Johannes Schult

This is another song about the moon. I decided to not submit it for the Song Fu #2 competition (see previous post), because at the end of the day it is merely a weak imitation of Jonathan Coulton. I really like the intro melody (originally from a tune called “Last Night I Was the Happiest Man on Earth”) and the story starts out in a nice way. But I was stuck for a couple of days and abandoned this song, eventually. I recorded it, anyway, together with the other song, “The Moon Is Made of Cheese”. First came the rhythm track and a whole bunch of keyboards. On the next day, I recorded some acoustic guitars and the vocals. I lacked the middle-eight lyrics, so I had to make them up on the spot. And I still don’t know how to spell the protagonist’s name properly.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

His name was Nicolaew
His friends just called him Nick
His boss said, boy, you’re gonna get far

And he put him into a space ship
And when the countdown began
Everybody had tears in their eyes

His mission was important
His body bent like a spoon
His destination was the moon

And the earth outside his window looks to small
And the stars, they shine like silver in the night
And he knows his journey will be over soon
Then Nicolaew’s gonna be the first monkey on the moon

His vessel hit the surface
His engine died for good
His crew on earth did what they could

And the earth outside his window looks to small
And the stars, they shine like silver in the night
And he knows his mission will be over soon
And late at night he’s dreaming of the first monkey on the moon

And on the seventh day he ran out of food
And a little later it got colder in his room
Nicolaew looked around
But there were no bananas
No bananas on the moon

And as he ran out of water
He heard a knock on the door
The rescue mission from the planet of apes had come to take him back home

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This is my entry for the first round of the Song Fu #2 competition over at QuickstopEntertainment.com. It’s 100% werewolf-free, which is kind of remarkable, because the task was to write a song about the moon. Please visit the link above and check out the competition; vote for whoever you think deserves it most – hopefully for me. Note that there are Song Fu Challengers (including me) and Song Fu Masters; you may vote once in each group.

My friend Robert made a post in the NP.de-forum back in 2002, stating that the moon was made of cheese. I had always wanted to turn this idea into a song, so now was the perfect opportunity. I toyed around with some other ideas (some involving werewolves) and I even made a song called The First Monkey on the Moon; but the narrative of that song lacked an adequate flow; plus, the story was (apparently) a lame imitation of (Song Fu Master) Jonathan Coulton. I’ll post that one in the near future, anyway. But back to my actual entry: I recorded it last Tuesday and Wednesday. First came the rhythm track and a whole bunch of keyboard sounds. Next, I recorded some rather heavy electric guitars. That was possibly a mistake, but the deadline was on Wednesday. So I just added some acoustic guitar and, of course, the vocals, before I mixed and posted the song. I’m aware that the vocals are very loud. I made that decision, because the lyrics are an integral part of the challenge. They’re posted below; the Dogma reference was in there early on (as I’m a big fan of former QuickstopClerk Kevin Smith), whereas the Coulton reference came at the eleventh hour. Oh, and I added some handclaps! No ukulele, sorry. But hey, if I manage to move on to round two (i.e., if you all vote for me), I might use it, eventually.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

Aliens in Nevada, magic crystal balls
Superstitious cargo cults, creepy voodoo dolls
Friday, the 13th, absolution of sins
Some believe that science holds an answer to everything

Some believe in fate and some in love
And some believe in God above
Some believe in cover-up conspiracies
And I believe that the moon is made of cheese
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all

Flying Spaghetti Monsters, a talisman as guide
Santa Claus and horoscopes, love at first sight
Nessie in the water, Catholicism Wow!
Some believe that mankind will survive this all somehow

Some believe in blue and some in red
And there are some who believe that Paul is dead
Some believe they know who killed the Kennedys
And I, I believe that the moon is made of cheese
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt, no doubt at all
No doubt, no doubt, no doubt about it
There’s no doubt, no doubt: the moon is made of cheese

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

These days I’m wrapping up my work for the Master of Quantitative Analysis in the Social Sciences degree. I’ve begun applying for jobs (as data analyst) in order to manage a swift transition from university to work.

Apart from writing exams, I’ve been travelling quite a bit in the past few months (and now I struggle to catch up with archiving pictures and reports). Now I’m back in Germany and have all my instruments at hand. So stay tuned for some new music (hint).