So-Called Curried Soul
September 3, 2013 5:05 PM   Subscribe

After more than 40 years, the great CBC Radio interview show As It Happens has changed its theme music. Moe Koffman's original has been remixed by Josh Dolgin (aka Socalled). The story (with a link to the new version).
posted by anothermug (55 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh God, it’s about time. I’m not Canadian, but every time I heard that music it disoriented me. Did I just travel back in time? Is this an old show they’re repeating?
posted by bongo_x at 5:16 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


I called the dubstep remix before they even played it or mentioned that one of their listeners had worried that they would go that way. Dubstep: it's the first and most obvious joke to occur to a whole bunch of middle-class, middle-brow Canadians. You're wub wub welcome.
posted by maudlin at 5:19 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Hoo-boy. I just listened to the real new theme again. Bring on the dubstep.
posted by maudlin at 5:20 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Man, did they ever drag that whole thing out. Shepherd said, "I think they're underestimating the interest my fellow Canadians have in this."

Having listened to the shit show that is Radio Noon Montreal, no. No, they did not.
posted by Kitteh at 5:25 PM on September 3, 2013


It's disco. Shitty disco, at that. They updated their 40-year-old theme tune by approximately three years.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:27 PM on September 3, 2013 [9 favorites]


Now they just have to sell downloads of the original theme for one physical Canadian penny each. The country will never shut up about it ever again.
posted by maudlin at 5:28 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Now they just have to replace Jeff Douglas and skip the lame animal stories other fluff and they might have something. So where does that leave us? Carol Off is great but everything else can go.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:39 PM on September 3, 2013 [5 favorites]


Now they just have to replace Jeff Douglas

Agree! I've never heard him once get through a show, if not a story, without stumbling over the script.
posted by anothermug at 5:41 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Where's my sitar break? Jeeze, this new version sounds like all the interviews will be done at a roller rink.
posted by Pazzovizza at 5:51 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


First Hockey Night in Canada AND NOW THIS
posted by oulipian at 5:52 PM on September 3, 2013 [5 favorites]


As long as they're keeping the groan-inducing but cheerful puns at the end of the teaser, I suppose I can stomach this.
posted by dry white toast at 5:55 PM on September 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


Now they just have to replace Jeff Douglas

This summer, when Karen Gordon was doing ALL THE SHOWS, it was the first time that I hadn't actively missed Barbara Budd.

Karen Gordon needs A Place. I'm perfectly happy with her having Jeff Douglas'.
posted by Capt. Renault at 5:57 PM on September 3, 2013 [6 favorites]


This song has (much like the chimes that introduce 10-minute segments of Marketplace during Morning Edition) for a long time been a sign that it's time for me to turn off my radio for a while.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:58 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


As for the revised theme... enh. It's not bad, but it's not as good. It was the play between the high flute and the low bass that made the song, and that dynamic has been tossed in favour of a beat.

It'll take some getting used to. Night after night of comparing it against the original.

Dunno. At a certain point, you can't really change branding anymore. The New York Times' header, Campbell's soup cans, Habs jerseys... At 40+ years on radio, 'Curried Soul' was up there.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:03 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


I liked how it was the lead story tonight. Yeah there's a shit show on the go in Syria and the surveillance state is closing in on us all, but we're changing our theme music for the first time in 40 years. Theme music wins.

They didn't change it enough to make it worthwhile. It sounds pretty much the same, but loses its retro feel.
posted by Brodiggitty at 6:03 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Michael Enright must be spinning in his grave the bottomless gravity well from which his voice emanates across time and space to instill deep wisdom in the hearts of mere mortals
posted by oulipian at 6:03 PM on September 3, 2013 [9 favorites]


Fireside Al is spinning in his grave, tho.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:05 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is the New Coke of theme music.
posted by Area Man at 6:17 PM on September 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


Not the first time they have done this. There was another version in the late 80s done by Parachute Club -- you can still hear a bit of it opening the second part of the show. It lasted a few years then they switched back to the original. it was weird that they did not acknowledge this in tonight's show.
posted by bowline at 7:07 PM on September 3, 2013


No.
posted by sparklemotion at 7:17 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


And so AIH merrily continues to play its role of the ex who, having ruined the relationship, unwittingly makes the separation that much easier with sad, cock-fingered attempts at gussying.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:02 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


"As long as they're keeping the groan-inducing but cheerful puns at the end of the teaser, I suppose I can stomach this."

Wow. I so totally disagree with this. I like their coverage in general (generally good interviews with questions that go beyond press release pap are my favorite thing about AIH), but the puns are terrible. Selling well-reported news by adding puns is a horrible trend, and I wish it would stop. Plus, a lot of the time, their puns veer into offensive territory. I don't want or expect my news reporters to be comedians, and I wish they'd stop treating me like someone who needs low-quality humor in order to keep paying attention.
posted by jiawen at 8:18 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


I wish they'd stop treating me like someone who needs low-quality humor in order to keep paying attention.

I thought Enright did OK at this, but it's literally been the AIH schtick for... 20+ years? Forever.

Be glad they stopped describing every location in England relative to how far it is from Reading.
posted by GuyZero at 8:24 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Now they just have to replace Jeff Douglas and skip the lame animal stories other fluff and they might have something.

Again, this is central to the AIH format. Interview with African dictator about a civil war and mass deaths, then off to someone's chicken who can cluck the national anthem.
posted by GuyZero at 8:26 PM on September 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


Hearing As It Happens on NPR got me into Moe Koffman*, but I suspect the new theme wouldn't have grabbed my attention. I'll probably be rolling my eyes now whenever I hear the remix.



*My teenaged brother, on the other hand, just knows it as "the 8 o'clock music!"
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:27 PM on September 3, 2013


Now they just have to replace Jeff Douglas and skip the lame animal stories other fluff and they might have something. So where does that leave us? Carol Off is great but everything else can go.

Carol Off is a humourless grouch who can go jump in a lake. While I guess I have gotten over the fact that Mary Lou Finlay has retired, I'm still mad that the wonderful Barbara Budd was replaced by that moron Jeff Douglas. It's not just that he's an idiot and did those stupid beer commercials, it's that he's often a sneering idiot. Off and Douglas are often quite rude to their guests.

I love radio, and I used to listen to As It Happens every night until Jeff Douglas became a regular. Now I just want to throw my radio out the window.

Jeff Douglas, Margaret Wente, and Kevin O'Leary are everything that is wrong with Stephen Harper's Canada.

/rant
posted by KokuRyu at 9:13 PM on September 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


Michael Enright must be spinning in the bottomless gravity well from which his voice emanates across time and space to instill deep wisdom in the hearts of mere mortals

I used to think Enright was a pompous know-it-all when he did that terrible stint cohosting with the dimwitted Avril Benoit, but I do love the Sunday Edition, especially in the fall and the winter when it's a pleasant way to spend a rainy Sunday morning.

I liked Enright a whole lot more when I realized he's gotten where he is with a high school degree and nothing more. God bless him.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:17 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Jeff Douglas, Margaret Wente, and Kevin O'Leary...

There is no way that I'd slot harmlessly goofy Jeff Douglas in with those two, especially since the spot so obviously belongs to Don Cherry.
posted by oulipian at 10:17 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


The new theme song is pretty meh.
Krusty said it best What the hell was that?.

Michael Enright, don't get me started...
posted by dougzilla at 10:48 PM on September 3, 2013


Nah, I hate change as much as any cantankerous old fart who phones in to Cross Country Checkup but I wasn't overly offended by it. Why they felt the need to change it I don't know, but I guess I'm inured to pointless theme song changes after the travesty of the new Hockey Night in Canada theme. Now THAT is a dreadful piece of pap in comparison.

GuyZero: Again, this is central to the AIH format. Interview with African dictator about a civil war and mass deaths, then off to someone's chicken who can cluck the national anthem.

OK, that literally made me laugh out loud. It's funny 'cause it's so, so true. But I still like AIH.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:14 AM on September 4, 2013


What is beautiful about this thread to me is we're talking about what we love about listening to Canadian radio. It's like we're comparing what we like about our gramophones. It blows my mind in the best way.

(CBC Radio One handily easily became the thing I love most about moving to Canada. You guys are awesome with your actual radio-program listening.)
posted by Kitteh at 3:43 AM on September 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


...and Kevin O'Leary...

Remarkably, my tolerance of Kevin O'Leary has gone up considerably, purely through comparison to Amanda Lang, and her revelation that she is a close personal friend of Michael Bryant.

posted by Capt. Renault at 6:29 AM on September 4, 2013


(CBC Radio One handily easily became the thing I love most about moving to Canada. You guys are awesome with your actual radio-program listening.)

The real tragedy is that CBC television gets 99% of the funding while producing mediocre-at-best results. Get rid of tv, give CBC Radio a bit more funding (look at how cool Q is... and how much does it cost? Nothing!) and drive on. Of course, that will never happen.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:05 AM on September 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


The real tragedy is that CBC television gets 99% of the funding while producing mediocre-at-best results. Get rid of tv, give CBC Radio a bit more funding (look at how cool Q is... and how much does it cost? Nothing!)

Why would they give radio more funding when it costs nothing to produce great stuff?

And you know they'd just do more of that godawful Vinyl Cafe, right?
posted by Sys Rq at 8:16 AM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yeah, we're currently at Maximum Stuart McLean Capacity. Any more Stuart McLean AND SOMETHING BAD SHALL HAPPEN.
posted by Kitteh at 8:45 AM on September 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


Reminds me a bit of that theme (used by ... Newton's Apple?) which was fashioned from Kraftwerk's 'Ruckzuck'.

Only I'm not sure why running the original through a disco machine is up-to-date. Oh the Travolta flashbacks it evokes! But then ... Shit Happens.
posted by Twang at 9:16 AM on September 4, 2013


So-Called Curried Soul

So-called original.

When my local NPR station started carrying As It Happens, I thought, that's cool, a jazzy arrangement of Edwin Star's "Twenty-Five Miles" with a nice little breakdown in the middle. A few weeks later, the announcers started bragging about the genius of Moe Koffman and his composition, "Curried Soul".

Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles
Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles
Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles
Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles
Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles (instrumental tracks only)

Edwin Starr -- Twenty-Five Miles was released in 1968 and rose to number 6 on the US singles charts in 1969.
The song was considered sufficiently similar to "32 Miles out of Waycross" by Hoagy Lands (also recorded as "Mojo Mama" by both Wilson Picket and Don Varner in 1967), written by Bert Berns and Jerry Ragovoy, that Berns and Ragovoy were eventually given co-writing credits.
-- Wikipedia
Moe Koffman -- Curried Soul was released in 1970 (meaning it was probably being 'composed' and recorded about when "Twenty-Five Miles" was a big hit).
 
posted by Herodios at 9:17 AM on September 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Moe Koffman -- Curried Soul was released in 1970 (meaning it was probably being 'composed' and recorded about when "Twenty-Five Miles" was a big hit).

Wow, that really takes some of the steam out of it. They should just get a new theme.
posted by bongo_x at 9:47 AM on September 4, 2013


Wow, that really takes some of the steam out of it.

Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey hey
Goodbye
 
posted by Herodios at 10:14 AM on September 4, 2013


I always thought the AIH theme song was ripping off Jumping Jack Flash by the Stones.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:31 PM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


And you know they'd just do more of that godawful Vinyl Cafe, right?

Well, there's "Ideas", which is, according to their promotional blurb, their flagship program. And is filled with greatness, btw.

Coincidentally, just yesterday I realized that Stuart McLean has made his whole career out of doing a bad William Shatner impression.
posted by sneebler at 4:54 PM on September 4, 2013


I think of Stuart McLean as doing a bad Jimmy Stewart impression.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:58 PM on September 4, 2013


I don't mind Stuart McLean in small doses; once a week or once every other week is about right.

The CBC repeats programs incessantly as the Harper government has been slashing the hell out of the CBC's operating budget since they have been in power. This is a crying shame.
Harper hates the CBC.

CBC radio used to be amazing. It still has some good programming like "Ideas" and "Q" mentioned above and "The Current". Its regional programming is good as well, but has lost airtime being replaced by recycled stuff from the CBC archive (the Vinyl Cafe for instance).

@Herodios
I had no idea that the Edwin Star song "Twenty-Five Miles" was the basis of "Curried Soul". Wow!

"Curried Soul" is not great, but they used it for so long that it did represent the brand.
The "Curried Soul" redo is just silly. Why did they bother.
posted by dougzilla at 11:35 PM on September 4, 2013 [1 favorite]



I don't mind Stuart McLean in small doses

I support Stuart McLean's sounding like nobody else on the radio, even if I never find what he's talking about particularly interesting.

I find his mid-continent mid-20th century Mark Twain by way of William Burroughs declamatory style infinitely preferable to the ironical start-and-stop delivery we hear on This American Life and its allies.

♣ Dougzilla: I had no idea that the Edwin Star song "Twenty-Five Miles" was the basis of "Curried Soul". Wow

Well, I don't go as far as to claim that it was in fact the the basis for it. I only say that if you were around then, the similarities and the coincidence in timing were hard to miss. Even without that history, it's fairly obvious.

The AIH people in the linked article (and elsewhere) simply brushing this aside with:
We still get questions about it – although some of that questions include, “Did you ever notice that your theme sounds like ‘Satisfaction’ by the Stones?”* and “Did you ever notice that your theme sounds like ’25 Miles’ by Edwin Starr?” (The answer to both questions: no.)
-- is disingenuous. Koffman's recording quite obviously employs -- and apart from the admittedly swell solos, consists almost entirely of -- an all but identical riff to that of a top ten pop song that was on the radio about the time this one was being recorded.

Starr and Motown had to cop to the similarities between "Twenty-Five Miles" and "32 Miles out of Waycross / Mojo Mama".** Why does Moe Koffman get a pass?

---------------------------
* No, the riff sounds superficially simliar to "Satisfaction", just as does Buffalo Springfield's "Mister Soul" (which Neil Young copped to); it sounds exactly like "Twenty-five Miles".

**I messed up that last link in my earlier comment. It's supposed to go to "Curried Soul" but instead is a duplicate link to Don Varner's recording of "Mojo Mama". Sorry if that muddied the waters.
posted by Herodios at 7:48 AM on September 5, 2013


Well, I don't go as far as to claim that it was in fact the the basis for it.
True enough, you did not. I did.

To my ear the similarities are more than superficial. One of the central riffs from "Twenty-Five Miles" gets borrowed for Kaufmans's "Curried Soul". The quote, "Great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil." seems to apply here.
posted by dougzilla at 8:11 AM on September 5, 2013


Stuart McLean reads ransom notes. (Warning: autoplay.)
posted by maudlin at 8:29 AM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]


I find his mid-continent mid-20th century Mark Twain by way of William Burroughs declamatory style infinitely preferable

Hmm. I really think he's trying to imitate Garrison Keillor, but his heart's in Hollywood. Or a nearby trailer park.
posted by sneebler at 7:30 PM on September 5, 2013


I really think he's trying to imitate Garrison Keillor

Very, very obviously so, yes. If Garrison Keillor constantly half-yelled in a thick but unplaceable Atlantic Canadian accent despite being a Montrealer son of Australians, he'd be a more talented Stuart McLean.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:33 PM on September 5, 2013


I assume Keillor predates Maclean since he's as old as the Minnesota hills and while I agree that Keillor's show's format is basically the template for The Vinyl Cafe I think it's different enough. But certainly it's an undeniable influence. If it hadn't been Maclean doing A Canadian Prairie Home Companion it would be someone else.

My personal sadness is that the formerly great DNTO has become... a whole lot of nothing. It's not even This Canadian Life.
posted by GuyZero at 9:22 PM on September 5, 2013


My personal sadness is that the formerly great DNTO has become... a whole lot of nothing. It's not even This Canadian Life.

Same here. TAL still produces shows I am glad to hear, but it's been years since I considered DNTO something I had to schedule Saturday housecleaning around. There are still good segments -- I'll be there for anything Ivan Coyote ever does, ever -- but the rest of it sounds phoned in.
posted by maudlin at 5:58 AM on September 6, 2013


Argh, I loathe DNTO as well as Vinyl Cafe. Sook Yin Lee really sounds like someone who is trying to be hip, introspective, and confessional; for me, it fails on all levels. It's like having a friend who wants to be a talk show host create a talk show in their house and they're always trying to get you to come over and "pretend."
posted by Kitteh at 7:30 AM on September 6, 2013


"Stuart McLean is a national treasure, so you can all go to hell," said Dave.

And nthing the boos for DNTO. The sad TAL knock-off bullshit they're doing now - and the TALification of CBC Radio programming in general is insulting to both what the network has been and could be and This American Life - is just pathetic. Under Nora Young (Now the host of Spark) it could often be annoying, but it was a pretty damn solid four hours; under Lee, it's a lonnnnngggg two hours. At least I assume it is, I've never made it past the intro. Quite often, I will listen to the Opera.

That's right, I would rather listen to Bill Richardson.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:05 PM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oh, sweet Jesus, AIH is disappearing into its own beer-soaked navel as they're STILL talking about that fucking theme right now.

Alvy, there is definitely no shame in listening to CBC2 on a Saturday afternoon.
posted by maudlin at 4:26 PM on September 6, 2013


Yeah, but what about Finkleman's 45's?
posted by GuyZero at 4:45 PM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]


As I was saying above, episodes of the The Vinyl Cafe and DNTO get played way too often because of CBC cutbacks.
When I hear the same episodes of The Vinyl Cafe and DNTO several times in the same week, I get into hypercritical mode. Hearing Stuart McLean once in a blue moon is all right. Hearing him every friggin day is torture (same with Sook Yin Lee).
Sad to say it but the glory days of CBC radio could be over. They are alienating their fan base with all these damned repeats all the time.
I want CBC radio to get more funding. I want it back.
posted by dougzilla at 5:50 PM on September 6, 2013


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