Mr. Sandman, bring me a horrible nightmare

December 1, 2017 2:00 PM

Sound Designer Jeans rose to prominence with his "uncomfortably meaty" rendition of Mr. Sandman. Since then he has gone on to destroy Mr. Sandman in just about enough ways to make a whole album, including an unsettling one, one that bridges the divide between cute and horrifying, an even more unsettling one, a wavy one, an existentialist hellscape, and the version that you hear on a slow train through the afterlife when you die in your sleep. If you're not into increasingly disturbing renditions of Mr. Sandman, let Jeans take you uptown. Or to the town of Ween. Or to Flavortown.
posted by Jeanne (23 comments total)

He also messes with mesothelioma ads, which I consider appropriate because I keep seeing this thing, and am unable to not morph it into Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads.

People who have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma have many questions.
How do I work this?
Where does that highway go to?
Am I right? Am I wrong?
My God, what have I done?
posted by Naberius at 2:18 PM on December 1, 2017 [6 favorites]

When he did a version of "Take Me On" and describes it as taking place in a parallel universe, is when I realized that he's playing chess and we're playing checkers...
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:18 PM on December 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

am unable to not morph it into Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads.

godaamn now I need the mashup very badly.
posted by GuyZero at 2:43 PM on December 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not exactly on-topic, but speaking of Once in a Lifetime... (via b3ta).
posted by irrelephant at 2:56 PM on December 1, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm really enjoying his take on It's Quiet Uptown from Hamilton.
posted by palomar at 3:03 PM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I read this as "Enter Sandman." I got something very different. Now my whole day is f*cked.
posted by ga$money at 3:05 PM on December 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Oh, geez, wow, I love this guy! He also has original songs. Here's one he wrote about/to Adrien: https://sounddesignerjeans.tumblr.com/tagged/adrien
posted by Don Pepino at 3:11 PM on December 1, 2017

Weirdly enough, when I was a kid I made up a version of Mr. Sandman that was about a meat man, and I used to sing it to annoy my mom. It went something like:

Mr. Meat Man
Bring me some meat
How 'bout some pork, or beef that is lean?
What I'd really like is some spleeeeen
Mr. Meat Man, bring me some meat!

I think those meaty hand claps would have really put it over the top.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:33 PM on December 1, 2017 [9 favorites]

This stuff could not do a more perfect job of straddling the line between "what my twelve year olds find funny" and "what I find funny" without actually being on either side. It's poetry.
posted by davejay at 3:43 PM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Okay I just listened to It's Quiet Uptown and it put both feet firmly down on both sides and then started jumping up and down.
posted by davejay at 3:45 PM on December 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Let the record show that I made a terrible mistake in not titling the post "Mr. Sandman, bring me a meme."
posted by Jeanne at 4:32 PM on December 1, 2017 [7 favorites]

When he did a version of "Take Me On" and describes it as taking place in a parallel universe, is when I realized that he's playing chess and we're playing checkers...

Can someone point me to the brilliance here? I am honestly trying, but he manipulated the original in a DAW by slowing it down, but other than being in a different key, I honestly don't get it. Yes, my middle age understanding of the kids these days is shining right now.
posted by Benway at 5:07 PM on December 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

I saw “uncomfortably meaty” and assumed it was this.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:31 PM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Can someone point me to the brilliance here?

I'm having a similar problem. It more or less just sounds a bit tinny, like it's been played through shitty speakers.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 6:07 PM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

If you listen carefully to the Take On Me track (or skip to different places along the timeline) the song is actually slowing down very gradually and decreasing in pitch over time. As though it's a cassette player running out of batteries? I don't claim to know whether this is clever or how it relates to an alternate universe...
posted by Nutri-Matic Drinks Synthesizer at 6:59 PM on December 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Can someone point me to the brilliance here?

Maybe the original video will help illustrate what I was getting at. #paralleluniverse
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:20 PM on December 1, 2017

I saw “uncomfortably meaty” and assumed it was this.

Whoa
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:56 PM on December 1, 2017

Anyone else earnestly enjoying the wavy version as a normal, non-irritating piece of music? I can't stop listening. But then, I am a big Residents fan.

I also love the "I'm so alone" version as a poetic capsule. I would roll my eyes if it were an art installation, but the fact that it was casually tossed up onto the internet precludes self-seriousness....and that nonchalance allows the clip to be both unnerving and really goddamn funny.

If you dig around on the blog I also really like the dream version of "Dancing Queen" (at least until the cheap horror movie laughter kicks in).
posted by desert outpost at 12:10 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is great, I love it, and the concilitory version does make up for it quite a bit, yea thanks!
posted by Iteki at 1:02 AM on December 2, 2017

I'm not sure if I get the Take On Me thing either, but it's odd. It seems like there are a few words or notes out of place where you can almost sing/hum it from long lost memory but suddenly some little bit of words or tune is missing or in the wrong place.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:49 AM on December 2, 2017

Frak, I wish I was a bit more audio geek. I downloaded that Take On Me clip, sped it up, tried to sync it with the YouTube version and my best effort.... it goes in and out of sync in lyrics and keys... by the time you go WTF this is wrong, it's back to being what you expected.. Beyond the distortion, it's like hearing a live or studio version when all you've heard is the radio version. Bits start a bit earlier or are out of sync, even the key change from the speed change is just a bit out or whack. But it ends up being so close to what you remember but so slightly different that you may not notice anything but it's oddly just wrong.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:22 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have a dear friend who is kind of a hippy and not at all into computers and memes and general weirdness. My plan is to get her very stoned and just start playing these in the background to see how before she freaks out. I love these as much as i hate the nightmares they will give me.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:06 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Torn between laughing at the wavy one and leaping across the room to eject the cassette before it gets even more chewed. The wet hand sounds in the meaty version mostly made me feel queasy. Fun!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:15 AM on December 3, 2017 [1 favorite]