Even better when you imagine it played by cows and poultry

May 10, 2016 2:39 PM

Sandra Boynton and the Highly Irritating Orchestra present Bolero - Completely Unraveled [audio]. On kazoo.

From Amazing Cows.

posted by Mchelly (22 comments total)

I've decided this is the official soundtrack of me grading a stack of final exams...
posted by jrb223 at 2:58 PM on May 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Muppet cows and poultry. With Bo Derek on a muppet horse.
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:12 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Beware, once you hear this, you cannot unhear it.
posted by dougzilla at 3:21 PM on May 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Heh. "19:14 playing time, but seems *Much* longer"
posted by pjern at 3:23 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

No longer available. I am disappoint.
posted by Quasirandom at 3:26 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Reminds me a little of LA legends the Roto Rooter Goodtime Christmas Band. And bonus Swan Lake; imagine with cows.
posted by foonly at 3:31 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Still available for me.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:48 PM on May 10, 2016

So it is -- I think I ran afoul (afowl?) of some firewalling.

Awesome rendition.
posted by Quasirandom at 4:02 PM on May 10, 2016

4 minutes in, and every time I think it can't get any funnier, it does.
posted by yeolcoatl at 5:06 PM on May 10, 2016

It's really the sincerity of the kazoo players that makes it work.
posted by yeolcoatl at 5:09 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

At 12 minutes, I bought the CD.
posted by yeolcoatl at 5:15 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Sandra Boynton is a treasure.
posted by Doleful Creature at 6:20 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm still using Boynton's Birthday Card design for all my "friends getting older" needs. Right, Cortex?
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:32 PM on May 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Beware, once you hear this, you cannot unhear it.

Isn't it great?
posted by Etrigan at 6:45 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is great. (Perhaps just a bit shy of Portsmouth Sinfonia great, but only just a bit.)

I was intrigued to see a used CD on amazon for $235.44 plus $3.99 shipping. Sadly, it appears to be from a suspiciously highly rated vendor who sells unexceptional things at crazy prices, and is probably just a scam to prey on those not paying attention rather than something more interesting. I was hoping for something more interesting.
posted by eotvos at 7:15 PM on May 10, 2016

Isn't it great?
Yup, listened to the whole thing. It is forever etched in my memory now.
posted by dougzilla at 8:34 PM on May 10, 2016

My father is the former principal trombone player in a major North American symphony orchestra. Bolero is a special sort of hell for trombone players because it contains one of the most prominent trombone solos in the repertoire and therefore is part of every audition a young trombonist will every take. If you're lucky enough to win a principal position, though, it turns out Bolero will haunt you for the rest of your career as you will be required to perform this weird and stressful solo pretty much every year, especially since the piece passed into the public domain (at least in Canada) and therefore doesn't cost the orchestra a penny in licensing to perform. This piece (along with the infamous trombone warm-up exercises by Emory Remington, my father's teacher) was quite literally baked into my neural pathways when I was a fetus. I go into a weird trance-like state when I hear it, but experience a weird psychic pain when I hear the (very unusual) rhythm of the melody mis-played, which is, unfortunately, usually. Despite the pain, I felt an almost religious compulsion to listen to this rendition all the way through. Thank you?
posted by WaylandSmith at 11:17 PM on May 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

At about 8:35, I went from amused to amazed.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:28 PM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

When I was in junior high, my aunt bought me the Morton Gould band and orchestra performance of the 1812 Overture (on vinyl, natch... this was about 1969). She told me I might not initially like flip side, but I should give it a chance. That flip side was Bolero, with full original orchestration (including the "rarely heard" soprano saxophone -- Kenny G. had not yet been invented). I was forever hooked.

Fast forward about 13 years, and I (now half of a newlywed couple) discovered the art of Sandra Boynton. She's been a constant through our married life.

And now, to put her more-than-slightly-skewed humor together with Ravel... well, I stand amazed. And weeping with laughter.

Thank you so much.
posted by lhauser at 8:45 PM on May 11, 2016

Oh no, it's gone!! Link's dead.
posted by WaylandSmith at 8:01 PM on May 14, 2016

Still works for me.
posted by Mchelly at 3:22 AM on May 15, 2016

The link works in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, but not Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Albania, Armenia, Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, American Samoa, Austria, Aruba, Åland Islands, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Saint Barthélemy, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bouvet Island, Botswana, Belarus, Belize, Canada, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Congo (Democratic Republic of the), Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Switzerland, Côte d'Ivoire, Cook Islands, Chile, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cabo Verde, Christmas Island, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Djibouti, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Estonia, Egypt, Western Sahara, Eritrea, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, Fiji, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Micronesia (Federated States of), Faroe Islands, France, Gabon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Grenada, Georgia (country), French Guiana, Guernsey, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greenland, Gambia, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Guatemala, Guam, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hong Kong, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Croatia, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Isle of Man, India, British Indian Ocean Territory, Iraq, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iceland, Italy, Jersey, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Comoros, Saint Kitts and Nevis, North Korea, Korea (Republic of), Kuwait, Cayman Islands, Kazakhstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Saint Lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Libya, Morocco, Monaco, Moldova (Republic of), Montenegro, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Republic of Macedonia, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Macao, Northern Mariana Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Montserrat, Malta, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, New Caledonia, Niger, Norfolk Island, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Nepal, Nauru, Niue, Oman, Panama, Peru, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Pitcairn, Puerto Rico, State of Palestine, Portugal, Palau, Paraguay, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Serbia, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Sweden, Singapore, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Slovenia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Slovakia, Sierra Leone, San Marino, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, Sao Tome and Principe, El Salvador, Syrian Arab Republic, Swaziland, Turks and Caicos Islands, Chad, French Southern Territories, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Tokelau, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Ukraine, Uganda, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), British Virgin Islands, United States Virgin Islands, Viet Nam, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, Yemen, Mayotte, South Africa, Zambia, or Zimbabwe.
posted by Bugbread at 1:01 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]