Author Archives: mosal@usc.edu

Aerosols, C4, and High-Powered Rifles

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the performer (EC) and I (ZM).

ZM: Do you do anything, like special, around Christmas? Other than like the goulash?

EC: Not really. We have a lot of like very family specific traditions, um, because my grandparents owned like a huge ranch in Napa and had like a winery and everything. And so like, that has been like in the family for generations and so like a lot of our holiday tradition’s centered around like going up to the house and like being rednecks in general.

ZM: What do you do?

EC: Um like, on Easter, we would like blow things up. So like, for Easter I might get some aerosol paint cans and then some like C4 explosive and put them together and then shoot it with a high powered rifle just to see how big of a fireball I can make.

ZM: (laughs) And that’s just… because they live on a ranch?

EC: That’s just our family. Yeah.

ZM: Do you go every year and like blow stuff up? Is that like a…

EC: Yeah. It actually burned down, so like not in the last year with this recent fires, but yeah um before that we would go for like every holiday, like Fourth of July, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, other random stuff.

ZM: And do you blow stuff up every holiday?

EC: Basically. Every holiday involves shooting guns in our family.

 

Context: This is from a conversation I started with EC originally about her German traditions.

 

Background: EC is a sophomore studying at the University of Southern California. She is of German descent.

 

Analysis: I thought it was ironic that EC and her family always try to create the biggest fireballs that they can on the ranch and it ended up burning down, but the two events were completely unrelated. The actual act seemed unrelated to the variety of holidays it is performed on. The explosions seem more like something they do when they’re together and they just happen to be together on those holidays.

 

Forehead, Elbows, Thighs And Feet

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the performer (MS) and I (ZM).

ZM: Do you remember when you first learned the head, shoulders…

MS: (interrupts) Middle school.

ZM: Middle school?

MS: Mhmm.

ZM: When did you make this version?

MS: Middle school. Wait what? We made up the middle school thing. We made up the new one in middle school.

ZM: Do you know when you learned the like…

MS: (interrupts) Learned “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes?”

ZM: Yeah.

MS: (long pause) Preschool.

ZM: Okay and…

MS: We did it as a joke.

Main Piece:

The following is a transcription of the performance given by MS.

Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet. Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet. Pupils, and nostrils, and (pauses to remember the rest) lobes, and teeth. Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet.

Context: For my short paper topic, I chose an authored song that utilized the common children’s folk song of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes.” When researching the song, I found many variants that differed from the way I learned the song. A little frustrated and confused as to how no one had recorded the version I was familiar with, I went into the common area of my apartment and asked if my roommate knew the song. I then asked her to perform it for me and she was not able to complete the full song in what she called the “normal” way that she learned in preschool. What she was able to perform, however, was a rendition she made with her friend in middle school to mock the standard song. Although her version had the same general format and melody of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” she sang different body parts then typically featured. While singing a particular body part she would touch it just like in the popularized version, with the exception of her pupils.

Background: The performer is a sophomore studying at the University of Southern California. She grew up in Marin County, California and attended preschool and a private middle school there.

Analysis: I thought this was interesting because while we often discuss natural variation from trying to remember the words, this was a conscious alteration of the song. At a young age, MS and her female friend made a parody to mock the song and express their individuality.

For another version of this folk song see…

“The Children – Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes.” Genius, 2018 Genius Media Group Inc., genius.com/The-children-head-shoulders-knees-and-toes-lyrics.