That much is true
July 27, 2015 5:34 PM   Subscribe

We all need silly things in our lives, so courtesy of James Leyland Kirby (aka V/Vm), here's a classic tune reduced to its bare minimum: Workin' In A Cocktail Bar.

(via The Quietus among others who've shared this on social media)
posted by naju (32 comments total) 27 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, now I know what's going to be stuck in my head for the REST OF MY GODDAMN LIFE.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:44 PM on July 27, 2015 [9 favorites]


I may have had to listen to it twice (or perhaps three times by the time I finish writing this comment) because I don't think I picked up on all the subtlety in the lyrics and they really demanded a closer listen.
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:49 PM on July 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


But, the WHOLE POINT of a pop song is to get to the chorus! Or the bridge, but only for special songs.

I am disappoint.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:50 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am laughing so hard that mrs ozzy thinks I've lost my mind. She might be right.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:13 PM on July 27, 2015


The song sounds much better if you happen to be eating a Milky Way bar while listening.
posted by emelenjr at 6:16 PM on July 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


Cocktail bar.
posted by ursus_comiter at 6:41 PM on July 27, 2015


Your post made me laugh.
posted by Gable Oak at 6:41 PM on July 27, 2015


And your point is...?
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 6:47 PM on July 27, 2015


I know I should never click on such things. And yet I keep doing it. It's a rare condition.
posted by asperity at 7:01 PM on July 27, 2015


So who exactly is at the cocktail bar? and how does a cocktail bar differ from a normal bar? and wait...repeat that again.
posted by Benway at 7:16 PM on July 27, 2015


Huh. I didn't bust a gut, but I was very impressed by the editing.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:22 PM on July 27, 2015


All the amazing music that Kirby has made and this is what gets linked on MeFi?!
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:48 PM on July 27, 2015 [9 favorites]


first post and above post - equal wow/enjoyment/thanks, thank you!
posted by lokta at 8:25 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best. Version. Evar!
posted by evilDoug at 8:44 PM on July 27, 2015


Best. Version. Evar!

No. It's at most the third-best.

The second best version was one I heard in a tiny gallery exhibit. You walked in and there were a bunch of empty chairs in a circle, with headphones hanging on the back of each chair. When you listened to the headphones you would hear the thoughts of each person who had been sitting there, or who perhaps were still sitting there invisibly somehow. One poor girl was in a melancholy mood, feeling unloved and lonesome, and at one point she started singing to herself in her head, in this ghostly little faraway voice: "Don't... don't you want me? You know how much it hurts me, when you say that you won't see me..." You wanted to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder, but you couldn't. You didn't know if this a pain she was feeling now, or a pain from long ago. There was no consoling her, nothing you could say or do. You were eavesdropping on a lost stranger's mind, and it was kind of devastating.

That was the second best version. The best one is still the original.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:47 PM on July 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


I don't get it, where was she working
posted by threeants at 9:52 PM on July 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Oh man, this dude is also The Caretaker? I love that album that sounds like 1930s hotel trumpets playing from the Marianas Trench, that shit is like freebasing sleep.
posted by threeants at 9:54 PM on July 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Because The Human League didn't write inane enough songs to start with? WHY?
posted by gingerest at 10:23 PM on July 27, 2015


Why not?
posted by schnee at 10:32 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Not safe for your sanity. [SLfuckingterrifyingYT]
posted by prismatic7 at 11:35 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


2015 version: you were workin' as a mixologist in a cocktail bar...
posted by naju at 12:38 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


This is kind of what happens to every song I've ever heard. Every single one.
posted by mcrandello at 2:11 AM on July 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


This reminds me of lullabies I sang to my children when they were younger but it was mostly Violent Femmes - *sotto voce* let me go on...
posted by h00py at 5:11 AM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am absolutely converting this to a karaoke track as soon as possible.
posted by eamondaly at 6:53 AM on July 28, 2015 [5 favorites]


Hodor.
posted by adamrice at 7:34 AM on July 28, 2015


Fanbloodytastic. Would totally attend a workshop on how he does some of the things he does - on this track, particularly, that is excellent manipulation and I'm way out of touch on the tools behind it.

Also very much love The Caretaker, although that's a bit of a one-trick pony it's a fine pony indeed.

Also also, is it just me or does Dare still hold up exceptionally well? Who can trust their critical faculties when it comes to favourite music from one's formative years, but it just never gets old.
posted by Devonian at 8:40 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


No. It's at most the third-best.

Here's the seventh-best version.
posted by MrJM at 9:36 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think this is the way all popular music produced after 1955 sounded to the ears of the greatest generation.
posted by bendybendy at 10:00 AM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]




Copyright claim booooooooo
posted by infinitewindow at 3:48 PM on August 12, 2015


Quick, here before the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry pulls this down too
posted by infinitewindow at 3:52 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Defo the best V/Vm thingy since the Loin El Richie/Chris De Burger 'Sick Love' era.

Since the main link and infinitewindow's alternative are both dead, here's a version with added video that's somehow managed to stay up for three days. Download it quick!
posted by jack_mo at 5:23 AM on August 17, 2015


« Older Cargo cult of personality   |   Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments