you can't tell. That's right. But I know, and that's what's important. We have to try to write non-comedy songs. Yeah. And the thing is that you've got to understand, for people who have used comedy as a defensive mechanism their whole life,

writing anything sincere, we both talked about the song the power of love by and we were always afraid to write any song that would expose any real emotion because then people would make fun of us because how do people not make fun of huey lewis for writing the power of love i don't know it was in back to the future so i figure he gets a pass but it's like the i couldn't get away with saying that the power of love is rich like cream. Dave, I'd let you get away. No, no, no.

Just one time I would. I'd be like, oh, I think Dave's drunk. Yeah. Dave, well, since these are your wedding vows, I'm not going to make fun of you. So we have to write serious songs. They don't have to be dark you know, dark or brooding. They can be, but they can't be silly. We can't like spend an hour writing a song and it ends up goofy and we just hide behind the fact that we were just goofing off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or it ends up super sincere and we hide behind the fact that we were just goofing off. So our rule for how silly the songs can be is we picked a legitimate artist who has a silly side. Yeah. And that artist is Ween. Yeah. Ween or More Serious. Yeah.

So, you know, because we both, I think you and I both like, you know, this kind of not silly, but like the more light lyrics of a cake or a. Sure. A Ben Folds. A Ben Folds, sure. These are guys that might write a song about, you know, working at a paint store. Yeah, a Warren Zevon. Sure, yeah. That kind of person.

Yeah. And the only other rule is the final version of the song, we have an hour to write it, but if we get something wrong, we may need to change the occasional word or add a musical interlude. But what you're going to hear is the making of the actual song. Yeah, so you're going to have this fly-on-the-wall perspective, but we'll edit it down because we've done a couple of practice runs and, you know, there's a lot of hemming and hawing and retracing our steps.

But you'll have a fly-on-the-wall perspective for the writing of 12 hit songs. And like a fly-on-the-wall, you'll be able to vomit on your food and then eat it back up again. Is that what they do? Yeah, that's what Jeff Goldblum did in The Fly. Oh, okay. That's how I know that's how flies eat. And if you want to support the show,

you can actually buy the finished version of the song over at ourdebutalbum.bandcamp.com. Should we get started? Yeah, I am ready. Oh, the only other rule is we have a few minutes to brainstorm before we start the clock. So... Yeah, you don't make the rules out there. We make the rules.

What we need to do is decide what song we're going to write. Okay. You know what I was thinking? I was listening to Toto's Africa. You know what I was thinking? I was listening to Toto's Africa. Mm-hmm. Bum, bum, bum, ba-dum, bum, bum.

And then I started thinking about all the songs that are about a place. Sure. And there's a lot. I mean, there's scads about New York. Yeah. There's, you know, the streets of Philadelphia Yeah, the theme from Rocky Lots of songs about New Jersey from the Bruce Springsteen catalog And that one, I feel like that song about the girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch was also about New Jersey

Yeah, that sounds about right Light funky ones Yeah So I don't know, I was thinking about A place song? A place Now is there a place that's near and dear to us? Does it have to be a place we've been? Light funky ones Yeah So I don't know I was thinking about A place song A place Now where Is there a place

That's near and dear to us Does it have to be A place we've been No Like I don't think Toto's ever been to Africa Sure You know

They kissed the rains Blessed the rains Maybe blessed Maybe kissed Never looked it up They were kissed From a rose On a grey

On a grey The maybe No a grey Okay so A place we've never been They were kissed from a rose on a gray. On a gray. Maybe. No, a gray. Okay, so a place we've never been. Well, not necessarily, but. You know what I love about that is like, it's not even like that African a song. No, it does say Serengeti at one point. But like if we were going to try to like write a song about, you know, Argentina, we would Argentina, we would definitely be writing a salsa song.

Oh, yeah, that's true. But there's also great songs about places that don't even exist. Like your Big Rock Candy Mountain. Oh, okay. I like where you're going with this. Like that's not even a real... Like some kind of fantasy land or in Les Miserables, the castle on the cloud. Yeah, exactly.

So that's a place, but not really a place. Yeah, some kind of like crystal chandelier palace. What are you doing? I'm loosening up my arms. Oh, I see. Okay. We're going to start writing down ideas. What about, what if, what if we write a song about the lost city of Atlantis?

This is what I'm talking about. Yeah. It's like a crystal chandelier under the sea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have to, okay. We have to be very clear to not reference under the sea. No, we won't. Well, can we reference Sebastian the Crab?

Not by name. Okay. Can we reference a crab? Yeah, of course. Okay, all right. The mayor is a crab. This is good. So, okay.

So this is a song. Okay. What do we know about the lost city of Atlantis? It's populated by merpeople. Merpeople. Crabs. Some kind of calypso beat. I don't know.

It's in one of the oceans. I'm guessing the Atlantic. Okay. Let's say i don't know it's in one of the oceans i'm guessing the atlantic okay let's say let's say it's in the atlantic i you know i i feel like it would be cheesy to mention it by name but we'll see we'll take that as it comes yeah yeah yeah it sunk didn't it isn't that the thing or did it oh i don't I don't know. Did it used to? Was it like a utopia that fell off the map? I think that's the story. So it's populated by ghosts. Do they ride?

Am I allowed to look this up? Yeah, okay. Yeah, just to have a little bit of that. Yeah, so we don't make fools of ourselves in our song about the lost city of Atlantis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think the fact that it's the lost city means that it used to be a proper city and now it's lost oh that's a good notion that it like it used to be a city you knew where it was and now it's lost yeah it's unmapped unmapped it's fallen off the map and like they ride they don't ride regular horses they ride seahorses seahorses

yeah they have sea cows uh they spend sand dollars yeah that's good they don't ride regular horses. They ride seahorses. Seahorses. Yeah. They have sea cows. They spend sand dollars. Oh, sea cows. Yeah, that's good. They don't have regular anemones. They have sea anemones. They have sea amenities. Yes.

That's really coming together. Wikipedia, take me away. Also known as the Island of Atlas. Okay. He's the sea god. Wait, no, he's not. That's Neptune. Yeah.

Oh, Neptune. Neptune. Neptune's the Roman and Poseidon's the Greek. Same guy. Is it really the same guy? Yeah. King of the deep. King of the deep.

Yeah. That would be a pretty good name for the song. King of the deep. Yeah. It's not bad. So this is a story that Plato tells. Oh, no. It's a long story.

I'm trying to get to the too long to read. Plato. It's an island mentioned within an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Athens was able to repel the Atlantean attack, unlike any other nation of the Western known world, supposedly giving testament to the superiority of Plato's concept of the state. At the end of the story, Atlantis eventually falls out of favor with the gods

and famously submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. So this is like a myth. Yeah. So it was above ground and and now it's under the sea. So would you say that it's worse or better than where it's wetter? Yeah, well, I mean, let me think about it. Okay. Yeah, so like, you know, the streets of Atlantis.

So we're in it now, right? Are we going to start? Do we want to start the clock? Yep, start the clock. Here we go. Okay, so we have, just to put you guys in the room with us, we've got two notebooks, two pens, a guitar, cup of coffee. Warm hearts, cold hands, two straws.

Okay, so this song about Atlantis, is it taking place from, say, someone who is exploring it, like a James Cameron type? Is it taking place in present day, past tense? Here's a thing that just popped into my head. King of the Deep, if that was, say that that was the focus of the song sounds a bit like like a one of those old like like a doo-wop yeah uh oh yeah like uh yeah it reminds me of king of the road oh that's like um what is who's that that's a old uh

that's like a country country guy yeah yeah yeah like i'm thinking of the deep yeah i'm kind of thinking of it as like uh you know how like the ramones did a lot of like sped up kind of doo-wop oh yeah so i'm thinking of something like that like uh whoa whoa king of the deep yeah well so far this is a good song. You know, like, in those songs, they would always talk about what the guy gets up to. Yeah, okay. So he's got... So he tears around Atlantis. Tears around Atlantis in his...

Oh, does he have some kind of buggy? Yeah. Well, no, I think he tears around on a seahorse, right? That would be the mode of transportation in Atlanta. Yeah. Now, Graham, I'm worried that that's bad. Okay. But you do like the King of the Deep.

I do like Whoa, Whoa, King of the Deep. Yeah. Sort of a punky punk. Sort of like a Brewster song. Yeah. A punky song. So we're talking about, I think first you've got to set the stage. This takes place in Atlantis.

Yes. So what's the decor? Of Atlantis? Yeah. You know, it would have a lot of barnacles on everything. Uh-huh. You know, it would have seaweed. It would have algae on it.

Yeah. You know, it would be, it would have seaweed. It would have algae on it. Yeah. Although, you know, so it would be, I think a lot of people think it's like some sort of like Crystal City. Yeah. I said that. You think it's like a Crystal City?

It's an underwater chandelier. Underwater chandelier. Oop-a-doop. I like oop-a-doop. Whoa, whoa. King of the deep. Yeah. Oop-aopa Doop. Whoa, whoa, King of the Deep, Oopa Doop. For sure, whoa, whoa, King of the Deep is... We're hanging the whole song on that. Yeah.

Do we set out kind of like a Beach Boys song? We are known for our harmonies. Or like Katy Perry, I Know a Place, We are known for our harmonies. Or like, you know, Katy Perry, I know a place where the grass is really greener, or like Paradise City, you know, like where you're talking about this place. Oh, boy. The options are limitless.

There's two. Yeah. Are we focusing on King of the Deep, and is he Neptune or Poseidon or one of these guys? Same guy. I think he's just like a rebel teen. Oh, yeah. How does he dress? Toga, like Poseidon?

I'm picturing a toga. Yeah, but a toga makes sense. Is he a mer person? Yeah, they're all mer people. He's a mer boy, but Poseidon's not. Oh, that's right. Poseidon, but I think Poseidon is the king of the deeps nemesis. This is a guy who's tearing around town. Oh, so Poseidon is the King of the Deep's nemesis. This is a guy who's tearing around town.

Oh, so Poseidon's like the sheriff. Yeah. He's the crusty old dean. This is the new King of the Deep. Yeah. Whoa, whoa. Yeah, new King of the Deep 2016. 2016 remix.

I think we need to start by saying that Atlantis is where this is all happening. Yeah. But what kind of meter are we going with? Yeah. Absolutely. I think it's something like, I think it's quick. So is it like, bop. Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop.

Whoa, whoa. King of the deep. Yeah. But does whoa, whoa, king of the deep come at the end of every line? No, no. The chorus. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, so is the lead-up describing him like is he like always chasing tail he's always chasing tail always chasing tail his best friend is a whale whoa whoa king of the deep i don't like it well what about always chasing tail you like that i'm just worried we're going into the realm of the goofy. Right. But always chasing tail is a term, and they would all have tails because they're merpeople. Yeah.

It's also a cliche. I want to avoid that. Just, you know, I think we should have high standards. His best friend is a whale. Come on, that's good. His best friend is a whale. It's like King Tut. It is a little bit like King Tut. Yeah. Born in Arizona. His best friend is a whale. It's like King Tut. It is a little bit like King Tut.

Born in Arizona. His best friend is a whale. What else happens in the deep? It's dark. The sun can't penetrate. There's very much pressure. What about ocean and motion? Those rhyme.

Atlantic Ocean. Something about Atlantic Ocean. Because that's where this takes place. I mean, it might be the Mediterranean. Plato never made it to the ocean. Well, it says in the thing, Atlantic. In the Wikipedia? Yeah.

We could have written that. People say that, but I trust it a thousand percent of the time. Yeah, me too. Citation needed? Not for me. And so our dude, King of the Deep. Whoa, whoa. How old is this guy?

He's a teen. I think he's a teen. Okay. King Teen. He's the new dude in town. Oh, is he new in town? Did he just move from like... No, I think he just became a teenager. Oh.

He's got hair down there on his fin. Maybe he runs with a teenager. Oh. He's got hair down there on his fin. Maybe he runs with a gang. A school of fish. He runs with a pod. He could be with the Finns. His gang's called the Finns. I think I need the

tempo. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Two chords. That's really surfy. Kick out the deep. Yeah. That's good.

Whoa, whoa. Something about the Finns and their turf. And he's in the Finns. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something about the fins in their turf. And he's in the fins. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's their rival gang? Fins in the reefs. Jeez. Is there something scarier?

Well, I don't want to say the sharks because there are actual sharks down there, you see. It wouldn't be the sharks and the jet skis? Now who's getting silly Oh I am You're right I apologize I just like the sound of the fins in the reefs And they're fighting over turf I'm not going to rhyme with surf

But I might What does a gang get up to What does a regular gang get up to Murder, extortion Fighting over turf Yeah This is our corner Uh huh

Racing for pinks? Yeah, what do they race for in the hot rod culture of the deep? That is a good question. Do they ride on dolphins? I'm sure. And also, like, are they fighting over girls? And how do fish have sex? Is there spawning?

Yeah. My best friend is a prawn, and I really like to spawn. Kick of the deep. My best friend. This guy's got a like to spawn, King of the Deep. My best friend. This guy's got a lot of best friends. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's why he's the King of the Deep. What about the city under the sea is the only one for me? Yeah. That's a

good way to introduce the fact that we're under the sea. Yeah. Is that the right syllable count? I think that's fine. The city by the sea is the only one for me. No, city under the sea. Yes, that's tough then. City neath the sea is the only one for me.

The city neath the sea is the only one for me. Diarrhea. And then is there something like, you know, I'm thinking something along the lines of like a Beach Boys, like when we're riding in our something and there's something, something, something. Diarrhea. Something about where there's all sharks, no jets. Something, something. The climate ruins my cigarettes.

And no one smokes no cigarettes. I like that. You're the one who said it. No, as a joke. Well, start saying things not as a joke. We're running out of time. We got plenty of time. I think it goes

da da da da da da da da da da da da I think it goes, da-da-da, da-da-da, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, da-da-da, the city you need to see is the only one for me. So that's the last line in the verse. Oh, okay. I think that's a good line. I am on the team of that line. It's the only line we have, and I like it.

No, we've also got whoa-whoa, king of the deep. Whoa-whoa. 45 minutes remaining. Uh-oh. But don't we have to introduce Atlantis right off the bat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, I think that's the whole first verse is about Atlantis. What rhymes with Atlantis? I don't think we need to say it.

It can have like a nickname. Like, you know, the... Sea City, USA? Sea City. Bubbleburg. Wet City. H2O Town. Salt City.

Saltwater. Now there's already a place called Salt Lake City. Ooh, that's good. What about something about how it's not a, that people said that it's a myth, but it's not? Well, it's like some people say it's gross, but it's really good on toast. What is that? Diarrhea. What about something people think it's fake, but it's something on the lake.

People think it's funny, but it's really warm and runny. Dave, you're not helping. What about, how about when the sun is too hot? Like you're on land. When the sun is too hot and something, something, something. This is where you want to be. Yeah. You want to be in the city neat to see. Do it.

When the sun is too hot, something about give this town a shot, something like that. Yeah, or don't feel sorry for me. Like, I feel like it's got to be. Oh, like, don't worry about me. I'm headed to Atlantis. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Like, yeah, sure.

There was all this hubris or whatever. Yeah. Look, we all know about the hubris. And somehow we ended up under the sea. But like, don't cry for me. I'm better off. I feel bad for you yeah yeah so when the sun is too hot uh the sun is always too hot it's a ball of fire you're not

kidding oh how about when the sun is too hot and the shade is all you got you know he's got more than shade. He's got liquidy perfection. I got liquidy perfection. It's not bad. It does sound like a Katy Perry song. That's all right. I'm not against it. When the sun is too hot and you're sweating through your cut-off t-shirt. When the sun is too hot and you really wish that you could go swimming.

Could it have an alternative meaning? Like, King of the Deep is also, like, he's really profound. Like, he's a... He's like... Maybe he's a teenager who thinks he's King of the Deep, but he's also, like, super serious. I like that he's the head of some, you know... Some underwater gang. Yeah. the he's the head of some you know some underwater gang yeah but he's also super profound and there ain't enough shade to hide in because you know those days where you

can't even get like there's not even a tree that'll give you a little shade yeah when the sun is too hot and there ain't enough shade to hide in. Ooh, something, something, something. Poseidon. Poseidon. Yep. Yes. Yes. And you need a jet ski to ride in.

Poseidon. Joe Biden. I do like having Poseidon there. Sure. I'll be taken off to a place. Something where the mayor is Poseidon. Yeah, yeah, to a place. Do you say ruled by Poseidon? I'll be

taken off to a place ruled by Poseidon. Sure. How do we get to King of the Deep? Is that a different part or is that the King of the Deep? No, it's part, or is that the, whoa, whoa, King of the Deep? No, it's got to be something, a third.

Yeah. Let me take it off, too, please. 30 minutes remaining. Is it, whoa, whoa, I'm the King of the Deep? I'm the King of the Deep? I'm the King of the Deep? Yeah. Yeah.

I'm King of the Deep. Whoa, whoa, King of the Deep. I don't know where we hit. deep. Whoa, whoa. King of the deep. I don't know where we hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. That's, that's. Whoa, whoa.

King of the deep. Oh, yeah. Whoa, whoa. King of the deep. Yeah. That's the one. There ain't no air, but it's something I don't care. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We don't, but it's something I don't care. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

We don't need no air, and we don't care. City beneath the sea is the only one for me. King of the deep. Yeah. King of the deep. I love it. All right. Something air, something care.

Maybe his rival is landlubbers. So he's pulling people down. Yep. Because he's king of the deep. So if you're up on a jet ski, he's going to get ski you. Okay. All right. We don't really care and we don't need no air.

We don't really care that you need air? Just needs an extra. Yeah, I know. You're the ones that you need air Or Just needs an extra Yeah I know We don't really care You're the ones that need the air Yeah We don't really care You're the ones that need the air

The city needs to stay Is the only one for me Whoa King of the deep Yeah Alright Alright So there

Now This is controversial Go on Second verse Same as the first. I like that he's got a more tangible mission. Sure. He basically, he's the guy who kills people in the water. Yeah.

So if you're... And you come to live in Atlantis. He's recruiting you to his underwater gang. So if you're riding on the waves... you come to live in the atlantis he's he's recruiting you to his underwater gang so if you're riding on the waves is this the kind of song that maybe would be played in a video about water safety possibly i like it yeah like a cool video about water safety yeah not something that the government produced no no no but But like something that maybe was made by the free market. Yeah.

What's a... Okay, so if you're like... So basically, if you're riding on the waves, this guy's coming and pulling you down. So you're swimming, you're riding, you're drunk boating. If you're playing in the waves, there's no... You know something about there's no way you... There's no way you can be saved.

Yeah, something salty grave. Oh, yeah. If you're... We're bad at this. Disagree. Are you kidding me? We've got King of the Deep. So you're playing with the waves because you needed a little distraction yeah yeah i like that distraction i like that word i'm just

saying if you're playing in the waves it's a for a something summertime distraction yeah because then we've got some kind of action yes we do i it. Although I don't want to telegraph the next line. No, yeah, I understand that. But also refraction. Oh, there's plenty of action words. If you're heading to the coast, yeah, to the coast, for a little summertime distraction. Satisfaction.

Oh, yeah. Pulling you under is something something my satisfaction. If you're heading to the coast for a little summertime distraction. You know what I like about this song? Easy to sing. Yeah. There's only one place where you're guaranteed satisfaction.

Or will be guaranteed. The fins will pull you down. Yeah. Diarrhea is brown. Diarrhea. There's only one place. Will be guaranteed. The fins will pull you down. Yeah. Diarrhea is brown. Diarrhea. There's only one place. Will be guaranteed. Yeah, yeah. I guarantee you'll drown.

Yeah, he'll be satisfied. I'll get my satisfaction. Yeah. You'll get something. I'll get satisfaction. You'll get a sunburn and I'll get satisfaction. You'll just have it. You'll get burnt. You'll get burnt.burn and I'll get satisfaction. You'll just have it. You'll get burnt.

You'll get burnt. Satisfaction. Yeah. Now, what world is this song a hit in? 1960s? Yep. We just need a little bit of context. But you know what?

The old sounds are always being brought in back. That's true. And also, I feel like a lot of songs that are about going to have a party or just dancing are all, that's just a repeat of the 50s and 60s. And this is sort of more, you're imagining more of a Ramones style upbeat. Treatment. Yeah. Yeah. Just a real... Although, listeners out there, if you're in a 1950s or 60s doo-wop band, by all means, do your version.

Yeah, yeah, please. Don't mess with the fans, because we will million. The city like the sea is the only one for me. Yeah, I think so. It's a pretty good line. The only one for me. Whoa, whoa. so. It's a pretty good line. The only one for me. Whoa, whoa. In the deep.

I think it's that one. In the deep. And does this thing need any kind of bridge, any kind of middle eighth? No, tell me again what a bridge is. It's a third part of a song. Okay. So a third, like a third. It's like you would maybe put it here before the third verse.

Oh, so like where you would put a guitar solo, something like that. Yeah, or you would do like, it would be a different melody. And then it would have sort of like a theme change. It might be like show the other side of it. I can imagine a song like this not having a bridge. Yeah, I could also. And it just goes right through to the next. Yeah.

And then, but like, is there some kind of turn? Is there a regret? Is there? Oh, I see what you're saying. Does he get his comeuppance? I think the thing is, at the front, he's very braggadocio about that. 15 minutes remaining. I think he's bragging at the beginning that he's going to go down to the city of the wet.

But then he can't come back. There's no coming back. Okay. That's why he's the king of the deep. Right. And is it a lonesome kingdom? Is there anyone else there? There's the Finns.

But are they all like ghoulie ghosties? Yeah, I think they're all ghoulie ghosties. Yeah. He was bragging like, hey, I'm going to go to some place that's super cool. Yeah. But now. James Cameron's visiting him all the time. It's annoying.

Could you say, could you switch it to now that Summer's gone, right? He wants to return, but he can't. No one's visiting him anymore. Yeah, the beach is closed. He's bored. Yeah, like now that... He needs some kind of distraction. Now that...

Yeah, I do like another... Like that number of syllables, like distraction. Now that summer's gone. And I'm stuck with my own reflection. Staring at my own reflection. Yeah. Something huge erection. Something perfection.

And he's got, like, he's got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, right? Yeah. This guy. Hoodeds and daddits galore. Does he have anything about bobs?

He's got plenty. Now that summer's gone and I'm staring at my own reflection. And he's staring at it like the way we would stare at our reflection in the water, but he's staring at it backwards. Yeah. Do you get a reflection that way?

I don't think so. Uh, but he also could be, he could be up looking down at a, at a something shiny. Yes. Well, he's got thingamabobs down there. Now that summer's gone and I'm staring at my own reflection. Complexion. Oh, yeah. I like that.

Barnacle, barnacly complexion. Oh, yeah. Ten minutes left. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. That's okay. Where are my summer friends with their somethings gone? With their perfect sun, kiss complexion.

Then we'll do two lines here. The second line will be City by the Sea is the only one for me. Yeah. But it'll be like the first line should have a line explaining that that second line is now a sad line. Oh, yeah, yeah. Something sowing what I reap. I'm a something in the deep. I wear this crown of shit. Salty jail.

Yeah, maybe there's three lines, and the third one is the city by the sea is the only one for me. So it's... So three lines? Yeah. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- They go to Davy Jones' locker. Okay. A million miles down, or a thousand miles down, something something crown. Without saying the actual cliche, but he's down there, he's the king. Yeah. And his head is heavy. How many leagues under the sea is this motherfucker?

At least seven. Something something down. He's in a league of his own. An anchor for a crown. Yes. There. Boom. Something about the salt water or tears.

What about he's just waiting until next summer? You know, like that. Waiting for next year. Five minutes remaining. Oh, yeah. Waiting for next year because I will still be here. I will still be here. Are there something about his tears?

Salty The salt water is my tears Oh yeah Filling oceans with my tears Oh an ocean full of tears Yeah The city neat to see Is the only one for me

Whoa whoa King of the deep Whoa whoa King of the deep That's a whole song That is a whole song That's a whole hit song That is a whole song. That's a whole hit song. Oh, man.

We did it. Now, when we finish our hit song, do we smoke a cigarette? Do we say Clark Shumka? Do we say Shumka Clark? We meld our names together. Well, I don't think we'll get any royalties that way. Oh, you know know whatever sounds best yeah

um Chumka Clark Slash oh Slash so the Slash comes after us yeah but is it Slash

yeah it's Slash why does he get any money well divine inspiration he was our inspiration yeah that's true I'm wearing a top hat

and I got a lot of snakes. And my hair is in my face. I am Slash. King of guitar. So we did it. Yeah. So what happens now is we have to figure out how to make this a record. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we have to figure out, uh, uh, how to make this a record. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We have to go to the, down to the vinyl. We've got to go to sun records. We've got to play the song on the spot for a producer. Yeah. With our million dollar quartet.

Yeah. Trio. Um, and, uh, yeah, the producer has to sit back and go, you guys may be crazy, but you might also be geniuses.

Is that from Man on the Moon? Yeah. When he records his album? Yeah, he sings the Mighty Mouse theme song. Okay, so we'll check in with that right, I guess, right now. Yeah. we'll check in with that right, I guess, right now. Yeah.

So what happened next is I took the song and I recorded a demo in GarageBand with some guitar and fake bass and fake drums and fake keyboards and that sounded like this. And then we sent that demo to our friend Jay Arner. My name's Jay Arner. I'm about 6'2 and 145.

That's his height and weight for some reason. Anyway, Jay is a musician here in Vancouver, and he plays in the bands Energy Slime and Cult Babies, and under his own name, it's Jay. We know. We know, geez. And podcast fans may know him as the guy who made the theme song for the retail nightmares podcast he agreed to help us record a proper version of king of the

deep and when we got to the studio we asked him what he thought of the song it was like a very good american like usa rock and roll. Good time music. Yeah, USA good time music. Yeah, so he knew what we were going for. Yeah, he nailed the genre right off the bat. Good time surfers. Rock and roll. Yeah, USA hot dog.

USA hot dog, hamburger, rock and roll. Yeah, polka dot wowie, biker gang, jukebox. Yeah, like a greatest generation Wiggle Waggle Ricky Rock. Exactly. So he got it. He had the right thing right away. So the first thing we did is we recorded drums in his practice space. Yeah, I'm going to do stereo overheads.

If you have no preference, I'll just do this. No idea what that means. Yeah, I don't know. He talked a lot of jargon talk. But it made us believe that he knew what he meant, and that went a long way. Yeah. It's just a dead net. And you played drums on the song, Graham.

Yeah. And you had not played drums in how many years? At least seven. And how did it go? It was pretty sloppy. How did you feel going in? Nervous. I was nervous.

You played along to the demo in your headphones. Yeah. And it went great. Yeah. It was fun. You did it in five takes. I don't know what that's for, but that could make for a really impressive film. Oh, yeah, right?

So you took your takes and you patched together the best parts into one track. Yeah. And it was, like, amazing. Yeah, it sounded so good. That's some of that overhead mic trickery he was talking about. A few days later, we went to his home studio to record everything else, starting with the guitar. And that's me, and then I did another guitar.

Maybe you could do something where the really distorted guitar is coming in the second verse or something. And he made us record everything at least twice, I think, so he could have everything in stereo. Yeah, I think that's how it works. Do you want to try bass? Sure. Real primacy. Thank you. And then it came time to sing, and how did you feel about that going in?

Again, nervous, but more nervous because I don't sing ever. We were so intimidated by the process of committing our voices to this recording. Yeah, and Jay was very cool the whole time. He was very like, don't worry, it'll be fine. Yeah, he was like, I won't, if time he was very like don't worry it'll be fine yeah he was like i won't give it sounds bad i won't include it how many takes are you prepared to do uh 1000 but he had like a bunch of different techniques to make us sound good do you want some wine or something but also just his like encouragement was it was that was, it was, that was, it was encouraging. Yeah, so we both sang a bunch of takes and it was all right. Yeah.

King of the deep, whoa, whoa. Speaking of singing, Jay's bandmate and co-ghost of Retail Nightmares, Jessica Delisle was there. I'm Jessica. Yeah, we know. And she sang some of our really cool lyrics. Whoa, whoa, king of the deep. And she also played keyboards on the song. Even though nobody asked her to, she just plugged in an organ and we were like, okay.

Just because it was like a super high stress situation and we thought she would fly off the handle. But we can't. We asked her. She played and it was real nice to do so. So the whole thing took about four hours to record, which is... We were expecting weeks. Yeah, weeks of... Well, because I wanted to have a bunch of dogs barking on the track.

Sure. And I wanted to record a train going into the distance. Yeah. Yeah. But we couldn't find any distance. No, no. Yeah. We've got all the useless train noise if anybody needs some

but it was a lot of fun i'm glad we started episode one with like a pretty straightforward song that was just like guitar bass drums keyboards yeah singy singy sings and i would record another song like that it's so so much fun to do well doy yeah and if you want to hear it after all this build up go to our to our debut album.bandcamp.com you can download the song it's a dollar and that's how you can support the podcast and help us make more episodes yeah if you want us to do more episodes the easy thing to do is just go download what's a dollar what's a dollar to you even yeah come on support the music industry by supporting the podcast industry yeah really by supporting the podcast industry.

Don't really just support the podcast industry. And yeah, thanks for listening and go buy that song. Thanks, everybody. Bye. If you want to support the show, go to rdebutalbum.bandcamp.com to buy this month's song. To get in touch, email us at r us on Twitter Get other episodes through iTunes, Stitcher, and And listen next month for another new song.