When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

19 August 2005

Me and my dad, having a top laugh

Chap pointed me to this exquisite little animation, a music video for a song called "JCB" by the English acoustic duo Nizlopi.

First of all, anybody who can rhyme "B.A. Baracus" with "Bruce Lee's nunchakus" is clearly a lyrical force to be reckoned with. Full marks for that.

But there's more to it than clever rhyming and throwaway pop-culture references. It is a deceptively simple but very moving song about being five years old and hanging out with your dad, who is the coolest guy in the world.
Well, I'm rumbling in this JCB.
I'm five years old and my dad's a giant sitting beside me.
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we're singing, "Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work!"

My dad's probably had a bloody hard day
But he's been good fun and bubbling and joking away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
Are getting all impatient and angry, but we don't mind...
It probably has something to do with the fact that my dad is in the process of dying right now, but this sweet, sentimental little song just kicked the shit out of me.

(A "JCB," by the way, is a big yellow earth-mover manufactured by J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd... if you're American, mentally substitute "Caterpillar," which neither scans nor rhymes in this context, but that's what it's about.)

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