The Legacy of the Song

This summer, serve up the cookout classics, Oscar Meyer Hot doogs and Heinz mustard. Grill up a dog, add classic yellow mustard, or load it Chicago style We all know it's not a cookout without Oscar Meyer and Heines Your LinkedIn feed can give you daily insights from your professional community. It cannot keep you updated on the daily office gossip. Oh my gosh, no way. It can help you stay informed on the latest news and trends in your industry. It cannot stop your boss from trying to start a new office trend. Who's ready for flip flop Fridays? And while we can't stop all of the office jargons, Do this fight with our collaborative lattice workork metric? LinkedIn can start taking your career to new heights LinkedIn is the network that works for you. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up and let me hit a party, say I'm kind of buzzing and it's all because this is how we do it. Okay, I just want to say there's a lot of drinking of this song. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up. I'm kind of buzzing and it's all because like everything is Io love it. I think me and Ma are the same Tinner Yeah You got it Luxury. Today we're talking about an R and B song that pulled from hip hop's past to create maybe, just maybe the definitive partarty anthem of the nineteen nineties. That's right, Dallo, and this song's mission to Bring the oldld School backack is built around a sample of a classic hip hop song, which itself is built around an interpolation interpolation of an artist who at this point is essentially synonymous with classic hip hop breaks. So to help us make sense of this complex web of samples and interpolations, can I do that too? You can. We've partnered with Spotify to use their brand new song DNA feature. It basically allows us to show just how deep these connections go We're talking one song and that song is This is How We do it by Montel George Wh my neighb together we Yeah, return to the old schoolool. Rurn to the evil sinister half step. We're going to be talking about that sinister half step of like we talked about in an earlier episode. I'm so excited for this one. I'm very excited too. I'm actor wrriter, director and sometimes DJ Diiala Riddle. and I'm producer, DJ songwriter and musicologist Luxury, AK, the guy who Wh whispers And for the first time ever broadcasting from the Spotify stududios in Hollywood, this is One song. The show where we break down the stems and stories behind iconic songs across genres telling you why they deserve one more listen. You will hear these songs like you've never heard them before, and you can watch one song on YouTube and Spotify While you're there, please like and subscribe And if you're looking for even more music facts, more conversations and more us, we've got a Patreon now Go to patreon dot com slash Diialo Luxury. That's patreon dot com slash our names. And every week we're doing a bonus episode there. and it's absolute free And it's a lot of fun. All right, so Diallo, you mentioned to me as we were preparing for this episode That this song was kind of the soundtrack to your college experience. Do you remember the first time you ever heard it? Yeah. I mean, like when I think about college is one of the songs that always comes out. I mean, this song was everywhere when I was in college. It was a huge hit in the dining halls and it always felt like it was a song that every DJ was playing. And by the time I became a DJ myself, I got off this slow start, but I eventually started been in some plays. I got it. It's a song It's so easy to find Like the first part of the song. like we've talked in the past I' hard. like some songs are a little bit off. they're a little wonky. It's hard to mix them in and always have them land on the one so to speak. Not this song. if you know what you're doing, easy to bring it in on the beat how we do it So much energy when it starts. And as a DJ, you feel like, oh, okay, Montel's got the party, you know, he's got the next three minutes of the party covered for me. And this is also one of the songs that not only as a song itself is like iconic and it's a party jam, it's doing what it's saying. It's like referring to itself. This is how we do it. think whichich then transfers into your daily life as just a phrase that pops in your head when you're totally checking out at the shop. This is how you check out at the shping mall. You know No, I've always said This song The title is so geniiously vague. it can apply to anything like, you know, you can be the head of a corporation announcing like some solidaries to be like, this is how we do it. do it. And everyone will think about it. and then they'll go listen and then pennies forever. You can be some shoplifters at a mall. Yeah spotting out the forever twenty one and being like, this is how we do. can be it can be positive. It can be very negative But it's so wonderfully vague. There's not a single person who hasnt thought at some point This We viral in the sense that like once you hear it, Montel Jordan is in your brain forever for the rest of your life on a nearly weekly basis, if not more frequently. Not even more. again, just think about the words. This is happening. be anything do it. This not not define. We also not defineed and it really m pronouns It's the ultimate pronoun song I remember we were at Fallon one time we were like, we should do a sl call. That's how we do. It the same thing. J let finish. Just come up with a melody, get Katie Perry and Jimmy to sing it. What about you Luxury? What was the first time you heard this song? I definitely heard in college too, is it's a college party song. is what it is. It is the perfect song for the like peak of the night, and that's interestingly part of the original beginning. Let's talk about that. It's like, everything kind of builds to it. and then because you know the night generally has a A vibe what's the word? a path, shall we say? And the path, it's like a ramp onto the freeway. And then like everyone, when the party's gotten going, you've got that kind of cohesion and then you dial it up to eleven. This is that eleven song. You know, every DJ, when they first start off, it's like, I want to take the crowd on a journey.ight. It's like when writers and I'm one of them, it's like when writers is like the city is a character too. you know like It may sound a little bit like a cliche but it's a useful cliche. It's a cliche for because there there's an element of truth. That's right. There's an element of truth there. You don't wantan to start the night with. this is how you do it It's definitely like I Gower. I have I have had DJ's open for me where they just blow through all the hits like Oh yeah they come on. they're like, what's the biggest song I could play in the video. You're just like That's an amateur move right. All Yeah you're never opening me Gradually ease us in. As we said, this song is a quintessential party song, but it's really specifically a West cooast party song in a way. And you know, it's got all the references to South Central and we're going to get into that too when we talk about the lyrics. Musically, it also feels connected to a lot of the music that was coming out of the West cooast at that time Very far from the G Funk and even the gangster rap scenes of that time And for Montel Jordan, that was kind of the point. He grew up in LA. He played piano and church. And as he was growing up, there was one song he noticed. He played at other parties. In the back of his mind, he's like, one day, when I have my big break, I'm gonna sing and rap over this song when the moment comes. No, that's hilarious. Yeah This song is Chren's story and this song come out by Slick Rick and it had come out nineteen eighty eight. But here's the thing When you're at Pepperdine, a couple of years later, like this is part of the old school set. L we're gonna to talk about this a little bit He was already old. It's already old. Seven years is a long amount of time in this period of hip hop. like we were talking about this before the show, how that seven years means a lot when you're a teenager or even when you're in your early twenties. It can be a third, even half of your life. Sure. So when DJs would go to their old school set, they're only playing songs that if they were playing now, theseese are like songs for twenty eighteen. L when you're in college early teen potentially when you know, seven years earlier, but also musically so much changed from eighty eight to ninety five. Yeah in a way different way than like twenty nineteen to now. Like music has not radically been transformed in quite the same way as it did in a previous era. It can make the case that music is not changing, especially hip hop is not changing quickly as it was abbsolutely back then. Also, I just want to point out, he was at Pepper Dine. I always say kids at Ppper Dine are freaking spoil. Like if you've ever been a pepper dine, like they have their colleges on the beach. Like I don't even understand what that is as somebody who's always trudging through a sad snowy New England win but I was going to hold my fire here, but like can you not say the same thing about Harvard students? We weren't on the beach. You weren't on the beach. It was no beach. There was no absence of privilege there, I would imagine. But yes, no beach. fair point. And like he said, you know, you're a DJ too. There are always those songs I used to call midnight songs. Th songs that are big enough that you can play them midnight on New Year's Eve or just at the height of the party. And everyone's gonna to be happy and go crazy. And Children's Story by Slick Rick is one of those songs. Let's hear a little bit of a children's story from expectations. he decided he hit one the subway stations, but she was coming and he made a lap. He was running top speed so he was out of breath. so an old man down and swore he killed him. You know, here's so iconic. So iconic. I don't know if anybody like Cole Porter was one of the first lyricist to really string together a phrase that slick Rick I they in the eighties The storytelling storytelling was so phenomenally untorttured ot you at the edge of your seat. It's like so Interesting. Like it's endlessly interesting. You You want to know what happens next. So many of his songs were actually obious, but the storytelling aspect was so unique for him. It way he did. It was so good. and then you've got that that D't? D't Which I actually started doing like old school. like I started doing the Roger Rabbit and the w in my seat. like these are like a certain move that you have to make Absolutely your body. Absolutely. That sound just gets you going. you can imagine being at these parties with Monel at that time and just going nuts. But then his lilt, the way he his cadence, his accent, he has a British accent. it's so special. It's like so unique. And he changes his voice for different characters. To this day, anytime I talk about my kids, I feel like sometimes I inadvertently imitate him the kids at the top when he's like, Well, the kid voice is the top the very top of the song. He's like They're like, Hey, we' tell some bedtime story polase. All right kids, G guys get to bed. o ye like he's doing all these voices Yeah. The whole song has the word lilt. Everything about the song is llting. his cadence, his accent, his British accent, the beats kind of are lilting beats. We'll talk more about the beats when we get to the stems, the bassline, the interpolation, there's a lilt to the whole thing that's really cool It's really c It goes with his eye patch You've got an eyeepatch. How can youbody with an eye patch not be cool, right? Shurely after graduating, Montel worked on a mix tape that gotu the attention of Russell Simmons, and that's what allowed Montteel to become the second RMB artist assigned to Devjam. Do you know who the first was? I do not. How about Orange Juice Jones? I saw you and him Walking in the rain You get ready This how we do it it was actually one of the last songs to come together for his debut album. How many times have we done songs that were like, Oh, we've got a little bit of time left. Let's just do that last song. Day L soul. mee myself and Iye comes to mind. What are some other ones that I can't remember, but with this one, this is on purpose. This isn't one of those like we're desperate. we don't hear a single. Like the classic line, the record company doesn't hear a single. So you go back and it's Emin M probably or it's know Tom Petty in that case In this case, he saved it to the end. He tells the story that he had been saving this since probably age eleven or whatever it was. and they did all the other songs first, but then he was ready to do the one we're talking about today I like the fact that he and one of our unsung heroes on this episode.bsol His co writer, OG. Pierce, they were working on this track. And as he says it, you know, they were just workshopping melodies and lyrics over it. And at one point they were both suddenly hit with this is how we do it as the refrain. And they look at each other and they This is something. We have to do something with this. They knew it was the thing to combine with the sample, that was the hook and then the rest of the lyrics were built around that. Everything else came from just piecing the peanut butter with the chocolate in that moment, so to speak, you know? Perfect. Absolutely. A little bit more about OG Pierce, There's not a lot out there, but he did also produce something for the Honey', other the follow up single. Oh, so for the Honeyies. yeah, makes sense up single then went on to work with he did Ul laa with Coolio a couple of years later. Unfortunately, OG Pierce did pass away at forty six, way too young Way too young, but I guess, you know, for better or worse, left us with a wonderful legacy of some great music Now when it came time to record the song, Montel knew he wanted some of that vibe that Marvin Gay has on got to giveive it up, which is famously like Marvin Gay, Don Cornelius' soul train. it's kind of like a very fun group of people. It's a party vibe. It's a party vibe.'s how you goy, I love when albums and songs can start off like that. So Montel invited some of his friends down to Paramount recording studios here in LA on Santa Monica Boulevard to basically come through and have a party. As he tells it, he set up a keg on one side of the room, liquor on the other. I guess it was dealer's choice. And in the center, he put an omnidirectional microphone which he used to capture the sounds of the group as well as that this is how we do a voal, which is so brilliant. It's such an underrated. It's kind of having a laugh track. It's like you're suggesting to the listener what you do. And it worked you hear a party in the song, you're going to play that song at a party. As a guy who works in comedy, I'm actually in some ways jealous of shows like Chappelle show which had, you know videos that were not like S andL, they're not shot in a studio. but I heard what he did was he would show the sketches back to a live studio audience and get those real reactions. It is Pathalovian, just the degree to which when we hear other people laugh, it's like, oh, well, there must have been something funny about that. I am jealous of it because nowadays we work in the sort of like post the office phase of comedy where it always has isolated. You never get to hear other people laugh. Weird fun fact, those laugh tracks, even on modern shows are still primarily from like the fifties and sixties. So everybody'same laughs. You're hearing dead manan laughter I hate to break it to you. I love that. The original sampling. the original sampling. And it's usually a guy the laugh track is usually brought in the same boxes that they've always used. It's not like a digital box It's like yeah, there's like a guy who shows up. There's like tape becausecause there's also like leveles right. But there's also levels so you can like there's like the loud woman You can have the loud woman be higher or lower. You have like the nineteen sixties O baby everyone's going u When there's laughter, uparious real laughter, all that stuff B the way, Dalllla, you call this song the quintessential partarty anthem. First of all, does that mean it's the fifth most essential because of it's quintessential? I've never broken down that word, but it's a weird one. And if so, when you play it, what are you playing before or after Oh no, you're putting me on the math spot. Well What are the other fourong gosh, you know, I mean, this song has definitely moved into a certain pantheon of like You know, these these songs can be played at weddings around the world and nobody's compet you will destroy. You will exly. So I would say, u in front of this is how we do. it maybe September by Earth when and fire. Okay Ironically got to give it up, still a hit I want you back by the Jackson five. This is a really interesting list. I'm definitely on the spot. And I'm gonna go with Twist and Shout by the Beatles. Those are maybe the four wedding songs that might go in front of this is how we do it by Montau Jordan. Have you played it at a wedding? Because I have. I have DJated this song at aedd. Well I' definitelyed I might have played it in my weding So listeners out there, we have a patreon and we're also available to DJ weddings. That should be our top level Patreon, by the way. For ten grand, you get both of us to DJ your wedding That's a promise. Unan Grant, we will show up. You can marry us actually We will divorce our wives and disown our children. Give us ten thousand dollars. That's all we need to get through the summer. You can give us a playlist, you can give us a do not playlist. If you don't want any Fergy at your wedding, I he But I do love Will I am. So that's just me. That's how I give. You love him. love it I' marry him without ten thousand dollars. All right, we're gonna take a quick break. but when we get back We're gonna to hear Monel Jordan's isolated vocals and make can sing. And we're gonna take you on an intermolation journey back to a legendary artist sampled in not just this song, but literally hundreds and hundreds of songs. Stick around, we'll break it down. Study and play. Come together on a Windows eleven PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows eleven PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft three hundred sixty five premium and a year of Xbox GamePass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows dot com slash student offer Whw suppupplies last ends june thirtieth turnerms at aka. mS slash collllege PC All right, welcome back to one song. Let's get into the stims. Luxury, should we start with the drums? Let's start with the drums. That's it. you've heard the loop. goes through the entire song. is how we do it. That's it. prettyty simple. And that sort of tracks with children's story because I don't remember there being too many changes in the loop on children'sory. That's absolutely right. And since you mentioned it, let's play them back to back. and then we're going to do a closer listening. So you can hear the ways in which it's transformed because in my brain, they were more similar sounding than actually they are. Oh, wow. okay. So let's listen. So here's just a brief snippet so you can train your ears to listen. Here's this is how we do it Now listen to that beat, right? And here's the original from which there is a sample, but there's also a lot more going on Children's Story by Slick Rick from nineteen eighty eight Okay, I already getar one big differeifnce. You already hearing some difference. Let's do a closer listen now. I'm gonna to isolate that even more So here are the drums from this is how we do it. This is just one bar. I'll play it And then I'll give you the back to back with Sick Ricks version of it with what it is sampled, I should say And here is Slick Rick. Children's story to back again I think what's most similar about that, first of all, it is a sample, but here's a couple of the transformations. There's a layered kick drumss probably in eight hundred eight Yeah Yeah, that that covers up a little bit of the top end, especially of the slick Rick. and then the snare in this I was going to say this snare is what jumps out when I was like, Ohh, I already hear it. like to me by ninety five, you know that you want this party to jump off. So like you definitely want to be hitting that snare hard. It's got a hard snare. Even more I was gonna say it get's replaced with a clap. I don't evenar there at all. I was gonna say I don't know enough about the snres versus, but I was gonna say like that snare clap is loud and it's doing a lot of work. And it's in contrast to children's story where at that same point it's just it sounds like just a rim shot or something. like it's not that loud at all. So listen for the snare in Slick Rick because you won't hear it and this is how we do it Lots of reverb on that. it's very high It's pitched up It's a Oberheim DX, I believe, that was the drum machine he was using. Go back to our Jimmy Jam episode, go back to Blue Monday, uses the same drum machine. So that's the snare. and it's pitched up, which is why it's kind of high pitched. and it's got reverb. But I do not hear that at all because it's completely obliterated by this nineteen ninety five party jam clap Hear that it is again. Listen to like two four. What's left to me from the original sample in the percussion at all. is just there's a little bit of that high end that's coming from the DX' shaker and H hat combination, I should say. Can you play Montel Jordan? Sure. One more time. And here's what to listen for. It goes d d d d d d d d and it's in the high end. Listen for that pattern It's one sixtethh though And can I just say right off the bat? I'm thinking that I'm hearing atomic Da And I think their claps are definitelyeorge clliff. Yeah, like that that feels like if you if you put them back to back all of a sudden Slick Rick sounds like a song produced in New York in the late eighties, but that drumbeat on this is how we do it, definitely has that West cooast atomic dog. hundred percent sound going on. I would bet my life on that being a sample of. If it's not atomic dog an undiscovered layer that isn't currently on any sampling sample spot or website, including including Song DNA, which by the way, We've got it on our phones here. Song DNA Spotify has this really cool feature in beta. Spotify Premium, which is literally they bought who sampled, and it's integrated now into Spotify's experience. So B on this music nerd's dream. I know. It's really cool. It's really well done. And we would have told you if it wasn't well done because we are the Uber nerds of music sampled discussions, shall we say att least in this podcast format. So we like how it's done and there isn't anything there that is revealing a specific parliament Fkadeelic song. boy, to my ears, that is a George Clinton cl. It sounds like a atomic It could very well be a atomic jog. But we don't know that because say Thanks to who sampled and Song DNA. We don't see it in that mix, but it definitely evokes that. and that's where I think some of that West Coast vibe And this is how we do it comes through. that's not there in children's story. Sure. And it's also the layering is the transformation So one important part about like the exchange from and there's a third layer we'll be getting into. there are three songs we're talking about today that share elements is how transformed they are. When you isolate each of the elements we'll be talking about, they go from it's like a game of telephone. Like it changes each time. And by the time it gets to, especially the link in the chain for the melody we'll be talking about, boy, is it is so different from the original. You can still hear elements of it. You can hear where it came from But it's not the same anymore. By the way, if you want to use song DNA on a song like this is how we do it by Montael Jordan, just search for the song, select the song And then go to the three dots in the upper corner. And then if you scroll down just a little bit, you'll see Explorers song DNA. it's still in the beta form you just click on that and all of a sudden I have so much information. I can see Who actually contributed in making the song? Mount Tail Jordan? OG. Pierce, Ricky ML Walters. We know that slick Rick. We got Yino and Bob Morse. So I can click on Yino and it's going to tell me he was studio personersonnel and a remixer. D, I'm going to lose a whole twenty four hours just going on a deep dive. This is insane. And on top of being able to see who created the song, man, you've got all that wonderful information we need to get from who sampled. I can see exactly the songs they were sampled Children' story by Slick Rick Jimm Spiczer's Money dollar bill yall. this is so dope. I mean, another thing to notice in this is that There is a new Jack swing vibe going on here because there is it isosty' Rilly New Jacksw abbsolutely. But nineteen eighty eight, when children' Children's Story had that Lilt, I remember I was saying Lilt I think part of the lt I'm noticing now would would have been the earliest New Jacking. Yeah nineteen eighty eight is like dead on like that is definitely Jam and Lewis. actuallyually, I guess eighty six Jam and Lewis technically with Janet Jackson, right? A little bit. You know, when I think New Jackwing, I'm definitely thinking more Tendy Reiley, groups like Guy and Troop. All of that All of that has happened by eighty eight.. And go back to our Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis episode. He does He has a legitimate claim for on Dana Jackson this control rocker. there being some of that. But anyway some of the lilt is coming from that d d d d d that's got a swing. That's got a little bit of a jazzy swing to it. It's a triplet. It's three over four. All right, let's move on to the base. All right, let's listen to the bass from. this is how we do it All right, what are you hearing? I'm hearing a I'm hearing a keyardaring a bass keyboard. I'm hearing yeah, it sounds like an upright bass as played in nineteen ninety fiven a keyboard Right on a keyboard. Yeah, but it' meant to evoke the sound of an upright. It's got that kind of percussive sound to it. for whver reason, I just don't imagine a keg on one side, liquor on the other side. And then a guy with an upright bass It's kind of classy. It kind of plays into the jazzy vibe, right? Right, right right This is definitely a keyboard, right? I believe that is a keyboard. I don't know why even when they put in the string sound, it always sounds like someone's hitting keys. Because it's probably a Yamaha, if it's not a DX seven or R something like a mid nineties keyboard gener. They haven't dialed in the it's still Uncanny Valley. Like it doesn' doesn't sound like what it purorts to be The strings, the horns, they're not really strings and horns. They're keyboards strings and horns Which now has its own charm to it. And back in the day it became you just got used to the sound, your ears got used to it. But the earliest version of all these simple samplers and synthesizers, those sounds not sounding like the original, like people would be upset by it. They'd be like, wow, this isnt real music. If you're for an upright bass, you're disappointed.. But if you're just like us, kids listening to these sounds coming out of the eaker, it's opened up a whole new range of sounds That's right. That's right. The other thing that's going on here and we've talked about this before. We talked about it, go back and listen to our NAS episode in New York State of Might and Y why State of Might. We've got nine or ten episodes back. There is a flat two going on in here. When you hear, boom, by boom And then it could b, bom bom. It's going up a half step. okay? So that's important. And once again, it's arguably the most important note of the song. What the difference here is that that flat second on Naz, we talked about how it made the mode Phrygian That wonderful word Phrygian. I'm not sure this is Phrygian technically because in the vocal, he never sings that half step up. He's never the song's an F. Yeah, but he's never singing the G flat, which would be above it. We'll talk about that because this is how we do it. That's right. That's absolutely true. Right So what's happening is that the note that he's singing this, this is how we do it. That's a half step But it's it's the flat sixth. So technically the flat sixth is just a normal minerarchy. We're getting in the weeds here, but that's what we do on the show. Yeah. That's why you love us. This is definitely a flat two. Whether or not it's Frygian though, got questions for you. If you're a music nerd, if theory nerd out there and you think this is Frygian, let me know in the comments. my, I don' think'shrygian. C comments are for you And just one more, if you haven't heard that episode, go back and listen to it, what that does, the effect of this flat second is that it sounds sinister. It sounds kind of sex. It does, right. It gives it kind of a mysterious. So sometimes that Phrygian comes in It gives us hotness, It gives us seat. and sometimes it gives us like sinister mysteriousness. That's absolutely right. You hear the flat two in jazz and classical and metal. and in this moment You're starting to hear it more in hip hop Now it's arguably extremely common. It's interesting that it went from being a relatively uncommon in popular music, again, outside of jazz and classical and metal for that matter. Around this time in their mid nineties, you are starting to hear it more, especially in hip hop. so Jin and Juice also came out there before. Snoop Dog. , as I mentioned. What's some of you flipping with the bking in the lobby kicken Inficking composition, A pain I'm like small face sniff okay H Miss Elliot a little bit later, getet your freak on. And then to this day, it has again, in this modern era, maybe one out of five hip hop songs to my ears, I'm hearing an awful lot of flat seconds. You can hear it in Kendrick's DNA. DNA gotampieide my DNA I p one poison ve to enjoy. You can here it humumbles. Sit down Sit down down's Tyler, the Creator songs, childildish Gambiza, L little Uzy Verret The list goes on. But in nineteen ninety five, it was still relatively new to our ears and that I think helps give this song some of the flavor because when it goes there, it's like it's so tense. you really want to get back to that home base of the F when it goes up that half step to the flat second. So that's what's going on in the base. Can I ask you a question? That base that's so, you know prevalent And you know, awesome Is that a sample? So this is a replay And what's interesting is I hadn't even noticed until I went to Break it downown for this episode. It is in Slick Rick's childildren's story. He does do that, but not until two minutes in. Yeah. The first two minutes of the song he's just playing. I'll just play you the song. Notice, we're not going up h up with them It's You are hearing that half step thing happen, but as I mentioned, it's not The half step from the root. It's done d d d. Yeah. That's the fifth fourth, flat, sixth, fifth. So again, technically It's in there's a half step that's being semi sinister. played but but we haven't gone thereet. We haven't gone there yet. Once we get to the middle of the song and then we're hearing it a lot, it gets halfway through the song. We get even more sinister. And it makes sense because the story has gotten more sinister. That to me is like a very of my genius. Obvious and genius creative choice. Let's hear how it sounds after the two minute mark arent sounded, he seemed astounded and before long the little boy got around. He dropped his gun, so went the glory and this is the way I have to end this story. He was only one scen. dream still hear him scream dream the cop shot the kid is still here him straight. This same funny. Don't you dare laugh? Just another case about the wrong cast. straight or gets cast. Good night. And now I always hear that they brought in that frrigerated note at the end and that's actually when he literally says the story So like it enhances the storytelling. It absolutely illustrates it. It's like onomatopia, you know with the music. It's perent consonants onom matopia. O and I want to. In the bassline, you can hear where it's layered. It's overdubed in nineteen eighty eight technology.. So it's kind of charmingly awkward. Here is the isolated bassline for Slick Rick Children's story You can hear it sort of awkwardly. Yeah, it's overdone. That bump, bump, bump, I'll play that again, listen Is he's still playing the F? It's actually a moment of dissonance because the F is still playing and there's an F sharp on top of it Bom bomom It sounds messy, but I would have never heard that. No, and it's not a problem. And it contributes probably even subtly psychologically because it's so buried in the mix. Maybe your brain partially picks up on that and it's adding to your experience of the storytelling being like, oh, no, something's happening. That's you know, sinister, bad, the cops, whatever it is. That's a really interesting thing to now notice and never unhear again in the song Children's Story. There's one last piece of samples from a children's story. Can you play that for us? Sure, this is the keyboard, that iconic keyboard line. And as you'll notice, it's just a two bar loop. It's not the entire thing. So this is what sampl dout the entirety of. this is how we do it I got to. Yeah, because by that point you listen don't until I just said don don't don't don don don't. I don't think I realize the Nautilus of it all Well, I'm glad you mentioned that. We're about to get into the night. I've beenistening to s my entire life and I knew that we were at some point going to be talking about Bob J. So this episode. is the Is that really the main crux of We are about to take We're about to take a deep dive into that because on close listening, what we're about to discover together as friends and listeners, as an audience, we'll all be in the same room Listening and noticing what the transformation is, that telephone game. that goes from Bob James to sllick Rick. to Montel Jordan. There's something that remains from the original and there's a lot that gets transformed and changed Sure I imagine that we would be talking samples and interpolations. We're going to be, in this case, only talking about interpolations And it doesn't say transformations. But the question is are we also talking about or are we only talking about evocation combinations?? I know' a lot in the mess. Yeah. Yeah. For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, listen, it's fair, but among sample geeks Hip hop heads, music nerds There's the song Interpolation Cgnizenti. Sell that. There's an artist named Bob James. I think you would have to call him sort of he's a jazz musician G a lot of amazing songs primarily I think of him is primarily in the seventies, even though he has music in the sixties and the eighties, but I think it's his seventies catalogue that has been sampled so much by hip hop by Drum and bass, by like anybody who samples Bob James in his compositions and his drummer. All of those people like we have to stop and talk about it because they've been sampled thousands and thousands of times. Among the many, many, many songs and composions seventies that you've heard before, Take me to the Mardi Gras Angela, theme from Taxi igned the Times West Chester lady And the song we're talking about today, which is Naut Naut. Yeah. gosh, this man Can I ask you right off the bat? Who is his drummer? Listen, he works with a lot of players across his catalogue, but this is from his first record from Bob James one. Really scary cover. Really scary cover. Don't look at it in the dark. nineteen seventy four, Bob James is playing Rhodes and ARP. His drummer is Adris Mohammed, legendary,dris Mohammed. Yes. And the bass player importantly is Gary King. and he's got other players on it These guys, their work has been heard though, ye on hundreds of songs. We'll be talking about that more later. We will, but I just got to say right off the bat that like you know Every single bit of nautilus and so many of its songs, but I'm thinkings specifically n of us today So many parts of this song have been sampled I do believe know, especially based on our conversation with FatFife Freddy on a recent episode that most of what put this song on hip hop's radar was the breakbeat. There's a wonderful classic breakbeat towards the middle of the song. and I feel like been sampled so many times and that's probably the most anonymous part. L it's such a classic breakbeat that like when you hear it, you just think, oh, that's a hop song. You don't necessarily think that's Bob James anonymous. But if you go and listen to this whole song, you're going be blown away when that breakbeat com in, because you're going to be like, oh yeah, that's one of those classic. It's like Amen And it's like one of those classic breakbeat give the drummer or something. It's one of B be that you can see guys out in the park, you know, going back and forth on their records while people rap. All right Without further ado, let's let's do a little piece. This is Bob James Nautless from nineteen seventy four have the number of notes in that bass line. and first of'll note that it's a bass line. That's the first thing I want to point out is that so that's Bob James Nautless. That is a line that we're going to be hearing in all of the songs, but they're transformed. It's a little different every single time And can I just take a step back and just say like You know, Basy Sounds a little science fictiony. Yeah It also sounds like thinking, if that makes sense. L it sounds like your brain at work like that you know, no, no, no. I feel like that's because it's the kind of song or thatRp I think it's an ARP a very early synthesizer that's making all those kind of ethereal spacy sounds, but also in the TV shows of that time and the movies of that time It would have been one of the instruments used to illustrate mystery and space and Yeah. but I think's strangeness. wonderful stuff was in the water that you know, that sound, which doesn't really exist. I mean, like it might pop up on like a John Cage record or something like that in earlier decades, but you know, to me, like It goes towards and and this makes sense why it pops up so much in hip hop So much of hip hop, especially in the nineties was like sort of like I hate to be so blunt, but like a thinking man's music. L you're supposed to be like locked in on the lyrics and you're supposed to be nod in your head, like letting the lyrics into your head and Yeah, maybe we were just influenced by television, but that sound does to me sort of represent sort of like This is how your brain works and some of the best like tribe callall quest samples like when the loop is in a weird place. and you just feel like your brain can like fall out of focus. I don't know. I think you might be right about the TV thing though, because I've always said As much as I love Bob Jase. and this is not a disc, this is a compliment His music always sounds like it should be in seventies detective shows. You know what I mean? Like they always I always see like a burgundy, you know, car with like a gas gustler. deffinitely Burgundy. And like it's a nightim sce. You you got to findar soft or smooth on it. Absolutely.ainful. It's got that really cool lighting, not that harsh LED lights that we got in the cities nowadays, but it's got like that soft amber leather interior A L lot of polyester. No, it's a beautiful sound It's such a cool song. So there's that other element of this is how we do it that to me sounded like it was from a children's story and from Nautilus, but can you play us the piano part All right, so let's listen to what you're referring to the piano part we just heard as the basasseline of Nautilus. Let's play them side by side and I'll slow it down and break it down so you can hear how by the time we got Bob James through Children's story to Montteell Jordan, it is transformed and changed in many ways. Let's start with Bob James Those seven notes, first of all, it matters that there are only seven they go. Yeah And just to name the notes, right? just by their sle degree, that's one, five, four, three, four, seven, one, one, five, four, three, four, seven, one. Now let's listen to slick Rick Chren's story. By the way, we're moving from A minor to F minor But listen for those notes and count them There's nine. We w want to hear it again We have two more notes transformation number one, transformation number two, we're no longer playing, it's not bass. We're on piano now. Okay, so we moved up the register and octave possibly to you know, considering that it's bass. I think the bass is douling is doubled by guitar in the Bob James oal. We have two new notes. The pattern is now new. We've added two more notes d d d It's one, five, one, four, one, three, four, seven, one. what he added is The original is And this is. So this note comes in twice J to give it a little more bounce So that's the first transformation And by the time we get to, this is how we do it. and this is the crazy one. this is the thing where you're going to have like Mandela effect, Stryzan effect, whatever it's called In my mind, I never noticed that this was also different. Here is this is how we do it Count the notes and notice what they are est side So I reach for my body and I turn it up It's hard to hear like. I'll isolate that. I'll isolate that piano part Tart to hear in the minute It's hard to hear in the mix, but this is what's being played. never right I was listening to that's crazy. So we're keeping the piano. We're keeping the two extra notes that slick Rick ated in childildren's story. Yeah. We're keeping that it's on the piano But we've rearranged the notes. so now we're going one, three, one, four, one, seven, eight, seven, one. It's the same pattern, the same rhythmic motif. It's definitely the m effect because we definitely if you were I thought it was exactly like children's story. let's go back to Bob James and listen to that next to it. It is definitely listen to this So here's this, I'll play back to back. This is how we do it and then Bob James I can't even sing that. And then here's the gun in my head. I'm dead. And then here's the Bob James where all began. Rism. It Isn't it interesting to hear how that got transformed and how our brains kind of tricked us this whole time? How many long, long wedding ceremonies have I heard? Monel Jordans is how we do it. I never thought that that's how that part went. Right? And it's like that throughout the whole song It's like that throughout the whole song. You're always hearing instead of here I'll play them both on the keyboard again because side by side in the same instrument, you can really hear how they're different. For Bob James was Yeah. Slick Rick was And I have to remind myself what it is. I know we all do Absolutely all. And then this is how we do it is And they're similar. the pattern There's very similar Do you think this was done so that they wouldn't have to think becausecause there isn't anything Bob James in the songs all sound alike in TV. like it's like, Ohh, that's supposed to be O PP by nobody by nure. Absolutely It's a little different. And the extraction of an element that you can legally use that evokes something else This is the evocation combination idea that I've been propagating because it's such a big part of what musicians do and especially composers and film and TV and parody writers, you're looking to find something that will make you think of something else But not something else That's same thing. And it's this pattern, which by the way, is a pattern we've talked about on the show many times This is Phil Collins. right? I can feel it. It's meell It's Melly meell white lines. d Right, we hear this three over four It kind of hemiola or Tistillo thing many times across music, nobody owns it. It evokes a lot of things, but it's so interesting when you isolate what's the same across all three of the songs in that pattern. Yeah It's just this rhythmic thing and of course some of the notes, but we went from bass to piano, we added two notes, we changed the notes. It's no longer Bob James. Can I say that's the one thing I think our show does really well which is that You think you know these songs, but you don't know these songs at all. and you'll never hear them the same way It's like on dateline when they find out that the husband's the killer and they're like, we didn't know him at all. It's exactly Mt Jordan at all. Mattel Jordan to be clear has killed no.sad murder. iss not dateline. It's one song. Well, like I said, this song is a DJ's dream. Not only does it keep the party rocking for over three minutes, but the way that he comes in on the beat is just so helpful. Let's play Montteel Jordan. By the way, Montel, amazing voice, Re good voice. Let's play Montteel Jordan's isolated iconic openings. This is how we do This is how we did the party party a little flat on purpose of it. know It attitude. You don't want all your boys you know, drunk off kegs trying to sing. L would be wrong, Yeah they'reck. It's rock' party. This is how we did it Like you're like hey, you don't want it to out calm down film. This is on choir. T of strine. party're drunk,'re wasted. It's a party you're having fun. Yeah, no, I love it. And again It can't be overstated how much it's on the rhythm. Yeah This is how we do it. And you know, that's the only time in the whole song we hear that melody. That's try. He never repeats that, which is crazy It's one of those great moments Jay Z has allowed me to reintroduce myself. My name is Hove. Anytime that the singer comes in by himself or herself right on the beat Yeah It's gonna to help your song do well because it makes the DJ look like, you know the amateur DJs look like they know what they're doing. count it in. We do avoid the songs that have challenging intros that don't have on the beat easy to mix intros. We do avoid themoid I mean ye. I avoid them like's like songs I still stay away from. Yeah. And by the way, Forrel is really smart because I feel like Forrel doesn't d o see spoen that n. like, you know, he always doesays a lot of songs where there's just a very simple There are people out that who don't know. Every Ferrel song begins with a four count, D d That'srillant easy. It's his signature . And when you can bring in just something as simple as like a human voice or that one forl, you know sound that's just going blah blah blah. Like it gives the crowd a time to react They know a not song's about to begin when that drop comes in. That's the hip hop drop. Yeah. People talked about the house drop a million times. The hip hop drop is usually at the beginning of the song where it goes from one instrument or voice into the song And that that, my friends, you know, to the beachall That millisecond, people will freak the hell out now, man. so absolutely freak out. it's about to happen people who listen to show and they're working on music Give us accounting or give us a a couple lyrics on the rhythm Let's get back into the verse. There's so much funny stuff going on in this song. You can tell Montel is a man with a sensational sense of humor. Let's play a little bit of the first verse. So I reach for my forty and I turn it up. desesignated driver. I take the keys to my truck Hit the shock ' I'm baited. Honey's in the streets say money, yo he madeated. Guys fight me. He doesn't say hit the shore because I'm faded. I know we're in California and we never the beach Yeah He's singing about a party on the West side, which back then would have been West of central, South central West of Central and he says hit the shaw As in Crrenshaw, People forget that Crrenshaw Boulevard was Hit the shw because I'm fated. Hows the streets, say money how many streets honestly do you have at the shore?roably one. And how many acc the ocean Boulevard? how many accents is he dropping in this song? 'ause that's like there's a little bit of a slick rick lt to some of the vowels every now and then, likeike he's doing a little throw a little bit in there. Well he's definitely we'll get to it when he gets to the verse. He definitely at one point just goes full slick rick impression But there's so much that I want to unpack on this first verse if it's cool. Can you play us the very next part of the song? It feels so good? It feels so good in my hood and tonight. The summertime skirts and the guys in Canal, the gang bang forgot about the drive by. Ever since I was a kid, first off, Carl K and I used to have a very popular line of clothing that we all, you know, some of us used to rock Cross Colors, Carl Kanai, Fubu, these are like the classic urban weares when used into the nineties. But then also the game Bakers forgot about the drive by. Wasn't that a wonderful summer? L. We once made a joke like, Hey, man, pull out your to do list. Okay. We gota They forgot about the drive. forgot to do it They forgot to do the drive by. It was on their P peopleople lived. Unfortunately, the calendars the W their alarm clock? Like what happened? See that's the problem nobody talks about. Like now we have all these reminders in stuff. Nobody's gonna forget about anything.fun. In's going to forget any more drive byes. I wish they would forget about some of this stuff. I wouldn't forget about what's going on in the world. Can we go into the chorus? I want to hear the chorus because that What gets the party started and it don't stop party. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up and let me hit a party, say, I'm kind of buzzed and it's all because this is how we do it. Okay, I just want to say there's a lot of drinking of this song. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up. I'm kind of buzzeding and it's all because likeice everything is like love it. I think me and Ma are the same Tinor. Yeah. You got it. But think about that. There's a lot of drinkking of the song and to know that there was a lot of drinkking of the studio, now it all makes sense. This party song, party vibe, party is in the song itself. There's literally a party in the recording of the song. There's literally a red c. This is like a lyrical red cup. I feel like this this song was made for Red cups Can we go to verse two? There's another part in here that I think is worth noting You see, the hood's been good to me. E since I was a lowercase J, but now I'm a big J. The girls say you got the money, dollars bll j. Wh I from. This is one of those songs that I know every single lyric too. Like, you know, I know every single inflection. Maybe this iss my new karaoke song because I know every good one. You sing it so well. Well, thank you. I will be at they out in Santa Monica this Thursday Hopefully so we'reough to see this another opportunity to give us money directly. Oh seriously. Paton Patreon people, you'll get our full calendar. meet implodes. when we're picking up our kids and all the fun stuff we do. hundred dollars hundred bills, y'all. Yep. That's ay Spicer's an interpolation, I guess you'd call it. Let's check it out. It's a Jimm Spicer interterpolation that you've heard before Here's the original money dollar bill yall nineteen eighty three, Jimmy Spicer I love that Jimmy Spicer track. That's a great track. And then I wouldn't have known that Spicer track, but I would have heard reme by Wu Tang everything around me get the monies. Cllaill y'all everything around me. C get the monies. Doaaill y'all. Shout out to Jimmy Spicer. Shout out to Method Man as well. I think the one thing I'm noticing now that I'm hearing the isolated Montael vocals is He's really enunciating his words really, really hard, which I gott to imagine like Even though he's got this great singing voice, he also had some desire to be a rapper as well. I think that's probably. In fact, he does rap in the song. Can you play us the rap port that I think comes after the second course. The DJ Paul was his name Paul He came up to money. This is what he said. You went, J,' going to make some cash, sell a million recorders and we're making the cash. b'. I love that he did a slick recicket pro great. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out what the specific, like why do we know that that's a slick recickord procentage? Scifically it's a sing songy nature. I mean like it's said, you know, you and OG are' gonna make some cash R a mill bull making the cash. exactly know it' that sort of It's sort of silly, but it's also playful and fun. And again When you're twenty one years old, that seven years makes a big difference. So he's having fun. He keeps calling it the old school. Yeah. like you said, it would have been for now if you were talking about twenty nineteen. So I also think it's hilarious. It sticks with the trend There was something in that water Everybody who's in R andB or hip hop in the nineties has to tell you what year it is. It's like for the non trait. L there's just like they never let you go Is it Is this ninety seven you know on a who takes triumph. like they just always had to remind you what year was. noody now is like, Yeah, twenty six. like I've never I don't think I've heard Anybody call out the year. You know what's interesting about that to me a little bit as a songwriter is like my one of my goals is when I'm making something. I want it to feel timeeless Teless. Yeah. I want it to be outside of time and I also don't want it to be late like you may be making it whenever like in October and it comes out in Juary two thousand late. You want to be two thousand late. And so it's interesting like that you're right, There is a currency for this era of hip hop, especially to like have the timeestamp right there in the song. They always put it on And then I think it was sometime in the early two thousands. I forget it was Most def. It was one of like the really like awful conscious rappers or whatever. most dea will hate that. Yazen apologies. but one of them said, yeah, so and so told me not to say the date because you know we gott to make music songent. So at some point it came in that people were like, no, we're not going to say the date anymore. But that is something about it's nineteen ninety one NWA There's something that made it feel immediate. Right when they would say the year. that's also a legacy from early hip hop, which is live. Like when you're just doing it not to be recorded necessarily, you are going to be talking about who's there, what date it is, et cetera, where you are. But once it gets recorded, it's interesting. like the timelessness does get impacted slightly by there being a date It really isn't there isn't anything negative about that. Like you're not going to not listen to it because the date was I'll stillists a mischief, ninety three until Ininity. So there you go. All right, luxury, now that we've heard song, tell' us how the splitits break down. I'm so curious how the splits breakd down on an old school track So for this is how we do it. We have twenty five percent going to Monel Duchan Jordanob Duchon. twenty five percent going to his producer OG Pierce. All right, the Pierce estate. fifty percent to Ricky Walters, AKA sllick Rick. That's really where's Bob James come with this? Well, I think as we noticed, there isn't any Bob James in there. What remains Wow fromrom Nautiluss has been changed twice significantly, transformed by the time what we hear of that is just it's really the pattern and a handful of notes And there'sZob James. I'm so happy to hear this because that's, you know, that's sort of the opposite of what we usually hear. Usually it's like I thought it was going to be one hundred percent Bob James. And you know, Monel has to be on the remember when tour, you know, like no, he sounds like Sounds like he was actually saved by a game of telephone. I personally think that might be part of it. I also think there's a lot of Bob James wonderful content out there. He's been a real historian. He's connected to the hip hop community. He's even sampled himself and maybe we'll get to that in a second. So Bob James is very aware of his catalog being used across literally thousands of songs. He also has told stories about how some of them are wins and some of them are losses. I don't think that this is a loss. In other words, there were times that there were statute of limitations issues where he was unable to claim that he was sampled or interpolated because time ran out. He didn't want to put money into a lawyer to go litigate. There's a lot of really interesting stories from the early days of sampling that Bob James can tell. But from our understanding, this isn't one of them. This doesn't seem to be one that he has any sort of remnant feelings. I think he must notice as we do that it is not what he played and I'll also say that, you know, when you talk to older older black musicians who know Bob, they all say Bob's a really cool dude. I don't know why that means something to me. Like if he was like some guy like some Crashy old guys Yeah, pay me my money. I first I I feel a certain way, but apparently he's a really cool guy. When I first heard him on QLS it changed my mind because in the back of my head, from seeing his name up here on a lot of credits, in a lot of songwriting splits and seeing the numbers associated with them, sometometimes I'm like, man, like he should get something, but that seems like a lot. I actually was convinced that he's trying to do his best for himself, for the community for music. He's a real musician. And in fact, the one thing that I love about when he talks about being sampled is he'll almost I'll often hear him say, It's about the permission more than anything. It's not even about the money. It's just like, you took this and I didn't know about it. I might have done something different. We could have collabed. You you know what I mean? There's sort of this vibe of we could have done something together had I known that you wanted to use some of my music, which I think is an interesting perspective. Listen, listen, Key Sweat. that classic early nineties R andB artist is like, hey You can sample me, but let me hear it first because I might have creative input to give you before you just go and sample a willingness. I love that. And I think it's important to add to the list of reasons why it's important to clear samples. It's not always about the money. It's often about the money. It's frequently about the money, but it's not only about the money. You want to sample one song? It's about the money Come find us. And let's keep going through the credits. So children's story is one hundred percent slick Rick, Ricky Walters.. one hundred percent. So this might be a case where I don't think Bob James knew about it. He might have missed the statute of limitations There's definitely something there that he would have claimed. And this is before this is before the Bismarqueee case too. So who knows? Yeah, that's that's right, nineteen eighty eight. It was wild West back then. There might have been a clearance for two hundred fifty bucks on the master sideite rightway. This is beyond you know, there's stories to be told there. But to be clear, you can see many interviews where Bob James talks about this is how we do it and slick Rick. He's fully aware of it what's done is done at this point. And finally, Nod list is one hundred percent Bob James, which, by the way He did write that baseline. he talks about how he came up with that keyboard part. but it was performed by his bass player and guitar player. He's not actually playing it in the song, which I always find interesting when you have these like sample Phantoms and, you know, ghost, you know, credit ghosts as I call them. He's one hundred percent of the songwriter and his musicians who you're hearing. paid a flat fee on the day, but they don't get any publishing splits for life Unlike Bob James. There you go All right, so as we've been discussing all through this episode, this Bob James song Naudilus has been sampled many, many, many times and at least for one hundred forty one. If you scroll through song DNA, it's a very long scroll to see all the songs that have some association with Naudilus. But what's interesting about it is that they're not all using the same break. In fact, I counted no fewer than seven or maybe even eight breaks the song I'm sure there are more. These are the different portions of the song that are in use. Often on a song there's like the drum break. Maybe there's two parts of it that this is like this is like that thing where they' like You know, the Native Americans would take every single piece of meat off of the off of the bison. Nothing wasted. Nothing wasted is is with the Alaskan Piece of musical meat from Nautilus has been removed by somebody. Yes. And I think that's actually very cool. I actually love the fact that there's not a single untouched piece. So let's play a game which is called Nautilus or N I'm gonna to play you hip hop song You have to listen and with your discerning ear, tell me, do you hear a portion of Nautilus's The Bob James song being sampled or is it just another song another song withith no Bob James in it Okay, cool. but there's only nautilus, right? Itnlyautiless. Okay. Onlyautiless. Some of play like one of the seven or eight or more sections of the song that have been sampled. Are you hearing one of them? Here we go, song number one, Nautilus or not ' a ridd Put your ears on. I'm ready This would be Daytota five hundred. D deffinitely samples models Absolutely right Ghost face kill feeling right one of my favorit. Ponna. This came out in ' ninety five, right? ninety six. ninety six. Yeah, I'm telling you, when he did this, it was another classic example of Ghostface killer not changing the song much and just kind of like rapping over the most obvious part of the song. But it worked becausecause it felt subversive. Felt like there was too much instrumentation for a rapper to actually talk over it He did it, they pull it off. This is one of my favorite. This gu goty Capadana, Gpace killer, all of them. I love this song. And by the way, this is the first time today we're hearing the sample of the Bob James song being used. The other two songs are interpolated Inpol and transformed, but this is the sample from song. That's right. Great song. If you don't know Daytona five hundred, The freaking album by Push of Te. I'm talking about the song D Tona five hundred by Ghost Face and Friends. Cck it out All right, song number two He spele Yo. Well, that's Yeahah, that's absolutely nautilousess. That is nautiless. Let's listen to where it comes from in the song This is at three minutes and twenty nine seconds.uch a good part of the song too Oh so good . What's so cool is that we only hear that once. That's a major seventh interval played on this arp, which is this strange new synth. And then he goes on to play other strange intervals and pseudo melodies. It's a little lonal. But they picked up that part and turned it into a frreicaking hook. Is that is such a hook in the By the way, what song is that? do you know? Yeah, that's R DMC Beats to the ryme to the rhyme Upper than leeather nineteen eighty seven. And with that repetition, that crazy interval, don't. That's a major sevent. It's not dissonant, but kind of dissonant. It just a h though. You know who else did that part of the song that I really, really like is Rock him and Eric B for Fllow the leader. That's another great use of that particular part of the Nautilus sample. But wait a second, that is one of the songs.. We're gonna to do it. but It's a different part of the song ? Are there two parts of the song? My memory for Follow of the Leer is definitely that there is a nautilus. so okay, we'll give you wine. That's a freebie for Nautilus or not. But it is definitely a different part of the song play play it. Let's play it. But there might be two parts the song and I'm forgetting the other one that you're remembering. And you're forgetting the one that I rememberng. Let's listen. Are you thinking of the they're probably to us So don' get it. This is where it comes from. This is two minutes and twenty six seconds into Nautilus by Bob James Yeah That's a different part of the song again This might be the case where I just know the song too well that I'm complaining. Yeah, that's the part I thought it was I think it's you're right, you're right because itsady she is Oh my gosh, the same instrument You're right. I conflated the time. I think this might be the Rads, but I think it might be playing the same interval. so you're not crazy. Let's listen to these back to back because back to back is we're all learning today. Your brain can't too much time in between listenings, you'll forget. So here's say peace. Fllow the leader. Here's two minutes, twenty six seconds from Follow the leadeader. That was Eric B and Rock Him, Follow the leadeer in nineteen eighty eight Here's Bob James Dautalus. Quickly before anything else gets said, here's R DMC D I hear it now. I'm an idiot. I freaking killed myself But they're related They're related. They're litally the same side. I love that d you say that's a Rhodes. Three minutes and twenty nine seconds sounds like the ARp the Odyssey. That's the ARP Odyssey, I think. It's a little stranger sounding has a longer sustain. When the note ends, it lasts It science fiction. sounds more science fiction. and then here's two minutes and twenty six seconds. I love how deeply nerding at this is. Here it is again. This is the Eric B one. It's also two notes versus three. It'sort. Notice how the notes are shorter. Sure. That's the Rhodes. And yeah, but they're similar. Iilar H happat Rusion back because her rodes always sounded so dope Yeah, awesome. This is so much fun. Do you got any more for me? I do. Okay, let's go as a kid was so much to give for me. I never had the love that I wrote on the mirror, it got spanding. My friends say it was a change for the better know and by the way, it helps to know the song that you're playing to know if it's sampled it Now, obviously, there's something that sounds like heavily phased in the mix. So I don't hear the nautilus, but maybe it's that phaseased dep part. Well, you're right, there is no nautilus in commons I want you. Oh, thank God. Okaykay. I tried to trick you. It's impossible. It's impossible at least I was honest to say, I don't hear it. But there is another Bob James sample from the same record. Oh okay. That's what you're hearing. here it is. This is from feele like Making Love, which by the way, we did our Roberta Flack episode. that was one of her hits. Oh yeah. This is a Roberta Flack song Bob James recorded it And the intent was to let Roberta Flatt come out with her version first and have it be a hit, but things that the record label got messed up. So his version came out first and pissed her off. Oh. So this was actually the hit from the album one, which Nautilus was kind of like the last song on the second side, kind of a filler track. There you go I know someongs that have samplled that too. All right, D'alla Riddle, for your final Nautilus or not I bring you the following composition. Are you ready never be more ready. Song is this What's the call? Is that not a list or no Absolutely that's not enough You're absolutely right, that's notaless as sampled by Bob James himself. Oh whoa, for his twenty eighteen composition, which is called sububmarine In which he went back and sampled himself from years earlier. forty years earlier. Yeah. Can I play one for you? Please. One of my favorite examamples of Nautilus, P clap your hands now by a tribe called Qest. Because until you know that it's now that you're so familiar with Nautilus, I think you the listeners will really enjoy as I did going back and realizing, oh, that's not a list two In the background there in the background a little bit. This entire nose It's the beginning of modelus. where it comes from. That'sero five seconds Oh yeah. not beginning Tap your hands now. Tap your hands now and we won't play it on the show, but if you ever want to hear something that also samples another part of the song that very few people sample actually. cheheck out sincerity, The remix by Mary J. Blies featuring Naz and DMX. That's another part of N list. It doesn't get it sampled as much. And there's so much more to go. Maybe we'll do a part two of this deep dive on our Patreon. I would love You know what? We have like all the time in the world on the Patreon to go double down on Bob James Nautilus alone will take us in. I think so when we first start talking about this show and doing one song, we long, long ago, long before song DNA thought. what if we did one sample? like one a one song called one sample And I feel like we have inadvertently done that. I love that. I feel like this is going to be a tempate for another bunch of bunch of episodes where we just really go down the rabbit hole we love it. The Rbbits won't nowhere to live. You will be in their holes. That sounds aw. You know what? I don't think that that is what you meant to say I don't think I have a job You did say it. All right, Dalla, what do you think the legacy of this is How you do it by Mantel Geordgia Well first off, I hope it puts all his children and grandchildren through college and far beyond Yeah. Yeah, I just think that like look, every now and then there comes a song that's infectious. It's a lot of fun to dance to. and it makes a DJ's life a little easier. All the chasing promoters down to get paid weeks after you've done the gig, like a DJ's life is not that easy And I always tell people, Oh I want a DJ. I'm like a stick to engineering kid I don't come anywhere near the odds of the humanities, but I think that this song is just It's fun. It reminds me of the nineties and that wonderful time in R andB. We didn't We didn't get to talk about this song in the context of so many other great R andB songs from the period. R andB in the nineties was at a very special place and I'd love to tackle in a future episode. But I think this is how we do it is the party anthem that per in so many ways. What about you? What do you think the legacy? I think a couple things. One is that on this show, we try to tackle a pretty wide swath of songs that are canonical for different reasons. Across genres. Across genres. That's right. I would say that for every hter sculpture and for every massive attack, like this song, if you're ever in a situation where you need to day a wedding, where you need to get a party started, it's important to have in the back of your mind a list of songs that will ay no matter where in the world you go, no matter what time of day it is, no matter the circumstances, this will always destroy a danc. Keep that in mind. It's important. It may happen to you. You may get the ax cable at an awkward time in life. you will not fail if you put this on. But I will also say you might find yourself at a wedding as a one song listener And I always say our shows are Literally just giving you all that you ever need to really like rock the party with your fun music facts. And you can walk up to, you know, maybe it's one of the brriidesmaids or one of the groomsmen. And you can say, Hey, DJ's play, this is how we do it by Montel Jordan. you want to know about the obscure jazz track that inspired the song? Did you know You might luck out that night. So we're just here to facilitate that. That the only reason we're here. The ways in which it was transformed from Bob James, seeven notes on the bass to Nine notes on the piano with an interpolation O an aocation combination. you will make many friends. You will not go home alone. You will not walk alone. But we really do want you to hear songs that you've never heard of them before. and I think there's a classic example of that Well, listen, as always, you can find us on Instagram and TikTok. You can find me on Instagram at Dialo. That's just DIA LLO or on TikTok at Dialo Riddle. Sometimes I post even on TikTok And you can find me on Instagram at LU XX URY and on TikTok at Luxury XX. And you can follow our podcast on Instagram and TikTok at One Song podcast. Listen, you can also watch full episodes of OneSong on YouTube and Spotify. Just search for One song podcasts. We'd love it if you like and subscribe. And if you're looking for even more music, conversation, discussion, facts, all of the above, go to our new Patreon Do Diialallo and Luxury discuss mus? or is does it talk about music? I think it's Diialo and Luxury talk about mus. talk music. You know you want to do it. sign up. But all you need deep over there too. That's right, and all you need to know is the URL, which is patreon dot com slash our names. Diialo Luxury. Also be sure to check out the One song Spotify playlist for all the songs we discuss in our episodes. You can find the link in our epode description And if you've made it this far, you're officially part of the One song Nation. Show us some love, give us five stars, leave a review, and send the episode to a fellow music nerd. It really helps keep the show going. L sure you help me in this thing. I producer DJ, songwriter, musicologist and every Friday night from ten PM till midnight, KCRW DJ Luxury. And I'm actor writer, director and sometimes DJ Dala Riddle One song, we will see you next time. This episode is produced by Casey Simons in Egineering by Kevin Carigian and Chris Thomas Mixed by Eric Hick