Who the heck is Shooby Taylor?
July 11, 2002 9:20 AM Subscribe
Who the heck is Shooby Taylor? By all accounts, he is (or rather, was...it appears he's dead) a musical outsider, but one blessed with a truly bizarre style. Just take one listen to his...unique version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"(warning: MP3 file, hilarious)... it's pure gold. And there's plenty more where that came from...
My personal favorite is his heartbreaking rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
Brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it...
posted by Newbornstranger at 9:43 AM on July 11, 2002
Brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it...
posted by Newbornstranger at 9:43 AM on July 11, 2002
Either this guy is far more musically advanced than I or he has no physical control over his tongue. Which is it?
posted by MUD at 10:35 AM on July 11, 2002
posted by MUD at 10:35 AM on July 11, 2002
Mud: Can't it be both?
posted by Newbornstranger at 10:58 AM on July 11, 2002
posted by Newbornstranger at 10:58 AM on July 11, 2002
I think I first heard Shooby when I was doing a search for the Shaggs. God help me, I think I lost all sense of time and space that day.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:02 AM on July 11, 2002
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:02 AM on July 11, 2002
Taylor is great. I was introduced to his work rather innocently, as a crazy friend of mine left his version of "Who's Laughing Now?" on my voice mail while I was at lunch one day. I've been hooked ever since.
posted by 40 Watt at 11:13 AM on July 11, 2002
posted by 40 Watt at 11:13 AM on July 11, 2002
Odd bit of synchronicity, 40 Watt. I just posted that link to my weblog this morning, and your name always catches my eye since the Fabulous 40 Watt is here in Athens.
posted by ewagoner at 12:34 PM on July 11, 2002
posted by ewagoner at 12:34 PM on July 11, 2002
Yaaaaaahhh!!! That's really creepy. I picked the name partly because of the club.
posted by 40 Watt at 1:52 PM on July 11, 2002
posted by 40 Watt at 1:52 PM on July 11, 2002
Not wanting to hijack the thread with crazy coincidences of my nom de Metafilter, does anyone know of other, equally disturbing/amazing outsider musicians that rival Taylor?
posted by 40 Watt at 1:54 PM on July 11, 2002
posted by 40 Watt at 1:54 PM on July 11, 2002
Fantastic stuff. Streaming one of the mp3's right now (Over The Rainbow) over the death threats of my wife. Definitely brought a grin to my face. Thanks much.
posted by Samizdata at 3:23 PM on July 11, 2002
posted by Samizdata at 3:23 PM on July 11, 2002
I remember back in my college days when my friend Jerry came across Shooby Taylor's work. We were immediately entranced with his vocal stylings.
Shree-rah-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la indeed.
posted by rathikd at 4:16 PM on July 11, 2002
Shree-rah-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la indeed.
posted by rathikd at 4:16 PM on July 11, 2002
does anyone know of other, equally disturbing/amazing outsider musicians that rival Taylor?
i've never really understood the term "outsider music"--except for maybe the definition about sounds that make you say "what the heck?". however, if you're looking for things that sound very unique or interesting that you maybe haven't heard of (regardless of genre), i'd recommend:
moondog, daniel johnston, john giorno (large mp3. it's not technically music i guess. spoken word poetry, but this track really thrills me.), jud jud (two guys doing acapella hardcore), mercury rev's work with robert creeley and alan vega (the two best tracks the band's ever done, imo), pony da look (which is a toronto female 5-piece (4 keyboarders who sing, and a drummer)), the soon to be defunct sweep the leg johnny (hardcore music with a lead singer that plays sax), who i'm seeing tonight in toronto, anthony brown's asian american orchestra, bob log iii, who plays a mean slide guitar while banging a kick drum, wearing a motorcycle helmet, and singing into a telephone. some of his songs are titled "i want to feel your shit on my leg" (which he does live with a female from the audience sitting on each knee) and "titclapping" (where he gets a female from the audience up on stage to put a microphone down her shirt and smack it against her breasts for a beat, while he accompanies her on vocal and guitar). as you probably imagine, he's worth seeing live. parker paul plays a mean piano while singing and sounding something like an out of tune bob dorough (known for the schoolhouse rock songs he wrote and sang), and the almost instrumental bands hochenkeit and jackie-o motherfucker.
whether this stuff fits the technical version of "outsider music" or not is up to you. sure makes me say "what the heck?" or call them inept but sincere.
posted by dobbs at 5:09 PM on July 11, 2002
i've never really understood the term "outsider music"--except for maybe the definition about sounds that make you say "what the heck?". however, if you're looking for things that sound very unique or interesting that you maybe haven't heard of (regardless of genre), i'd recommend:
moondog, daniel johnston, john giorno (large mp3. it's not technically music i guess. spoken word poetry, but this track really thrills me.), jud jud (two guys doing acapella hardcore), mercury rev's work with robert creeley and alan vega (the two best tracks the band's ever done, imo), pony da look (which is a toronto female 5-piece (4 keyboarders who sing, and a drummer)), the soon to be defunct sweep the leg johnny (hardcore music with a lead singer that plays sax), who i'm seeing tonight in toronto, anthony brown's asian american orchestra, bob log iii, who plays a mean slide guitar while banging a kick drum, wearing a motorcycle helmet, and singing into a telephone. some of his songs are titled "i want to feel your shit on my leg" (which he does live with a female from the audience sitting on each knee) and "titclapping" (where he gets a female from the audience up on stage to put a microphone down her shirt and smack it against her breasts for a beat, while he accompanies her on vocal and guitar). as you probably imagine, he's worth seeing live. parker paul plays a mean piano while singing and sounding something like an out of tune bob dorough (known for the schoolhouse rock songs he wrote and sang), and the almost instrumental bands hochenkeit and jackie-o motherfucker.
whether this stuff fits the technical version of "outsider music" or not is up to you. sure makes me say "what the heck?" or call them inept but sincere.
posted by dobbs at 5:09 PM on July 11, 2002
dobbs-- I guess I've been using the term "outsider" because I've never heard this type of music described any other way. Not that that's a good excuse, but if someone has a better name, I'm all for it. Thanks for the avalanche of links, by the way...it's going to take me most of the afternoon to sort through these.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:36 AM on July 12, 2002
posted by 40 Watt at 8:36 AM on July 12, 2002
here's a link with more PDL info. article came out yesterday.
posted by dobbs at 12:40 PM on July 12, 2002
posted by dobbs at 12:40 PM on July 12, 2002
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posted by Faze at 9:34 AM on July 11, 2002