261: Offal, by Jay Foreman

Jay Foreman (United Kingdom)
Offal (2012)
22 tracks, 46 minutes

Okay, bit of a strange entry today. There isn’t anywhere to stream this album or download the tracks online, and, although you can purchase real 3D copies of Jay Foreman’s other albums from his website, Offal ain’t on there. Sold out, I presume. That stumped me a bit.

So what I’m going to do instead is recommend you somehow try to find a copy of Offal to listen to in the standard linear fashion, but for now, we’ll have a round of Jim’s four favourite songs by Jay Foreman that all happen to be on YouTube, in no particular order. I guess a slight intro is needed though.

If you’ve delved into the crazy world of YouTube, you’ve probably come across Jay Foreman. As well as funny songs (yes, we’ll get there in a minute, chill yer beans) he also makes very silly and very informative videos about transport infrastructure, maps, UK politics and other potentially dry subjects made unboring by his brilliant presenting style.

But we’re supposedly here for the music, and that’s how Foreman started to get attention in the first place, through impressive musical feats such as his ‘Every Tube Station Song’ (self-explanatory) and his uncanny talent of being able to sing any Beatles song, one syllable out-of-sync. His songs are steeped with the same silliness as the rest of his work but are composed in a really intelligent way, with influences from vaudeville jazz and blues and folk from both sides of the Atlantic. I also personally hear a lot of Terry Scott Taylor in The Neverhood-mode in his work, and I don’t think that’s any coincidence – songs from that game’s soundtrack seem to crop up in his videos very often. So now that you know a little bit what you’re expecting and without further ado, here’s…

Jim’s Four Favourite Songs By Jay Foreman That All Happen To Be On YouTube, In No Particular Order

‘Skin Sofa’

First of all: comedy song in the second-best time signature (five-time!) = always going to be a winner. Second of all: this song is so mad and disturbing and horrible and absurd, I love it. It is so completely surreal in a way that feels unsettling and sickening, a real, visceral body-horror of a song, and Foreman manages to capture all that in a completely U- or possibly PG-rated way. All while using a really quite beautiful melody that I cannot help but sing any three syllable word or phrase to (‘marmalade, marmalade, mmm-mmm-mm-mm, mmm-mmm-mm-mm’), and grossing myself out in the process. Sterling work.

‘Grandma’s Food’

Great bit of observational comedy. If even I – who’s never had any grandmas – can relate to it (for me, it was aunties who had the ever-so-slightly strange food), then I’m sure most people can. Again, a silly song with witty rhymes made all the more brilliant by its music, which has a lightly Latin tinge and more than a hint of Leon Redbone, including a very serviceable throat-tromnet solo.

‘The Sooty Show’

Sooty! A tragic and apparently true tale of a little kid meeting their favourite bear. It’s another child-friendly body horror song with a catchy and somehow oddly touching melody-and-guitarwork paring. Bonus points for the very awkward semi-circular standing audience in the back.

‘Make Sure He’s OK’

And all of a sudden BAM now you’re crying because this song is absolutely heartbreaking. This one isn’t funny, it just hurts. And it hurts in its realness, highlighting the cruelty of dementia in its mercilessness and inevitability. Approaching it as he does in first-person, looking on into the future where the friendly and familiar ‘me’ becomes the distant ‘someone,’ a stranger. It’s really upsetting, and doubly so when it comes at the end of an album of light-hearted silly songs. An incredible piece of music, songwriting and album sequencing.


…and that ends Jim’s Four Favourite Songs By Jay Foreman That All Happen To Be On YouTube, In No Particular Order for today. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried and, most importantly, we’ve learnt. Your takeaway should be: Jay Foreman is very good at many things, not least at music. Watch his YouTube videos and buy his albums. Maybe you can’t buy Offal, but that doesn’t stop it from being a Good Album. And haven’t you got enough to be going on with anyway?