Elliott's Eccentricities- Several Small Species... by Pink Floyd

Back in 1958 Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. had an idea. One could record a song with sped-up lyrics to make a novelty record that sounds like a group of small animals were singing it. And thus, the immensely successful chipmunks were born, and I hate him more than anything for it. I don’t mind the music that much; sure it’s terrible, but like most music made for money’s sake I just ignore it. Being a child of the 90’s I loved watching reruns of the cartoon. But my god, that man ruined everything beautiful in this world by creating the characters that would one day be in this awful awful movie (yes, I hate that movie that much).

Eleven years after that unfortunate album came out, musical genius/notorious troll Roger Waters also started messing around with a mic and a tape. While Ross used this interesting technique to create a nightmarish consumer behemoth, Waters created a relatively obscure song that is an anomaly even by Pink Floyd’s standards. By altering the speed of the tape, Waters was able to imitate rodents, birds, frogs and who knows what else; not a single instrument was used.

On the eccentricity scale ranging from 1 to 10
1- I think Insanity Wolf is funny.
10- I think Insanity Wolf gives great advice.
SSSoFAGTiaCaGwaP-9/10  

Several Species completely befuddles me; no matter how many times I listen to it, I still don’t get it. So many different sounds happen at once that I just can’t catch them all. I wonder what each sound is supposed to be (especially that “aaahhh weee aaaahhhh whoooo” in the middle section) and how the hell did Waters make that sound? What is the drunken pict (Scotsman) saying? (I think he is saying “and the wind cries Mary at the end”). And the most important question that comes to mind is what was Waters thinking? Because no one in their right mind would think this was an awesome jam to listen to (I am not in my right mind).

Yet despite all that confusion, there is no denying the genius in what Waters did. I can’t help but feel awe-struck and inspired when I listen to this song. It is completely unbelievable that every sound in this song is made by a human. The song is a testament to the power and unlimited potential of human creativity. Several Species is a proof of concept; recording techniques and sampling alone can be used to make music. This concept has really come into its own in the music industry this last decade; sampling is an integral part of countless genre and bands. Now I am not an expert on the history of music, but I do not think it is a stretch to say that Several Species was one of the early influences that led to this phenomena.

And I know I might be a complete weirdo for saying this, but Several Small Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict makes me groove along with them. 

Aaahhh weee aaaahhhh whoooo!!!!!!