"Chewing Chewing Gum" - Super Furry Animals

The Super Furry Animals' "Chewing Chewing Gum" (track nine on 1999's "Guerrilla", my favorite release by these Welsh freaks) is what I'd imagine a children's lullaby sing-along on Mars to sound like.

This shamelessly psychedelic ode to gum chewing begins with a sweet, tinkering keyboard/piano and whirring background noises. The drum beat (a mixture of live and electronic, maybe?) joins us for the chorus, in which Gruff Rhys warns us:

Don't go chewing in bed
You might wake up with it stuck in your hair
Haaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr!

The song builds up slowly, accumulating new noisy elements and layered harmonies with each refrain. Like an exercise in repeating one line over and over, and sounding more exciting each measure.... The "chew, chew, chew, chewing in bed!" background vocals and squealing guitars surround the mix, filling the listener with a sense of chaotic bliss. When the track reaches somewhat of a climax at 2:35, the organ freak-out leads into the second half.

Everything whirs around in a madly tuneful frenzy. I can only imagine the amount of layers it took to record this. It sounds like a thousand voices and a marching band, all for the purpose of getting this simple piece of advice across to the innocent listener.

That's right! Don't go chewing...in bed!

The song finally fades out, but if you listen to the 10-minute hidden track at the end of "Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy", Gruff and the Welsh Street Band have one more surprise in store. Join the quest for acid-drenched glory! Buy "Guerrilla" on Amazon!

(Copyright 2007 for Hilbert_Cheesecake productions. Good day.)