I Love the Dead

This is my entry for the SpinTunes song writing contest (#3, Round 1). The challenge was to write a happy song about death. Happy songs are hard to write. Happy songs about death inevitably turn out ridiculous or super-scary – at least when I write them. I wrote “I Love the Dead” with Christopher Walken’s character from Plots with a View in mind. I also made a little video.

Jutze – I Love the Dead

I love the dead – strictly vocationally
I love the dead – I bury them professionally
So far none of them came back to complain

I’m just a happy undertaker – I aim to please
I’m making sure you’ll get the perfect grave to rest in peace
Sometimes I feel a little bit misunderstood
Because death is my business – and business is good
I love the dead – strictly vocationally
I love the dead – I bury them professionally

This funeral home is the place I call home
And with the graveyard next door I never feel alone
I love the dead – strictly vocationally
I love the dead – I bury them professionally
So far none of them came back to complain

I don’t mean to offend – I just really like my job
I take care of the bodies before they start to rot
I can give you silence – I can give you thunder
Either way you’ll end up six feet under
I love the dead – strictly vocationally
I love the dead – I bury them professionally
I love the dead – strictly vocationally
I love the dead – I bury them professionally
This is the grave digger’s delight

(words and music by Johannes Schult / 2011 Creative Commons by-nc)

Jutze 52 #25 – Laundry Day

This is possibly the first song in music history that’s sung from the perspective of a happy washing machine. I’m planning on making a video to illustrate the various actions described in the lyrics. I just have to wait until the next laundry day. It’s six days later: the video is finished and my laundry is clean!

The music was heavily inspired by Irish folk songs. I really like the first chorus. I wish I could have used it more often in the song. But the narrative demanded an ongoing flow and the time limit prevented me from a more traditional verse-refrain arrangement. By the way, the tin whistle in the beginning is a real one.

#25 Laundry Day

I woke up to the sound of coins and got myself a drink
Got ready for the 40 degrees the afternoon would bring
A line of that white powder is all I really need
Now I can feel the power that brings me up to speed

So up and down and around it goes
The red and the blue and the white
So in and out the water flows
And it makes me feel all right

Hooray! Hooray! It’s laundry day
I’m going round in circles
You can feel my bottom rock
I’m going to eat that sock
I’m feeling drunk as I’m tumbling away

(words and music by Johannes Schult)