Pair #32: "The Owl and His CRX"

"THE OWL AND HIS CRX"
Original Post Date: October 11, 2008
Runtime: 3:25
Genres: Electronic/Pop/Children's
Compilation Album: Sweat Pants

Prompt Summary: [Paid Song] a song, in the style of Perrey and Kingsley, about an owl named Enrique who drives a baby-blue Honda CRX among the trees, crashing for fun ; prompt includes other details about Enrique to incorporate into the lyrics


I can't wait any longer:* I gotta discuss "The Owl and His CRX." You don't yet know how incredible this song is, and I write that with zero sarcasm. It's one of my absolute favorite Songs to Wear Pants To, and it's probably in my top 50 songs overall.

This paid song is the result of a mosaic-like request, with a lot of pieces that together form a strangely wholesome, well, whole. The star of the song is Enrique the Owl, whose bestest friend EVAR is a baby-blue Honda CR-X, a compact sports car that was only manufactured from '83 to '91. Enrique drives the car between trees, somehow defying gravity, but always ends up crashing into the trees. Like George of the Jungle, except it's an owl in a car. So…not like George of the Jungle. The truly wholesome part is how much Enrique cares about his CR-X, as well as the chorus:

Hoot-hoot
Enrique the Owl
Honk-honk
The Honda CRX
Hoot-hoot
Enrique the Owl

Let's go for a ride!

I mean, that's just incredible stuff. Lyrically, it's sweet, but combined with a mega-catchy hook, it's absolutely delightful.

The instrumentals rely heavily on Moog-y synths, as inspired by the music of Perrey and Kingsley, an electronic music duo from the 1960s who were among the first to use the Moog in the studio. (The Moog synthesizer, pronounced "mohg," was the first widely-used electronic music synthesizer. If you've ever heard classic rock music from the mid- to late-60s, you've almost definitely heard a Moog.) The result is a bright, retrofuturistic sound with a beat that kids, kids-at-heart, and basically anybody with both a soul and the ability to hear will find infectious.

Hoot-hoot, y'all. And honk-honk, too.



*Ironically, I started writing this post in March, a full eight months before I actually finished and posted it. I guess I was able to wait to discuss this song, after all? Let's pretend otherwise.