13 Drinking Songs
Naked & Shameless
Atomic Mouse Recordings
2001
13 tracks
Remember that plain brown paper wrapped parcel you once got from your eccentric uncle who lived abroad. Innocent enough this parcel looked, until you opened it and out spilled all manner of strange and wonderful things. This release is like that. True, the package leans toward Punk but it doesn't seem really off the wall, at least not until you get into it. And the sticker on the front with tiny writing ("warning: this audio recording should be taken with alcohol. please refer to alcohol packaging for dosage.") should have given me a clue. Even so, the mixed bag that fell out of this package was quite a surprise.
In the promotional materials, Naked & Shameless are described as "the undisputed punk kings of kitsch rock." The content of 13 Drinking Songs is not so easily described. The set starts off with spoken word, sounding Beatnick like Ginsberg but without the layers of allusion to give it depth. This is followed by an acoustic blues number with vocals that slide between John Fogarty and Burton Cummings, songs with hard-driving guitars and plaintive voices performed in a faux-Irish pub style, Monkees style guitar under a song that starts out sounding like Peter and Gordon but soon shifts to a harder Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart style, a tale reminiscent of Coleridge or Jimmy Dean, a Bach-tinged song with a one-word lyric, some hard rock, another song that sounds like it was ripped out of the Afroman songbook, and more, including a very weird final track.
One outstanding feature of this release is the use of certain words and phrases that sometimes seem to fit but mostly seem to have been inserted for shock value. Oddly enough, the boys get coy when offering their words (or at least one word) in print. The printed lyrics are loaded with the word "fish" in various forms. This is not the word I'm hearing on the recording. All other dubious references, including some potentially more offensive than "fish" might be, are printed verbatim.
This is pub music, clearly directed at drunks and college students. The lyrics are simple, often silly, and look for laughs using base humour and language. Yet there is a sense that Naked & Shameless, intentionally or not, are communicating on more than one level. It could be that these artists are dumbing down their words and music for a target drunken pub audience. There are certainly indications that they have a far broader understanding of literature, religion (yes, religion), and popular music than they let on.
The words of "Terima Kasih" provide one such clue. In this spoken word piece, I got to the passage, "Bigger fish than me have drowned in this South Sea/When pulled by lapping girls into the giggling waves/Oh, how they must've died -" and had a flashback to T. S. Eliot's, "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/Till human voices wake us, and we drown." This is the most obvious of several bits that appear to be allusions to literary, visual arts (e.g. Jackson Pollock), or musical tradition. Whether they are intentional or simply alcohol induced remnants of somebody's liberal arts education is uncertain.
Taking off from the premise, "12 pack, 12 disciples, 12-step program - coincidence?" this release is connected by a disingenuous Biblical story line not present on the CD but included as comments preceding each lyric in the accompanying booklet. This commentary could be only a semi-literate prank, but again the content and specific references suggest that the writer is much more knowledgeable of the Bible than he pretends. This story line is sure to offend many Christians while believers with a sense of humour may enjoy the forbidden pleasure of a secret chuckle or two.
Naked & Shameless claim that MADD has picketted their shows. This is understandable. "DUI" is only one song of several that are likely to offend members of MADD, or anyone with strong feelings about drinking and driving. At surface, these songs seem to encourage such activities. However, it should be noted that, while the performed version slurs over these sections, the characters in these songs do come to bad ends. I could name a half-dozen other groups who may, and most likely would, be offended by some of these songs for a variety of reasons.
The song listing here is quirky. The songs are listed in order as "Buck & Dave's 12 Step Program to Überalcoholißm and Beervana" plus a final song, but the numbered songs, from #1 to #27, are listed in no particular order. In the booklet, but not on the CD or packaging, each song is also given a name evocative of alcohol, drugs, or sometimes perverse sex.
It seems to be futile to comment on any one of these songs without discussing each of them. I will, however, mention the final track. All the other songs are titled "Drinking Song #(whatever)" but not this song. "Are You Drinking With Me Jesus?" clocks in at 18:23 total. It's a bizarre trick. The song actually ends at 2:27 and is followed by a very long period of dead air. The final 85 seconds is taken up by a tongue-in-cheek request by M. C. Skidd Wong for demo records to be sent to his Atomic Mouse Records.
Perverse, offensive, or just plain weird though they may be, Naked & Shameless are also very funny, with competent writing and interesting music. As parodists, they may be not just off the wall but a bit beyond it, yet their material works on a number of levels that may appeal not just to the drunken crowd at the pub but to the more thoughtful among us as well. Of course, I didn't try taking this recording with alcohol as suggested on the package. Doing that might have skewed my perspective a bit.
If you dare, you can find lots of information on Naked & Shameless at nakedandshameless.com. Be warned that this site should be rated at least PG14 if for nothing else but the language.
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Review written: April 8, 2005
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