Look, I'm glad my six-year-old son loves music and has allowed me to influence his taste with all the stuff I dig. We'll always have the iPod on shuffle in the car and his ears will perk up every now and then and he'll get all excited about a song. Sometimes I'll think of a tune I think he may really enjoy and I'll play it for him.
Past hits have included the 12" mix of Thomas Dolby's "Hyperactive!", "I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles, "Fashion Zombies!" by The Aquabats, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk, "Guns on the Roof" by The Clash, "Victoria" by The Kinks, and so on and so forth.
Then there's "Temporary Secretary."
For those of you who don't know, this is a Paul McCartney tune originally released on his McCartney II album back in 1980, along with a 12" single release of the song in the UK. It's annoying as hell with its disjointed main synth riff, instantly putting one's ears on edge. I remember hearing it for the first time back in my high school days thinking it was just horrid. But as I got older, I found that same annoyance to be funny as well.
Too bad, then, that I decided to put it on the iPod and have it come up on shuffle the other week in the car with the kiddo in tow. I quickly hit the "next" button, but not before he could shout "What is THAT song? Go back! I wanna hear it!"
I hadn't heard it in a while, so I played it, savoring its shittiness. I thought that would be the end of it and that he'd forget all about it. But that wasn't the case.
Every time we get in the car now, he says, "Play 'Temporary Secretary'!"
I asked him why he liked it so much. He said, "Because it sounds crazy and the guy does funny voices on it!"
I then decided to play him The Beatles' "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" since it had the exact same things in it, but was much better to my ears.
I got zero response. What the hell? I first heard that tune when I was five or so and fell in love with The Beatles instantly. But oh, no, let's hear that frigging "Temporary Secretary" again!
I've yet to successfully get him into Trout Mask Replica, but I figure it's only a matter of time.
