Mindblowing thing I've just noticed about the Opening Theme…

[(deleted)]

…it’s got lyrics!!!

Just sticking Can Of Worms on again through headphones, and although I’ve heard that piece of music probably thousands of times over 20 years I’ve only just noticed the vocal parts, namely HOWARD GOODALL SINGING THE NAME OF THE SHOW FOUR TIMES THROUGH A VOCODER.

If you’re listening out, it’s during the triangular key changes in the second half of the theme.

My brain has exploded.

Altogether…

# Red Dwarf
# Red Dwarf
# Red Dwarf
# Red Dwarf*

*previously unpublished lyrics (c) Noel Gay Music Ltd

Topic

[Moonlight]

That opening synth sounds fucking terrible, especially since I’ve just heard the wonderful high-quality version of the real thing on the OST.

[pi r squared]

> I was pleased to see in the Howard Goodall DVD feature that he wasn’t responsible for those shit lyrics, and even had a second verse of his own.

Whilst I have no doubts about the genius of Howard Goodall, I would argue that the “shit” lyrics of Ian Hu’s alternative version are still better than some of the additional verses that Goodall wrote, according to the same DVD feature. Can you honestly say that the Hu lyrics are worse than:

I’d like to have
Red blotches on my face
Make a mess
Of my nose
I’d love to peel
In every awkward place
Fun, Fun, Fun in the Sun, Sun, Sun

‘cos, you know… they’re kind of dreadful lyrics that barely even scan properly,

[Seb Patrick]

Well, “where I’ll succeed” rhymes with “time warp speed” and “velocity” doesn’t. Also, “where I’ll succeed at time warp speed” makes sense as a sentence, whereas “velocity at time warp speed” doesn’t.

Given how completely and utterly shit and point-missing the added lyrics are, though: “velocity” is probably, therefore, correct.

[Dave]

Well, “where I’ll succeed” rhymes with “time warp speed” and “velocity” doesn’t.

“I’m all alone” doesn’t rhyme with “more or less” either. Nor does “drinking fresh” rhyme with “mango juice”.

[Toxteth O-Grady]

I just meant I was pleased that Howard Goodall never wrote *those* synth-version lyrics.
I probably should have put a full stop before mentioning his second verse.

Yes, his second verse lyrics are terrible too, but it seems apparent to me that he wasn’t taking them seriously, and likely knew they would never be recorded.
RD wasn’t his first theme tune, so he probably knew just one verse would be plenty for the end credits of a sitcom. The additional verse may just have place-holder lyrics that he never bothered doing a second draft of.
Then again, if you look at the normal 1st verse lyrics written down, they’re not exactly Wordsworth either. I think the singer’s performance brings a lot of credibility to them.
Maybe if Jenna Russell sang Goodall’s 2nd verse it would have have been half-decent. Who knows?
All I know is I hate the Hu & Lambert version, and the additional lyrics are only part of that hatred. That ending with the repeated chord, alternating between channels, is just atrocious.

[(deleted)]

I’ll stick up for the unused words – the Goodall lyrics are deliberately naive, childlike and idiosyncratic, as they are based around Lister’s speech to Frankenstein which is also as such. Combining them with music that is a turbo-powered, sophisticated, well-produced classic pop parody is a deliberate clash designed to contrast the dreams versus reality of Lister’s Fiji plan. The watertight slickness of the finished song represents how Lister’s plan sounds in his own head. The unused verses present more of the same.

If the lyrics – used or unused – were self-consciously witty/clever it wouldn’t work as a piece.

[Pete Part Three]

>Well, “where I’ll succeed” rhymes with “time warp speed” and “velocity” doesn’t.

“Velocity” would be drawn out…so “Ve-loci-teeee at time-warp speeeed”, but as Dave says the lack of a rhyme isn’t a deal-breaker.

That said, I’ve flip-flopped. I’m hearing “Where I’ll succeed” now.

I’m of the opinion that the singer has a minor problem pronouncing v and w as “ultraviolet rays” sounds like “ultrawiolet rays” to me too.

[GlenTokyo]

Where I’ll exceed /beat/ time warp speed would be better I think.

This a comment aimed at the past haha

[(deleted)]

http://blog.timespace.com/2016/12/artists-and-composers-reveal-their-top-5-plug-ins-of-2016/

In his own words…

[Jenuall]

Bit of a bump of an old topic here so apologies for that but I wasn’t around at the time this revelation first came out so fuck it I’m going to have my say even if it is 5 years late!

I was definitely one of the many people in the “holy shit how did I not notice this before” camp when this was discovered, when you think how many times we must have all listened to the theme it’s crazy to think it stayed a secret.

That said one of the things that I found interesting about all of this is that I distinctly remember that when I started watching Dwarf on more “modern” platforms/equipment I found that the “RED DWAAAARF” noise did stand out to me far more than it used to in the past, even if I didn’t recognise the words in it at that point. I actually wondered when Series X came along whether they had done a remix/remastering of the intro music because that noise definitely stood out far more to me than it ever had in the past. I wonder whether it was something to do with the quality of the audio being presented now – I spent a hell of a long time watching series I – VI on VHS and I wouldn’t be surprised if the quality of the audio on those tapes, combined with the shitty VHS player and portable TV speakers I would have heard it through made it much harder to detect the vocoded audio back in the day?

Or maybe we really are all just that stupid!

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Firstly, how the hell is this 5 years ago. If you’d asked me I’d have said this was discovered in 2019!

And Jenuall, it’s only because you’ve been made aware of it that you’re hearing it more clearly. It was always there but your brain ignored it in the mix. Better speakers may offer slightly better clarity, but given it’s in there like it’s just a weird sound effect, you wouldn’t be picking out that particular bit of instrumentation whilst listening.

I’d imagine for the most part, most people aren’t picking out anything more than the guitar and drums and everything else just blending into the background, because it’s mixed that way really.

[Jenuall]

Well my point was that I did find it more noticeable, even before the reveal that it was a vocal track!

I distinctly remember thinking “why have they added/accentuated this ‘WAAAH WAAAH’ sound in the intro?” when Series X came out, it definitely sounded different to how I always used to hear it back in the day (even on the DVD’s I don’t recall noticing it as much)

I still had no clue that it was actually Goodall singing though, I just thought it was a distorted guitar sound or something similar!

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Oh I see.

It’s possible the theme was remastered for Dave era, HD broadcasts, or it’s just a less compressed sound file. Plus again, better quality of equipment you’re watching on etc. But I doubt the mix was any different.

[Warbodog]

I spent a hell of a long time watching series I – VI on VHS and I wouldn’t be surprised if the quality of the audio on those tapes, combined with the shitty VHS player and portable TV speakers I would have heard it through made it much harder to detect the vocoded audio back in the day?

Some people must miss the individual VHS tics that were part of their personal Red Dwarf experience growing up, like listening to an album without the familiar vinyl crackles.

I only remember the bit in Back in the Red where Kochansi says Kryten should imagine people on the toilet where the audio on my JVC E-240 video dropped out for a while, but I’ve rarely watched that after VHS anyway. It’s more an issue with the long, sustained notes at the end of some Star Trek intros that never sound right without warbling in and out.

[Dave]

Some people must miss the individual VHS tics that were part of their personal Red Dwarf experience growing up, like listening to an album without the familiar vinyl crackles.

My taped-off-the-TV version of Bodyswap had a glitch where it stopped recording for a short while, so cuts straight from Cat and Lister chatting next to the vending machine (before they order) to Rimmer’s “I said touch nothing”, ruining one of the best joke setups/payoffs in the show’s history when their order arrives later.

[RunawayTrain]

I’ve heard of this, plenty of times now, but still never *heard* it! Might have to take a look at some of the YouTube links on the thread, now it’s been revived, and maybe I will finally hear it …

[Jenuall]

Some people must miss the individual VHS tics that were part of their personal Red Dwarf experience growing up, like listening to an album without the familiar vinyl crackles.

My taped-off-the-TV version of Bodyswap had a glitch where it stopped recording for a short while, so cuts straight from Cat and Lister chatting next to the vending machine (before they order) to Rimmer’s “I said touch nothing”, ruining one of the best joke setups/payoffs in the show’s history when their order arrives later.

For you all know he could have actually ordered a double cheeseburger

[GlenTokyo]

I spent a hell of a long time watching series I – VI on VHS and I wouldn’t be surprised if the quality of the audio on those tapes, combined with the shitty VHS player and portable TV speakers I would have heard it through made it much harder to detect the vocoded audio back in the day?

Some people must miss the individual VHS tics that were part of their personal Red Dwarf experience growing up, like listening to an album without the familiar vinyl crackles.
I only remember the bit in Back in the Red where Kochansi says Kryten should imagine people on the toilet where the audio on my JVC E-240 video dropped out for a while, but I’ve rarely watched that after VHS anyway. It’s more an issue with the long, sustained notes at the end of some Star Trek intros that never sound right without warbling in and out.

If I had room I would love to buy a 4:3 CRT and a VHS machine and watch them on video again.

To me it just looks better even though by every technical measure it doesn’t.

[Dave]

If I had room I would love to buy a 4:3 CRT and a VHS machine and watch them on video again.

To me it just looks better even though by every technical measure it doesn’t.

I think there is an effect on CRT where the blurriness softens the image and your brain fills in the gaps a bit, as opposed to the stark cleanness and clarity of modern displays.

It’s something I’ve seen a lot in discussions of 80s/90s video games, where modern ultra-clear reproductions of pixel art don’t quite do justice to how they looked on a CRT.

[International Debris]

Yes, it’s worth considering that those designs were created for CRT displays. Like early CDs sounding tinny and shit because they were using masters created for vinyl.

[Warbodog]

I remember the Gens Mega Drive emulator having some kind of smoothing option that I always had turned on so I didn’t have to face Sonic’s harsh reality.

Also remembered that my initiation into Hitchhiker’s Guide was delayed for years until I saw the books because the school library’s video was so overwatched or mistreated that the opening narration was completely inaudible, so I bailed on it rather than checking if it improved.

Also like how there are parallel active threads about VR and VHS going on.

[Jenuall]

Various CRT filters have been created and some are better than others but yeah it’s still hard to get a result that really replicates some of the features that 90s pixel art achieved by exploiting the peculiar aspects of CRT displays.

Things like the waterfalls in Sonic which achieve a transparent effect by using how CRTs blend adjacent pixels just look weird on “pixel perfect” LCD screens

[Jonathan Capps]

If I had room I would love to buy a 4:3 CRT and a VHS machine and watch them on video again.

To me it just looks better even though by every technical measure it doesn’t

Nostalgia, Yo – Futurama GIF from Futurama GIFs

[Jonsmad]

Does anyone remember a thread here or anywhere, where an old song is discussed in relation to a bit of it being something the Series III rock theme tune copied a bit from?  Any details. I’m sure it’s come up before but cant find the discussion.

[Dave]

Does anyone remember a thread here or anywhere, where an old song is discussed in relation to a bit of it being something the Series III rock theme tune copied a bit from?  Any details. I’m sure it’s come up before but cant find the discussion.

Is it Loving The Alien by Bowie?

Jump to about 1:22 here.

[Unrumble]

Some people must miss the individual VHS tics that were part of their personal Red Dwarf experience growing up, like listening to an album without the familiar vinyl crackles.

My taped-off-the-TV version of Bodyswap had a glitch where it stopped recording for a short while, so cuts straight from Cat and Lister chatting next to the vending machine (before they order) to Rimmer’s “I said touch nothing”, ruining one of the best joke setups/payoffs in the show’s history when their order arrives later.

My VHS of ‘Kryten’ had a glitch where the sound dropped out in the middle of Rimmer saying “chicken McNugget”.

[Jonsmad]

Radio Active S5E6 19 minutes.

Thanks Dave. Yes that’s the Bowie Track. 

I’ve rediscovered that Dwarf Isn’t the first use of that Riff in a comedy programme. Radio Active (the audio version of KYTV) used it in a Parody of Shakin Stevens. By Phillip Pope with Steve Brown ( aka Glen Ponder.) 

[Jonsmad]

The parody uses it at the End like Dwarf Theme does.

[Dave]

Yeah, I mean given that it’s just going up the scale it’s a fairly straightforward progression that’s used in quite a few songs.

I’m sure there’s an old Motown or Phil Spector song where there’s a really similar sequence that people have mentioned before. And I’ve seen people compare the RD theme to the stabs at the end of God Gave Rock And Roll To You by Kiss too.

[Ridley]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns2hmyP0mGY&t=82s

For the lazy.

Weird YouTube still doesn’t allow the timestamp share on mobile.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Oh, for…
 Have we forgotten about this already?

[International Debris]

It’s almost like it’s the first five notes of a scale or something.

[Jenuall]

Speaking of similarities between Dwarf tunes and other music, I’ve always thought the rock snippet that plays in Kryten when Lister is getting himself dressed up (about 9:50 in the episode) sounds remarkably similar to the main riff from The Strokes Juicebox:

I’m assuming it’s a fairly common/standard note progression but it’s always stood out to me as so similar 

[Author]

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