One Two Three FOUR Five, Six Seven Eight NINE Ten, Eleven Twelve ...

April 30, 2021 10:42 PM

Pinball Number Count (comp. Walt Kraemer, arr. Ed Bogas): Pointer Sisters, DJ Food, Mars Retrieval Unit, Wicked Hemlocks, Postmarks, Chapter 6, Big Organ Trio, Brandon Williams, Janelle Monae, 32nd Street Jazz, Wynton Marsalis, Package, Jenni Rudolph, Maylee Todd, Joe Fiedler, Nathan Peck.
posted by metabaroque (19 comments total)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:44 PM on April 30, 2021 [5 favorites]

Braces Tower
posted by prismatic7 at 11:59 PM on April 30, 2021 [5 favorites]

Venetian Snares (remix).
posted by sixohsix at 2:08 AM on May 1, 2021 [2 favorites]

You know that segment has done a good job when you merely look at the post title and your brain fills in the gaps with music.
posted by Kitteh at 4:55 AM on May 1, 2021 [23 favorites]

The inevitable pinball game version.
posted by MrGuilt at 5:34 AM on May 1, 2021 [5 favorites]

While I remember this one, the songs that really stayed with me from childhood are the Grace Slick 'Jazzy Spies' numbers.
posted by pipeski at 5:37 AM on May 1, 2021 [7 favorites]

This entire post is so good, but I am all about that Big Organ Trio cover.
posted by Brian Puccio at 5:38 AM on May 1, 2021

This stuff has been on my mind since that post about Sesame Street as well. Excellent links, everyone!
posted by deadaluspark at 5:54 AM on May 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I recently finished Brian Jay Jones’s biography of Jim Henson (highly recommend) and it’s had me revisiting a lot of old Sesame Street videos. I don’t think the creators, as wildly ambitious as their vision was, could ever have imagined the impact they would have.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:10 AM on May 1, 2021 [3 favorites]

@pipeski And piano by Denny Zeitlin.

They're all great, but the greatest is The King Of Eight
posted by GallonOfAlan at 7:13 AM on May 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

Of the links that use imagery sourced from the original shorts (as opposed to live concert imagery), I feel the Braces Tower version Prismatic linked to works the best - by splicing in video from other sources (largely Yellow Submarine) for the verses, it preserves the original's spirit of mystery: the count-up was always the same, but which number were you going to get today? A number you were familiar with, whose pinball journey was a common thing, or was it one that never seemed to show up, whose assortment of targets would be one clever surprise after another?

It also strikes me that "Psychedelic Number Song Video" is a distinct genre that could stand a revival. There is a definite formula that Pinball Count and Jazzy Spies share, where they open with the images and sounds of the whole count, then have a middle part dedicated to exploring one single number, and finish with another version of the entire count.

The two examples we have of this formula are funk and spy jazz - what would a shoegaze one look like? What would a heavy metal version be? What would lo-fi beats to count to thirteen to look and sound like?

Exploring this feels like a good project to spend a year with, if I wanted to do some animation.
posted by egypturnash at 7:37 AM on May 1, 2021 [8 favorites]

The lo-fi beats one would sample Chuck D saying ‘One two three four five six seven eight nine’ in ‘Shut ‘Em Down,’ Biggie saying ‘ten’ in ‘Ten Crack Commandments’ and ‘eleven’ on the Mister Cee mixtape, and the ‘twelve’ from East Flatbush Project’s ‘Tried by Twelve.’
posted by box at 9:16 AM on May 1, 2021 [3 favorites]

What would lo-fi beats to count to thirteen to look and sound like?

I mean, DJ Shadow had this vibe covered in 1996, yes?

If you like things a little slower and with a random number generator instead, perhaps you're more the Aquarius type.
posted by mykescipark at 9:33 AM on May 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

Just seeing the thread title, my first thought was the Ladybug Picnic...
posted by Windopaene at 11:32 AM on May 1, 2021 [2 favorites]

It took me a minute to get the connection to the Janelle Monáe video, but it's always a good time to mention that she's a frickin' genius, and that this is an amazing video.
posted by vverse23 at 11:49 AM on May 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

But Windopaene, that would be "one two THREE, four five SIX, seven eight NINE, ten eleven TWELVE and they blahblahblahed at the ladybug picnic"
posted by Meatbomb at 12:32 PM on May 1, 2021

I think the FOUR is emphasized, but so is the SEVEN. It was early in the morning, I did my best...
posted by Windopaene at 1:08 PM on May 1, 2021

Perfect.

I had an eleven morning this morning (and when I looked at the clock by my bed, that song popped into my head).
posted by droplet at 2:38 PM on May 1, 2021

How much do I love this post? Let me count the ways ...
posted by New Frontier at 4:29 PM on May 1, 2021 [1 favorite]