“U.F.O.” from Family Ski World Ski & Snowboard

Beam Me Up

I’ve known and worked with Norihiko Hibino (of Metal Gear Solid fame) for many years now. We met at a party early in the Mission One days, and decided to join forces on an app called Prescription for Sleep, which was a minor hit on the App Store in the early days, and is currently an album series.

In 2010, he asked me to write some lyrics for an upcoming album called Namco Music Saloon ~ from GO VACATION (say that five times fast). I knew nothing of this property, but I do know a thing or two about funk, and I’ve watched enough X-Files to know about aliens, so those came together in this delightful tune called “U.F.O.,” which in my world means Unidentified Funky Object.

For these lyrics, I brought out every extraterrestrial trope I could think of — motherships, tin foil hats, ray guns, abductions… all merged with a funk theme. There’s even an R.E.M. reference that’s not hard to find.

The singer on this one is Jody Whitesides, who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. He did a good job, but I hope both he and Norihiko are sending royalty checks to James Brown’s estate, and you’ll hear why if you listen to the embed above.

Jody did change up my lyrics a bit, and the changes were solid… except for one that stuck in my craw. In the first verse, the singer is telling people to look up at the funky flying saucer in the sky. In the original lyric, I had “It’s not a bird and not a plane / But I’m pretty sure it’s fly.” This was an obvious use of funky slang that I thought was a nice twist. However, it got changed to “but I’m pretty sure it flies,” which isn’t terrible but wasn’t really what I was going for there. Ah well. I wasn’t there in the recording session to make my case, so there ya go.

You can even hear me sing on this one! I’m the background singer in the chorus, singing, “Unidentified Funky Object.”

I also did the lyrics for “Crusin'” (from New Rally-X) as well as “And Then There’s Sunshine” (from Family Ski) on this album, and maybe I’ll write more about those if the Namco fans come flooding my inbox.

Lyrics

Hey there, people of earth
Can you see what’s in the sky?
It’s not a bird, not a plane
But I’m pretty sure it flies

The mothership has come to town
From a distant galaxy
With a rhythm heard around the world
It’s come for you and me

Not sure what they’re here for
But they come in peace today
It’s an all new grind for all mankind
I think they’re here to stay

No ray guns or abductions
Just a thick and thumping bass
It’s time to turn this planet into a
Cool and funky place

UFO (x7)
Unidentified Funky Object

You can’t fight this feeling
When the beat’s hitting your mind
You’ll be losing all your will
As you’re shaking your behind

Sound waves, the kind you crave
Taking you to planet Bliss
A master plan you can’t resist
When it grooves as hard as this

Go ahead and pinch yourself
This ain’t a dream
Try to resist it
But you’re locked in their tractor beam

It’s the end of the world as we know it
And we’re all feeling fine
This right here is the final frontier
Of rhythm, soul and rhyme

The moral of the story is
That aliens are alright
Forget your tin foil hats
And boogie through the night

You’ve only got one life to lead
So get on the move
Beam on up, we’ll all get down
To the intergalactic groove