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Fatcat and Fishface: Birdbrain (Jayrem)

This irreverent outfit who sing songs ostensibly for children but with major adult appeal, have appeared at Elsewhere previously with their very silly The Bestest and Most Horriblest Songs for Children. They are more Spike Milligan and Monty Python than Teletubbies and Play School.

This one is aimed rather further up the kiddie demographic than Bestest (8 to 14 would be my guess) because it has a theme of New Zealand's birds across a series of songs heavily referenced in pop culture: reggae; jerky New Wave on Cuckoo To You; Mary Poppins on Kingfisher; funk on the song about nocturnal birds called Nightclub . . .

Or maybe I am reading too much into it?

But it is interesting on lots of levels (conservation, narratives, sound effects, bird calls, neat little tunes) -- but this recommendation comes from someone who loved a Wombles album for its Beatles/Beach Boys/Rick Wakeman/punk references I should warn you.

Birdbrain is fun, educational (good liner notes on the birds) and very clever indeed.

You can get it from here. And you should get it, not just for the kids either.

Listen to the sample track. Tell me that ain't the bestest parody of Yoko Ono you've ever heard!

Added: 6 Dec 09

Video

Comments

rob - Dec 10, 2009

Loved the first fatcat and fishface (10 years later, the teenagers still sing that pop anthemn to 6-legged mothers: "she was looking for a place to lay her maaaaagots"! The second not so much, but still good.
I'm gonna get this one for Christmas... not sure who for, but will it matter!?

Angela Soutar - Dec 14, 2009

Delightfully nutty!!

And cheered me up after maggots got my lunch [left the remainders at work on Friday and by Monday it was crawling, aaargh]. Well you probably didn't want me to share that but it gave me a laugh after a very hard day!
And yes, maybe the humour is just for supposed grown ups.

Julian - Apr 2, 2010

Fatcat & Fishface are a fixture in our car for long trips, so we'll have to check this one out as well. And I totally know where you're coming from about that Wombles album, I loved it too.

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