An abomination

// August 9th, 2006 // Music

OK, so I’m listening to the radio, and almost threw up a bit in my mouth. You see, at first I was intrigued when I heard the familiar strains of Of Montreal’s “Wraith Pinned To The Mist”. I was surprised that such an indie band was being played on a big rock station. My surprise quickly turned to horror as I began to pay attention to the lyrics. At first I thought maybe it was a song parody. No, it was worse. IT WAS A COMMERICAL!

For Outback Steakhouse no less!

Here are the lyrics of the original:

WRAITH PINNED TO THE MIST
(AND OTHER GAMES) by Of Montreal

Let’s have bizarre celebrations
Let’s forget who forget what forget where
We’ll have bizarre celebrations
I’ll play the Satyr in Cypris you the bride being stripped bare

Let’s pretend we don’t exist
Let’s pretend we’re in Antartica

Let’s have bizarre celebrations
Lets forget when forget what forget how
We’ll have bizarre celebrations
We’ll play Tristan and Izolde but make sure I see white sails

Maybe I’ll never die
I’ll just keep growing younger with you
And you’ll grow younger too
now it seems too lovely to be true
but I know the best things always do

let’s pretend we don’t exist
let’s pretend we’re in Antartica

Now, I don’t recall what the changed lyrics to the first verse were, but the chorus was changed to “Let’s do Outback tonight” or something like that.

Appalling.

I understand that bands are increasingly allowing their songs to be used in advertising, and have bergudingly grown to tolerate it over time. However, it’s one thing when the song is featured as it was originally recorded, but quite another when the intergrity of the song is bastardized to sell a product.

7 Responses to “An abomination”

  1. Joel says:
    8/9/2006 at 3:46 pm

    Mmmmm. Bloomin’ Blasphemy. *droo’s*

  2. Brad says:
    8/11/2006 at 1:09 pm

    I just heard this on my own station on Portland, OR. Holy crap! The chorus is now, “Let’s go Outback tonight… Life will still be there tomorrow…”

    I’m going to go somewhere and pretend I’m in Antarctica, where I won’t have to endure this travesty.

  3. EMitch says:
    8/12/2006 at 1:10 am

    Cialis just bought the rights to “Permanent Reaction”…er…”Permanent Erection,” that is…

  4. Matt says:
    8/14/2006 at 6:59 pm

    Is this on the internet anywhere?

  5. Daniel says:
    9/29/2006 at 9:01 am

    Sucky though it is, many bands don’t have much of a choice…Van Halen found that out in the eighties when a car company or something wanted to use a song of theirs and they refused – the company threatened to use a version that was different enough to be legal, but essentially sounded the same. So they decided to at least be paid for the use of their actual music instead of getting nothing for a bastardization.

    In this situation, though, with the changed lyrics…it may have been in their contract with their label, indie or not. Again, it sucks, but we don’t know all the circumstances.

  6. Sox says:
    12/9/2006 at 6:04 pm

    When I heard it I got so mad, I thought it was really Of Montreal at first because the lady in the office had the radio turned down so low, when I asked her to turn it up I heard it say something about Outback and Holidays. Then it started talking about the “Great deals, mate”.

  7. Juniata says:
    10/12/2007 at 10:08 am

    If you love karaoke and the new hit show The Singing Bee, you have to check out i-Sing! A special Singing Bee version of i-Singâ„¢ will be making its debut before the big holiday season. i-Singâ„¢ is an interactive portable handheld karaoke player which allows its user to play music, display lyrics, sing, and record all at the same time! The best part is that it not only displays lyrics, but it drastically reduces/eliminates the lead vocals. Check it out at http://www.i-sing.com

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