The only thing sexier than a gal with a guitar is a lady with a sense of humor. Put them together and you’ve really got something! If this sounds good to you, then you need to hear Madam Opus: Funny Songs by Funny Women.
Madam Opus: Funny Songs by Funny Women
Madam Opus: Funny Songs by Funny Women is a compilation album consisting of comedic cuts by female artists. This new platter was a result of FuMPFest 2017. FuMPFest is the official convention of The Funny Music Project.
Producer Tom Rockwell recalls:
At the 2017 event one of our volunteers took all the merchandise by female artists who were there and put them together on the merch table along with a sign that said: “Comedy music needs more female musicians.”
Rockwell was asked if there “was ever a compilation album of comedy songs from female artists.” He confessed he knew of none and “decided to make one.” Madam Opus: Funny Songs by Funny Women is the result.
Track by track
On this disc of 16 original songs, 13 different female acts musically strut their stuff. The album opener is “Show Me on the Doll” by Bad Beth and Beyond. This tune is New Orleans-based solo singer-songwriter and musician’s best known and perhaps most hilarious song. (Hey! If it made my youngest son laugh--a young man who thinks almost every act I write about “sucks”--then you’ve made the big time at last!)
Anyone who has ever worked a summer retail job will surely appreciate “Ode To A Summer Retail Job” by The Doubleclicks. The Doubleclicks are a Portland-based pair of sisters who write geeky, snarky, and sweet. They’ve played the JoCo Cruise, Nerdist, and W00stock.
“Professional smart aleck”, American singer-songwriter and go-go boot-wearing guitarist Carla Ulbrich performs the clever song parody “Stupefied by Maladies Defying Diagnosis.” If you love Mary Poppins you will especially love this really funny track from her upcoming tentatively titled Sick Humor Volume 2. Ulbrich has several platters already on her resume including one concerning her inspiring recovery from a severe illness.
The somehow “Scrubs”-reminiscent “Fruit Have Feelings” by Meri Amber follows. Amber is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician who “writes songs inspired by everything” (including fruit and those who would restrict our diets apparently).
Domestic cannibalism is the subject of another very funny song titled “The Long Pig.” (You’ll eat this one up.) It’s by New York “mockstar” Killy Dwyer. Dwyer is also the founder of Kill The Band.
The next number is “The Sexual Harassment Prevention Song” by Lauren Mayer. Mayer is a singer/songwriter who writes comedic cuts “about suburban life, her crush on Steph Curry, and politics.” This one is a bit confusing. If a company hires more women than both official and unofficial hiring quotas demand, would that not increase harassment lawsuits? Nonetheless is ripe for a silly song.
“SPRCMNSM” is by Holy Bongwater. It’s got a nice, simple melody and a chorus worthy of a couple songs by the Police. Holy Bongwater is Nuclear Bubble Wrap’s Jace McLain and Julia Larson. They specialize in parody music and psychedelic comedy.
“Spiders and Rain” is a humorous song about the speaker’s wedding day. It was written by New York singer and comedian Jessica Delfino. She’s also the founder of the New York Funny Songs Fest.
It’s overshadowed by Carrie Dahlby’s “Don’t Talk About Size.” This universal body-shaming song is set to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Dahlby is a self-proclaimed “nerdy comedy-musician from Chicago.” She’s most famous for her material concerning motherhood and pregnancy.
Marian Rosin’s “(She’s Your) Girlfriend” follows here. It’s all about the silver lining here in this simple song. Rosin is another “Big Apple” entertainer. She studied “long-form improvisational comedy.”
The Reformed Whores reveal that “Girls Poop Too.” It’s long overdue productive toilet humor. Reformed Whores is a pair of performers from NYC named Katy Frame and Marie Cecile Anderson who have opened for Les Claypool and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
“The Bosom Song” is a live ditty about t*tty by Donita Smith. It’s about universal albeit unfortunately temporary solution to all of life’s little problems. Smith is reportedly “a middle-aged woman with a teenager’s mind who [performs] naughty songs on the ukulele.”
“Stop Covering Hallelujah” is a clever comedic cut set to an iconic piece of classical music by Handel. It’s by Beth Kinderman and the Player Characters. Kinderman is a singer-songwriter from Minneapolis who plays sci-fi conventions in the Midwest.
Delfino encores with “Questions.” This would work well in my “Stupid Questions” series even though some of these questions are a bit silly.
Mayer also encores here with “Overnight Success (after 38 Years).” Complete with timely references, her vocals here might just remind you of a character from “The Simpsons.”
The parenthetical presentation of encores concludes with the closing cut “Summer of LXIX.” A tuneful take-off of a Bryan Adams hit, this apt album ender is yet another effective example of how funny Bad Beth and Beyond can be.
Rockwell notes this new release is available “on CD or as a digital download at MadamOpus, bandcamp.com, [and] all the usual digital platforms.” He concluded: “We are very proud of it and hope you enjoy it.”
Overall, this assortment of audio offerings from funny females opens and closes strongly and provides a nice song sampling from several super acts. So check out Madam Opus: Funny Songs by Funny Women but remember whatever happens “Don’t Talk About Size.”