And Tibetan Prayer Beads
April 6, 2011 7:49 AM   Subscribe

A love song to Ira Glass.
posted by jph (40 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
This whole "woman with a ukelele" meme has finally gone to far.


Ira Glass in a tote bag... ugh. Make the nightmares stop.
posted by Panjandrum at 7:56 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


I think you meant to post this here.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:58 AM on April 6, 2011


And good night!
posted by jenniferteeter at 8:06 AM on April 6, 2011 [5 favorites]


I knew, knew it would be a woman with a ukele.

If you are going to do it, do it like Amanda Palmer.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:07 AM on April 6, 2011 [6 favorites]


A ukelele is a lot easier to listen to than over-produced up-talking.
posted by DU at 8:10 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


This is a much better Ira Glass song.
posted by Legomancer at 8:12 AM on April 6, 2011


That was not funny at all.
posted by timshel at 8:12 AM on April 6, 2011


Unfortunately, Ira Glass apparently makes a really, really lousy boyfriend.
posted by Naberius at 8:14 AM on April 6, 2011 [6 favorites]


Well, it's no Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury.

Which is probably for the best.
posted by delfin at 8:19 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


I knew this would be a twee lady with a ukulele before I clicked the video. Gnngh.

I love the ukulele. I play one on stage. I think it's a beautiful instrument with a rich heritage, it's also very convenient and fun. I love This American Life. I have started so many sentences with 'Did you hear that episode of This American Life where there's the guy...' that my remaining friends want to gouge their ears out with scissors.

But this was not good.

I suppose I may be extra sensitive because of that whole Freudian 'narcissism of small differences' business. Maybe I see in them something I'm perilously close to becoming. But please - twee smart types with uke. Think before posting your youtube video. You are salting the earth for future generations of uke players.

Right, I'm off to pen a ditty about a teenage crush and Ocarina of Time.
posted by RokkitNite at 8:19 AM on April 6, 2011


I really don't get Amanda Palmer's whole twee-goth thing.

Neil Gaiman's close association with Palmer has actually soured me on him a bit. It's very sad. :(
posted by kmz at 8:21 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


I don't hate the ukelele on principle, but this song was just creepy. Talking about your vibrator and a currently-living person in a format where they'd ideally see it is just... nope. Over the line. Unlike, say, Molly Lewis, who, in addition to inherently not being creepy, actually had the balls to sing her song to Fry in person.
posted by you're a kitty! at 8:27 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


"Close association" being marriage.
posted by maryr at 8:29 AM on April 6, 2011


I should mention that I have very mixed Amanda Palmer feelings as well, but there is no doubt that the woman is productive, and an artist in her own right. I actually saw the high school musical version of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea about Anne Frank, and, though parts of it were upsetting for various reasons, there are few other people trying anything like... that.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:40 AM on April 6, 2011


Yes. Well. My mother just checked this thread, and says I'm still awesome even if none of you appreciate twee slightly-creeptastic ukulele songs about being upper-middle-class and white and in love with a radio documentarian. Hrmf!
posted by jph at 8:42 AM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]


It's no "Ira Glass" rap by Adam WarRock.
posted by inturnaround at 8:46 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


Yes, you are still awesome, even if your tastes are questionable.
posted by desjardins at 8:46 AM on April 6, 2011


Poor excuse for a ukulelist + poor excuse for a song about an American public radio host = poor excuse for a post.
posted by Jode at 8:52 AM on April 6, 2011


Neil Gaiman's close association with Palmer has actually soured me on him a bit. It's very sad. :(

I had to unfollow his Twitter after they started dating because it was like AMANDA AMANDA AMANDA AMANDA AMANDA AMANDA also I wrote a book about a graveyard it's cool AMANDAAAAAAA'S BOOOOOOBS
posted by katillathehun at 9:01 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


Neil Gaiman's close association with Palmer has actually soured me on him a bit. It's very sad. :(

I would like to peek into the alternate Earth where Neil Gaiman is fucking Trisha Yearwood.
posted by Legomancer at 9:05 AM on April 6, 2011


The whole "keep bringing up how much you hate women with Ukulele" thing has gone too far.

I hereby declare Molly Lewis and Metafilter's own Jennifer Teeter the winners of this genre so we never have to discuss it again. Let's put it in the vault with cat declawing, smoking, Critical Mass, SUVs, fat people, and whatever else we don't do well.

Though a critical mass of Uke Girls would be kind of cool.
posted by bondcliff at 9:07 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


An impassioned plea to those of metafilter to stop posting single link you tube videos of ladies playing the ukulele.
posted by TheBones at 9:20 AM on April 6, 2011


This whole "woman with a ukelele" meme has finally gone to far.

I just feel sorry for women with ukuleles. I understand they want to be quirky and different and display their musical ability and interest in obscure topics, but unfortunately they completely negate all of these goals because the ukulele is so common, it's easy to learn, and these girls always sing about the most mainstream topics. I feel like there isn't really a genuine interest in the ukulele as an instrument, it's just that thing that that cool girls played once ooooh I want that! (OMG it's cheap too and sooooo easy people will definitely notice me now) I think it is about taking on the trappings and superficial qualities of innovative artists without tackling the substance of innovation and interestingness.

The whole "keep bringing up how much you hate women with Ukulele" thing has gone too far.

There is an easy way to prevent negative comments about people playing a fad instrument and singing about mainstream subjects is to not post single youtube videos of a pandering attention-grab song to websites that allow public comments.
posted by fuq at 9:35 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


Or maybe I'm just love to hate on hipsters, be they tight-pants-wearing (male) or ukulele-playing (female).
posted by fuq at 9:36 AM on April 6, 2011


Unfortunately, Ira Glass apparently makes a really, really lousy boyfriend.

Forget that guy. Lynda Barry is funk queen of the universe.
posted by mintcake! at 9:44 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


In the sub-sub-sub genre of geeky musical paeans to NPR glitterati, nothing tops Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance, IMO.
posted by shiu mai baby at 9:59 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


Dude. Guys. The fact that she's a woman with a ukulele is part of the joke here, forchrissake. In the grand tradition of the Hazzards (who have been around since, like 2003ish?), she's hating on being pretentious. Except there's another metalevel. Dur.

Also, I dig this because her delivery is very Christine Lavin.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:11 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


The fact that she's a woman with a ukulele is part of the joke here, forchrissake.

There are options that aren't "liking it" and "not getting it."
posted by troika at 10:13 AM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


Riiight, but most of the comments here seem to be taking the content of the song in earnest. "I don't hate the ukelele on principle, but this song was just creepy. Talking about your vibrator and a currently-living person in a format where they'd ideally see it is just... nope. Over the line" and all that.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:15 AM on April 6, 2011


Also, though the music parts are kinda repetitive/annoying, this is hilarious. She really, really reminds me of Lavin. I don't think I've encountered a modern musician with the same kind of hammy snark.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:18 AM on April 6, 2011


Well that seems stalkingly disturbing.
posted by JJ86 at 10:54 AM on April 6, 2011


Most of the comments here seem to be taking the content of the song in earnest.

I think you can find things creepy and inappropriate while still realizing that they're tongue-in-cheek. If that weren't the case, a lot more harassment would be considered okay. I'm not saying we should prevent her from saying stuff, just that I personally think she's crossed a social boundary by doing this, in a way that doesn't amuse me.
posted by you're a kitty! at 12:01 PM on April 6, 2011


If she were hot this thread would be completely different.
posted by ReeMonster at 12:37 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


After hearing this amazing episode, I have even less tolerance for hackneyed stuff-white-people-like/hipster/brooklyn/etc. snideness.

TAL often does deep and substantial journalism, tells stories that no one else is telling, all while maintaining a unique sense of humanity. Lord knows we don't have an excess of that these days. And, if in your book, appreciating the above makes one a hipster, then... guilty - I guess.
posted by tempythethird at 12:40 PM on April 6, 2011 [4 favorites]


If it weren't for MetaFilter, I wouldn't know that "twee women with ukes" was even a thing, much less so much of a thing that it's overplayed.
posted by brundlefly at 6:16 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


In other words, is this something that I'd have to hate ukuleles to understand?
posted by brundlefly at 6:17 PM on April 6, 2011


This is a good ukelele song, IMHO...
posted by you're a kitty! at 6:50 PM on April 6, 2011


I liked it.
posted by TurkishGolds at 6:38 AM on April 7, 2011


actually had the balls to sing her song to Fry in person

Oh, i don't think that took balls [sic]. Fry is well known to get pretty tickled about fun stuff and is a famously gentle critic toward amateurs.
posted by lodurr at 8:24 AM on April 7, 2011


... and: Memes. I've given up bothering to try to keep up. That way I can be pleasantly surprised when I see something that looks clever to me, even if it looks tired to everyone else. I get my stepson to explain them to me or check on Rocketboom or Wikipedia [assuming it's 'notable'].

So if there's a 'woman with a ukulele' meme, my only questions are this: does it involve autotune? [in which case I reach for my volume control] and does it sound good? [because, to crib from Duke Ellington, if it sounds good, it is good.]
posted by lodurr at 8:29 AM on April 7, 2011


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