The Barber from UNDERGROUND BUNKUM by Gregorstan Wolforfox & The Dog Pack

The Barber is a tribute to one of the most influential figures in any town. We all want to know where is there is a barber near me or a beautician near me to go to when we have neglected our appearance for too long, especially if (oh-oh) after our significant other has to point that out to us!

We didn’t realize there was such a genre until we played it – with the style of this song turning out to be a simple, hard-driving soft-rock anthem. It has a straight-forward melody, with largely rudimentary minor key harmonization as an unobtrusive accompaniment, if you can appreciate that! The song is meant to be experienced as tuneful, friendly, readily accessible good-time music. Yet it entailed considerable complexity to achieve such an effect in this instance.

The song has no verse and chorus structure, it moves ahead by pure stream of consciousness. A clarinet triplet obbligato is introduced along with mention of the barber pole, which makes this probably the first song ever to actually portray the motion of a barber pole as a musical device. The section about the barber pole is done twice, first in standard four-bar phrases, then repeated in asymmetrical five-bar phrases, which otherwise add nothing new to the content.

This repetition suggests that the musical depiction of the revolution of the pole is perhaps the central point of the song – or is it the anchor? I know ships do – but can music also have an anchor? I believe we just added one here – but you decide.

Finally, to close it all out, the barber generously shares his commercial trade secrets with us. After providing a generous TIP we might learn what that secret is.

Tracklist

8.	The Barber	3:16

Videos

Lyrics

TRUCK DRIVER

Let’s drink to the hard driving truckers
Who roam the countryside
Cruising the concrete corridor
To keep companies and consumers supplied

Eighteen wheels bolted to the axle
More than ten gears on the column or the floor
Try to pick up on some CB chatter
Hard to hear above the engine’s roar

I was once a truck driver
Barreling down the interstate
I carried a cargo of cartons and crates
Containers and canisters, all kinds of freight
Whenever I pulled out of my front gate
It became almost impossible to concentrate
I was never sure I had the right date
I was always worried I might be late
But if you get there early, they tell you to wait
But I guess that’s a typical trucker’s fate

So let’s drive to the hard drinking truckdri…
I mean let’s drink to the hard driving truckdrivers
Who roam the countryside
Taking their chances on wobbly bridges
To keep companies and consumers supplied

Eighteen wheels bolted to the axle
More than ten gears on the column or the floor
Try to pick up on some CB chatter
Hard to hear above the engine’s roar

When there was no more money to be made
I sold my rig for a van in trade
I’ll never forget the day I bought it
My wife was gonna leave me, she changed her mind when she saw it

Now I’m my third wife’s fourth husband
I had great fun with girls on the road
Except for one that turned out to be a bitch
With some luck I could do it again, but if not
I’ll drive myself over a cliff and down the ditch
A real truckdriver, to the end

Credits

from UNDERGROUND BUNKUM, track released September 11, 2023
Composed by M.J. Berger
Performed by Gregorstan Wolforfox & The Dog Pack

License