Silly Songs Stuck in my Head

I'm prone to getting songs stuck in my head. A single phrase, or even just a couple of words, will plant a song that I can't shake for hours. It can be so bad that just hearing the word Why will stick Joe Purdy's song "Why Do I" in my head for the rest of the day. I wander around singing one or two phrases from the song before realizing that I'm doing it. If you ask Jeff, you'll find out that I'm constantly humming or singing something.

So this week I have two silly songs stuck in my head that I felt I had to share. The first is a new song that I just found yesterday. But it's catchy and so much fun that I keep singing it. I was looking at a picture on Bing.com and found a link on wanting to be a Canadian. The link led directly to the song "Canadian, Please" by Julia Bentley and Andrew Gunadie. The song has a bouncy beat and a silly rhyme and makes me incredibly happy. The video has the singers dressed a Canadian mounties splashing around in a stream. It even has closed captioning so you don't miss a single phrase. Well worth a watch. Downright hilarious stuff.

The other song is from Phineas and Ferb. I'm sure it surprises you that a cartoon offers a catchy funny tune but P&F are known for them. Each episode has an original song and many of them are perfect songs to stick in your head. The one I've been singing lately is Perry the Platypus's theme song. It starts out with "He's a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal of action...." And it just gets sillier from there. I've even got Jeff singing along on this one. I'd link just the song but the video is well worth it as well.

Two silly songs to make your day a little brighter. Or to get stuck in your head. Goodness knows I can't get them out of mine.

New Cartoon

I'm a small child at heart. I love animated films, picture books, comics, and cartoons. Anything childlike or whimsical catches my attention. In my free time I read about children's book authors and gifted animators. So it would seem likely that I'd enjoy the Disney Channel. But up until recently I haven't. Too many live action dramas and musical series. Too many people, too adult. Not enough children's stuff. So when I happened to flip by a couple weeks ago, I was shocked to find a cartoon. I was even more shocked to find out that it is a Disney Original and that it happens to be great.

I'll admit it, I'm suddenly addicted to Disney's Phineas and Ferb. The story follows two half-brothers who fill each day of summer vacation with marvelous inventions and exciting adventures. They can build pretty much anything . They are dogged by their older sister who is constantly trying to get them in trouble. But somehow the evidence always manages to disappear (normally without the boys' help) before she can show their mother. In fact the boys want their parents to see what they are up to. Along with the boys' adventures there is the story of Perry, the family's pet platypus. Perry may seem like just an odd pet but he's actually a crime fighting platypus who's mission is to thwart the bumbling, mostly evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Each 30 minute episode has two cartoons. And each cartoon has both the Phineas and Ferb storyline and the Perry the Platypus storyline. These typically intersect at the end of the cartoon in hilarious ways. I'll admit that while I enjoy the Phineas and Ferb segments, I adore the Perry the Platypus one. His interactions with Dr. Doofenshmirtz are witty and clever. I enjoyed one recently where Perry arrives at the Dr.'s office to be told that Doofenshmirtz was still in the planning phase. He can't thwart his evil plan yet because he hasn't even been able to write his evil monologue. So Doofenshmirtz offers Perry the chance to help him so that he can then be thwarted faster. We see them grocery shopping together to pick up all the necessary ingredients for the evil scheme. When they run into Perry's boss, there is a brief silence and then Doofenshmirtz simply says, "well that was awkward." Witty, hilarious, and a little offbeat.

The Phineas and Ferb sections have just as much wit and can be just as funny. The difference is that the storyline there takes itself more seriously. The actions aren't quite so tongue in cheek and there is a sweetness to many of the resolutions that doesn't occur on the Perry side. But it is always a wonder to see the fantastical inventions and where they take the boys. Each cartoon also has a musical bit. And the songs might have to be the best part of the shows. One of my favorites has to be a song (played in hip-hop style) about Candace (the boys' sister) getting squirrels in her pants (it's much more chaste than it sounds). Or the song that Dr. Doofenshmirtz sings about covering his perfect brother in pigeon poo. Hilarious and surprisingly catchy. If you get a moment check out Phineas and Ferb either at IMDB or at the Disney Channel site. Well worth some time. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a new cartoon this much.