Impressionable songs

It's funny how powerful first impressions of certain songs can be, and how long they can stick with you. There are certain songs that, whenever I hear them, I remember exactly where I was and what my general state of mind was the first time I heard them. "When I Come Around" by Green Day will always make me think of Winter Carnival my junior year of high school, outside at night with twenty other friends building a big Winnie the Pooh snow sculpture. "You Spin Me Like a Record" by Dead or Alive will always remind me of the bar I worked at when I first moved to Los Angeles, and the cheesy 80's cover band that always sang it as their finale.

But what's really funny about first impressions is how they sometimes just can't allow you to think of a particular song any other way - like when hear a song that is actually a cover of an older song. You get so used to hearing the new version that when you actually hear the original, the one most of the rest of the world recognizes as the "true" version, you can't help but think that the original sounds, well... weird. For the longest time, I only knew the Sheryl Crow version of Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Ma'ker." When I finally heard the original version, I at least knew enough to keep my mouth shut about the fact that I liked the Sheryl Crow version better. That rightly would have been considered sacrilege by the classic rock loving people I grew up with. Fortunately, I managed to get past that first impression. Others stick with me to this day.

At the beginning of Offspring's song, "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" some weird German guy says the nonsensical phrase, "Gunter glieben glauchen globen." This clip was actually taken from an earlier song, "Rock of Ages" by Def Leopard. I'm sure when most hair metal fans heard that clip in the Offspring song, they were like, "Hey those bastards ripped off Def Leopard." But never having heard that particular song previous to "Pretty Fly for a White Guy", I will always associate the phrase with Offspring. On those occasions when "Rock of Ages" comes on the radio, it always seems strange to hear that funny German voice and to not have it followed immediately by, "Give it to me baby! UH HUH, UH HUH!" But I almost have an excuse for that one. It's not just first impressions. I legitimately hear the Offspring song on the radio way more than I hear "Rock of Ages."

One song that I don't have the luxury of that kind of excuse is "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. Some of you already know where I'm going with this. There is a guitar riff at the beginning of that song that was picked up and sampled in the early-90's by white rapper Vanilla Ice in his one hit wonder "Ice Ice Baby". Once again, my first impression of that particular guitar lick was from "Ice Ice Baby." And like every other white pubescent male of that time, I loved that song, knew all the lyrics, and was too dumb to recognize the irony. So when I first heard "Under Pressure" two or more years later it struck me as immediately weird. "Whoa, that's the same tune from 'Ice Ice Baby'." But here's the really weird thing. I don't think I've actually heard the song "Ice Ice Baby" in... I'd say a good five years or more. And I haven't heard it with anything resembling frequency for a good fifteen years. "Under Pressure", on the other hand, I hear on a fairly regular basis. They play it quite often on the classic rock stations. But here's the thing, every single time the song starts, every single time I hear that opening guitar riff, my mind immediately thinks that I'm about to hear "Ice Ice Baby." It literally takes a fraction of a second to realize what a stupid conclusion that was to draw, and remember what song I'm actually listening to. But it never fails; every time "Under Pressure" comes on the radio, for a split second I think "Ice Ice Baby."

But even that isn't the most ridiculous first impression of a song to stick with me. By far, the most idiotic lasting impression I have is for "Für Elise" by Beethoven. Every time I hear this most famous of piano pieces, every... single... time... I insert lyrics into the tune. That's right, lyrics. And not just any lyrics. The lyrics to a McDonald's commercial. It's all because of The Wizard of Oz. Remember when they used to air The Wizard of Oz like once a year on TV and how it was always, for some reason, a big deal? Well one year, when I was still in elementary school, my family taped the movie off the TV, commercials and all. And one of the commercials that repeated several times over the course of the movie was this McDonald's commercial. Back then, McDonald's put titles on all their commercials and this one was entitled, Recital. The thirty-second plotline involved a little girl who was scared to play the piano at her recital. Her dad gives her a boost of confidence by telling her that when it's all over, they'll all head over to McDonald's. The girl, still scared, walks up in front of the big crowd and begins to play "Für Elise". As she plays, she sings along in her head:

How I wish I were already there,
Instead of here,
Playing this song.
Oh I would have a big choc-o-late shake,
And cheeseburger,
And also (woops) and also fries.

And I would eat
My fries myself,
And not give any
To my dumb brother.
Hands off, they're mine, all mine, all MINE.

Oh boy my recital is almost done.
It wasn't bad.
I'm still alive.
And now I can have my choc-o-late shake,
And cheeseburger,
And also (woops) and also fries.

She finishes off the ditty with a piano version of the McDonald's theme song of the time: "What a good time... for the great taste... of McDonald's."

I swear to you, every damn time I hear that song, to this day, I hear those lyrics. Fortunately, I know it's not just me being lame. And the reason I know this is because a couple weeks ago I was hanging out with my sister and said, "What do you think of when you hear this song?" When I started humming "Für Elise" it took her all of two seconds to say, "That McDonald's commercial from The Wizard of Oz." God love my sister, the first impression got her too. They really are that strong.

(((And my gosh, isn't modern stupid technology wonderful. Here's the Recital Commercial from YouTube.)))