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Alf Clausen discusses 'Go Simpsonic'
"After 'Songs in the Key of Springfield’ came out, some of the fans
were lamenting the fact that certain songs were not included on Volume One.
So, I started making lists. I tried to gather a lot of those requested songs
and put them on Volume Two.”
-- "Simpsons" composer Alf Clausen
Getting serious about
'Simpsons' songs
The key to writing melodies for funny songs? Don't try to be funny. That's
advice that Alf Clausen, composer of music for "The Simpsons," took to heart
after hearing it from a bandleader friend years ago.
"He told me that you can't vaudeville vaudeville," Clausen says. "That has
always been my take, even doing the scoring on 'The Simpsons,' to make sure
that I always play each one of the situations as a reality situation, playing
the real emotion of the character.
"And because of the fact I have played it for real, the audience is pulled
in and made to feel as if the emotions that these characters are feeling
are very real and very deep. And all of a sudden the punch line hits you
between the eyes. You think: Oh, my God. I can't believe they got me
again."
A new album of original music from "The Simpsons" is a showcase for Clausen's
talents for melding clever and musically astounding melodies with the comedic
lyrics penned by the show's writers.
"Go Simpsonic: More Music from The Simpsons," just released by Rhino Records,
is a sequel to the record company's enormously popular 1997 album,
"The Simpsons: Songs in the Key of Springfield," which
also featured music from the series. The compact disc has a suggested retail
price of $16.97.
Amazon.com
is selling "Go Simpsonic" for $11.88, plus shipping.
This newest album digs out even more musical highlights and dialogue from
the show's first nine seasons. The 53 tracks include
much-praised parodies of "All in the Family" and "Mary Poppins" tunes, a
mock car commercial for a "Canyonero" Sports Utility Vehicle, and two tunes
that won Emmys for Clausen -- "We Put the Spring in Springfield" and "You're
Checking In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center)."
In our recent interview with Clausen, he answered questions about the new
album and its musical inspirations.
Q: "All Singing, All Dancing" (the medley from the episode of the same
name) -- was that a lot of work for you?
Alf Clausen: A tremendous amount of work. You know, every once in
a while "The Simpsons" does -- and this is a direct quote from one of the
songs -- a "cheesy clip show," utilizing clips from old episodes. And I think
that it was David Mirkin, one of the executive producers, who came up with
this idea of putting this clip show together with an all-music set of bookends
for each one of the song clips. I thought it was very interesting.
I believe I had maybe 13 or 14 kinds of musical bookends to compose, in addition
to all of the songs that had been done from previous episodes. I found it
really quite hilarious to all of a sudden have Snake singing. That was really
an unexpected turn.
Q: In the Mary Poppins parody ("Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed
Grunt)cious" medley from the episode by the same name), Maggie Roswell gives
a very amazing musical performance sounding very much like Julie
Andrews.
Alf Clausen: She did a spectacular job. Just absolutely fabulous.
And the songs were very difficult, too. I never write down to the cast. I
really try to challenge them. And they consistently rise to the occasion,
especially Maggie's rendition. It was just sterling.
(Before writing the parody) I listened to it (the original "Mary Poppins"
music) quite a bit, and tried to make an assessment as to the type of interval
relationships that the melodies had, and the type of chord changes that were
used to generate that particular style. The authenticity of the orchestration
turned out to be a very important aspect, too. I think that really sets it
up in the tone and the flavor of Mary Poppins.
Q: Was "We Put the Spring in Springfield" (from episode "Bart After Dark")
the most complicated piece you've ever had to do for the show?
Alf Clausen: I believe it was. Because of the fact we had so many
characters. There were 17 separate characters in that song.
Q: And the dialogue is all written before you start writing the music,
so you have to find a way to make it all work?
Alf Clausen: Yes. It's like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle in a way. Because
I have to analyze the vocal ranges and the voice qualities of each one of
those characters. And then make sure that the melodies all fit the various
ranges of the characters. It gets to be a very interesting challenge to make
sure that they all work out and they're all very singable.
Q: For Homer's performance of "Meet the Flintstones" (from episode "Marge
Vs. The Monorail"), was it easy to get the rights to use that song? Were
you involved in that at all?
Alf Clausen: I'm usually not involved in the process of getting rights.
The Fox music department has a separate division to do that. So I don't know
what they went through. Some of the clearances are very, very easy with the
publishers being very cooperative. Others are like pulling teeth.
Q: Last time (for "Songs in the Key of Springfield"), you mentioned you
tried to take into account fan favorites and the buzz you heard on the Internet.
Did that happen again this time and were there any specific songs you included
for that reason?
Alf Clausen: Actually, there were quite a few. I did take that into
account again. I find it really fascinating to read some of the newsgroup
comments, most of which are extremely valuable. You have a few flamers every
once in a while. (Laughs.) But for the most part, I really like to see what
the reactions of the fans are.
And after "Songs in the Key of Springfield" came out, some of the fans were
lamenting the fact that certain songs were not included on Volume One. So,
I started making lists. I tried to gather a lot of those requested songs
and put them on Volume Two.
Q: A couple of examples of ones you got on because you knew they were
fan favorites?
Alf Clausen: "Those Were the Days" (new lyrics to the theme from "All
in the Family") was one. Let me see if I can remember some of the others.
I believe "We Put the Spring in Springfield" was another. People were really,
really clamoring for that.
Q: The Ramones (singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. Burns")?
Alf Clausen: The Ramones was definitely another.
Of course, I've already been on the newsgroups again now that "Go Simpsonic"
has been released, and, you know, the lamentations are still there. (Laughs.)
"Why didn't he put this on?" "Why didn't he put that on?
Q: I guess that's a good question then. I'm assuming it's not always a
matter of you deciding, "I want this," or "I want that." It has to do a lot
with others and their rights.
Alf Clausen: Exactly. And I've addressed that with some of the fans
previously. I've explained that, when a group comes on the show or even with
the cast members performing on the show, those performances are licensed
just for that (television medium). Whenever it involves going to another
medium, whether it be CDs or live performance or anything else, then all
these performances have to be licensed and negotiated. Sometimes it's a walk
in the park. But sometimes it's extremely difficult, and occasionally it
is even impossible. Some performers just don't want to have their work presented
on the CD.
Q: "You're Checking In" (from episode "The City of New York Vs. Homer
Simpson"), you were obviously inspired by Broadway tunes.
Alf Clausen: Yes, that was really it. It was probably a combination
of influences all the way from (Stephen) Sondheim to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Musical theater buffs will probably hate me for saying both of those names
in the same sentence.
Q: How did you get Hank Williams Jr. to do the "Canyonero" song (from
the episode "The Last Temptation Of Krust")?
Alf Clausen: That was a great piece of casting by the show's producers
and the casting director, Bonnie Pietila. We were just so absolutely thrilled
he agreed to do it.
Q: That song has a familiar ring to it. Was there a particular inspiration
for it ... maybe the old song "Rawhide"?
Alf Clausen: I don't even remember that. It was so long ago that I
wrote that. ... It seems to me we had a Johnny Cash song that was given to
me as a model of, "We'd like it to be something like this." But I don't remember
which one it was. Much of it was reminiscent of the old Western-style pop
songs like the Frankie Laine hit "Ghost Riders in the Sky."
Q: I noticed with the "Spinoff Showcase" medley (featuring the songs "I
Want Candy," "Peppermint Twist," "Lollipop," and "Whip It"), the show licensed
the songs. Was that (idea for a medley of hit songs) something from the writers,
or did you come up with it?
Alf Clausen: That was a writer's concept. ... I was just given script
pages with the directions, "These are the songs we want to use. These are
the sections of the songs we want to use. Put them together in a musical
variety show style," and that's where I start.
Q: This album includes the "Kamp Krusty" theme song. There was also a
version of it on "The Yellow Album" (1998, Geffen
Records.) Why didn't you include the "Kamp Krusty" song on "Songs in the
Key of Springfield?"
Alf Clausen: That's an interesting question. You may or may not know
that "The Yellow Album" was in existence for a number of years before it
was released. It was sitting on the shelf for some time. Nobody really knew
whether it was going to be released or not.
I knew from early on that the "Kamp Krusty" song was going to be on "The
Yellow Album," so I made a conscious decision not to duplicate it on "Songs
in the Key of Springfield" in case they ended up being released close to
the same time.
So as the years went by, "The Yellow Album" wasn't released and wasn't released.
And there was no talk of it being released. So I thought, as long as that's
the case, I'm going to put it on Volume Two. And the minute we decided to
do that (laughs), hello! "The Yellow Album" was released. The timing was
pretty bizarre.
Q: What do you think of their rendition?
Alf Clausen: It is just different. I didn't have anything to do with
that, other than having written the song. You know, my version was in existence
first. I wrote it for the show. Then I think, based on what (executive producer)
Jim Brooks heard from the show's version, that he ended up really liking
the song, and wanted to include it on this "Yellow Album."
Q: I've heard comments from some fans that they think "Go Simpsonic" is
an even better collection than "Songs in the Key of Springfield."
Alf Clausen: I'm glad for that. That was kind of my hunch when I finally
finished the assembling of it. I started to listen to it over and over and
over again as we were doing mixes and assembling the order and all that kind
of stuff. It started taking shape and I thought: Boy, this is really good.
And when I got to the end I thought: You know, I really do think that this
is maybe better than Volume One.
Page added: 11/20/99
Copyright 1999, William LaRue.
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