Foster the People "Pumped Up Kicks" (2010)

Robert's got a quick hand.
He'll look around the room, he won't tell you his plan.
He's got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth, he's a cowboy kid.
Yeah, he found a six shooter gun.
In his dad's closet hidden with a box of fun things, and I don't even know what.
But he's coming for you, yeah he's coming for you.

If you are under 35, you probably caught this as it was a very popular song. It charted very well, but I think a lot of older people missed it. It is yet another example an upbeat tune masking dark lyrics. The Ravonettes "Here Comes Mary"(2005)  (and soon to be featured here) comes to mind and is a nice match as that song is about a girl being bullied whereas this one is about getting inside the head of someone who is bullied and out for revenge. Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle" (1974) is another example of a danceable song with ominous lyrics.

Foster the People is really Mark Foster, who hails from Cleveland, Ohio, but later moved to LA. Mark started it all as a solo project while working writing commercial jingles. Later, Foster brought in Bassist Cubbie Fink and Mark Pontis to play drums. Other than a EP,  "Torches" is their only album release to date. The band does not seem to be touring.

As for "Pumped Up Kicks," It had been said that it is a song you can sit and analyse or get up and dance to.

A explanation of the songs meaning came from Mark Foster during an interview with Spinner UK:
"Pumped Up Kicks" is about a kid that basically is losing his mind and is plotting revenge. He's an outcast I feel the youth in our culture are becoming more and more isolated. It's kind of an epidemic. Instead of writing about the victims of some tragedy, I wanted to get into the killer's mind, like Truman Capote did in In Cold Blood. I love to write about characters. That's my style. I really like to get inside the heads of  other people and try to walk in their shoes."

Foster points out that there is no violence in the song other than the pictures painted in the kid's mind.

"Pumped Up Kicks" was a viral release in 2010 that grew in popularity and was being played on radio long before the album was released. It was this song that got Foster a recording contract.

Winner: Biggest Turkey Song 2012- Paper Lace: "The Night Chicago Died" (1974)

Well the nominations are all in, and we have our Thanksgiving Day worst song ever winner! Hats off to alert reader Gary DiStefano for bringing this song to light. A bubble gum confection you want to scrape off of the sole of your shoe. Imagine if you will, two guys who together wrote three of the most unlistenable songs ever. "Bonnie and Clyde"(1968), "Billy Don't Be a Hero"(1974) and our winner "The Night Chicago Died". A troika of tripe!

Mitch Murray (who appears to have written some good things as well) and Peter Callander are bestowed that honor. They got Paper Lace, the pride of Nottingham, England (They are the best band to ever hail from that town) to record "Billy Don't Be a Hero" and it was a big hit in England. Before they could release it in the U.S., Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods covered it and made it a hit for themselves. The Paper Lace version only hit #96. Bo and the boys were not nominated this year but will surely winn worst song somewhere down the line.

Murray and Callander were not going to get beaten again so they rushed the Paper lace version of "The Night Chicago Died" to U.S. release, peaking at #1 in August 1974. No wonder I was following the blues by then! The other four top five songs were "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Roberta Flack, "(You're) Having My Baby" (already a worst song winner on this blog), "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus, and "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins...wow. CNN pointed out that 1974 may have been the worst year for songs in history.

Paper Lace came to America but other than playing at a few radio stations, they were unable to perform the song live in the U.S. at the height of its popularity because of contractual issues.

Oh, and the name of their lead guitarist was Carlo Santanna...most unfortunate.

This song made quite a few worst songs of the '70s lists and CNN named it to their worst songs list as well. It is cited in TV writer Ken Levine's blog also.
Lyrics? Here you go:

And the sound of the battle rang
Through the streets of the old east side
'Til the last of the hoodlum gang
Had surrendered up or died

There was shouting in the street
And the sound of running feet
And I asked someone who said
"'Bout a hundred cops are dead!"

I heard my mama cry
I heard her pray the night Chicago died
Brother what a night it really was
Brother what a fight it really was
Glory be!

The band would try to sign with another label to make more money but it all collapsed in lawsuits. Some of the members press on as Paper Lace today. Glory be!

So enjoy this song and try to get it out of your head as you dig into your stuffing today!

Submit Your Nominations: Biggest Turkey Tune Ever!

It's turkey time and so here is your chance to submit (for our consideration) your nominee for worst song ever! The winner will receive top billing as a connoisseur of garbage. We are looking for songs that are just plain band and/or received way more airplay than it deserved. Let's do away with novelty songs that try to be bad and go for the epic failures (by today's measures) that never held up over time.

So I seek your input. I'll pick two submittals and publish them Thanksgiving Day. One caveat: the song you suggest must be a video I can post or at minimum, an audio link from a website. I want our readers to hear what you have chosen.

Simply submit your choice by commenting on this post or send it via e-mail (with a link to the song) here.

Let me get you started with this one:
Paul Anka:"(You're) Having My Baby" (1974) 
In 2006, CNN poll voters named this the worst song ever. But wait, the video has a bonus in that Anka is introduced by none other than BBC's late child abuser Jimmy Savile! Is this a small world or what?! 

Willie Mabon and His Combo: "I'm Mad" (1953)

Willie Mabon (b.1925) was a talking kind of singer with a tongue-in-cheek urban feel. He played piano and harmonica (sometimes at the same time) and at the age of 17, had moved from his native Memphis, Tennessee to Chicago. He recorded firstly as a member of the Blues Rockers. I read somewhere that his style influenced Mose Allison. I believe such a comparison makes a lot of sense.

The blog Be Bop Wino put his music this way: "Willie’s sound was different from the electric blues which was becoming the house sound of Chess at that time. His records were in a roughhouse jump blues style with riffing horns backing up hoarse vocals and pianistic pounding." All this and with with a finger missing from one of his hands.

He became popular in the Chicago area and became a popular R & B singer. He was signed to Chess Records and set his sound apart from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf by featuring piano and sax instead of guitar and harp.

He had a hit in 1952 with a cover of "I Don't Know," a bluesy novelty song that would later be performed by the Blues Brothers on their debut first album.

"I'm Mad" was released in 1953 and made it to number one on the R & B charts that year. It is so matter of fact in it's depiction of a regretful relationship, that I have never played it for someone who has never heard it and didn't burst out laughing.

In 1980. Canadian production house International Rocketship Limited released it's first animated short called "Sing Beast, Sing." The film is an animated story corresponding to "I'm Mad" and is quite amusing. I'm including that short in this post as well.

green, round, wonderful, beautiful world
with the beautiful waters
around the curves
and everything that's, in the world
I hops up and marries me a glamor girl
I'm mad...

Mabon never regained his momentum after leaving Chess. He stopped at Federal in 1957, Mad in 1960, Formal in 1962 (where he stirred up some local sales with his leering "Got to Have Some"), and USA in 1963-64. Mabon sat out much of the late '60s but came back strong after moving to Paris in 1972, recording and touring Europe prolifically until his death.
 

Brett Dennen: "Ain't No Reason" (2006)

This guy slipped by me, and I have been listening to a lot of folk rock in the last few years. Brett Dennen is from Northern California and learned to play guitar while entertaining kids as a camp counselor. He is very active in supporting nonprofit initiatives and supports the camp to this day.

This is from his from his Facebook page: “In many ways this is my first album,” Brett Dennen says of his fourth record, Loverboy. “On my previous albums I said what I needed to say. I evoked every different mood and sentiment and emotion. Now I don’t really have anything to prove. I’ve been the new kid on the block and now that phase is over. I get to start all over again, relax, and refocus.” He pauses and flashes 

a laidback grin. “And what I’m focused on is having fun.”

I think "Ain't No Reason" is a song about the insanity of the persuit of material things, and that it is not likely to change anytime soon.
 

People walk around pushing back their debts
Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets
Talking 'bout nothing, not thinking 'bout death
Every little heartbeat, every little breath

Dennen’s rise has been impressive. In 2004 Dennen released his self-titled debut, followed quickly by his sophomore LP So Much More (2006,) which spent months on the Billboard Heatseeker chart. The release drew the attention of John Mayer, for whom Dennen opened in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 the artist released his follow-up, Hope for the Hopeless, which debuted at #41 on the Billboard Top 200 and firmly established Dennen as a definitive new voice in modern songwriting. He’s worked with Femi Kuti, Natalie Merchant, and JasonMraz; he’s toured with Dave Matthews, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and The John ButlerTrio; and he’s played Bonarroo, Austin City Limits, Coachella, and Newport Folk Festival. He’s also become the go-to guy for some of the best and most artfully soundtracked contemporary tv shows. His songs have appeared on Scrubs, Grey's anatomy,Parenthood,Brothers and Sisters, and House among others.