I miss The Boosh. It’s been two years since they made a new episode, and in these tried and troubled times, I could sure use a nice good dose of sunshiney Vince’s eccentric fashion stylings and squinty eyed Howard’s musings on jazz-funk, the slap bass and his own musical geniusness. Yes, please give me a hefty serving of absurd humor at it’s best.
The Mighty Boosh, if you haven’t gotten around to seeing it – is a show to be reckoned with. It’s like watching a kid’s show, with matching over-the-top colorful characters, talking animals, a sampling of cartoon clips and most especially – song and dance, only more surreal, more zany and reminiscent of drug induced hallucinations.
The songs are what make The Boosh as special as it is. Granted, this is supposed to be a site for indie music and they are, for the most part, hugely popular across the pond and quite in the mainstream – due to their eccentricity, indie roots and cult following – and all the more because in The Boosh world, Vince and Howard are struggling musicians who haven’t gotten their big break yet – they belong to the indie genre (whatever that is).
And because I’m in a bit of a rut and Boosh songs easily lighten up my day – I’m sharing my top 5 favorite Boosh songs to date, in no particular order –
1. Future Sailors
This is from one of my favorite Mighty Boosh episodes “The Power of the Crimp”, where Vince Noir and Howard Moon meet their dopplegangers Lance Dior and Harold Boom. This endearing song is about sailors heading towards the future. It has an extremely catchy tune that got stuck in my head for weeks.
Favorite line from this scene: “They can’t just blow us off course. We’ve got compasses. And they’re neon!“
2. Eels
Another song gets stuck in your head when you hear it. This is one comes from the Polo-mint-wearing Hitcher. It’s too weird not to like. A techno-Victorian cockney mashup where ‘elements of the past and the future combine to make something not quite as good as either’.
3. Electro Boy
This one is The Mighty Boosh’s take on 80’s electrowave bands. It’s from the first season where Vince and Howard join a band called Kraftwerk Orange. In this clip, Howard has just tried to get rid of the Spirit of Jazz – who possesses him anytime he tries to play a musical instrument. Entrapped in a vacuum cleaner, the Spirit of Jazz still manages to possess Howard, cutting Vince off in the middle of his inspired performance of Electro Boy / Girl.
4. It’s What’s Inside That Counts
I’ve been singing this song for a couple of days now. Funny that all their songs have a stuck-in-your head effect – which makes me wonder why they never made an album with full length songs yet. This is also from “The Power of the Crimp” episode where the naturally happy-go-lucky Vince becomes depressed about this copycat problem. Howard tries to cheer him up with a song. Try as hard as he may, even Gary Numan in a cupboard couldn’t pull Vince out of the rut he’s in.
5. Love Games
Though I do love the original version where Howard gets to belt out in his funky falsetto, this acoustic version, sung by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt at their radio interview with Jo Whiley, shows how versatile they are – with Julian, replacing his usually falsetto part with his own croony voice . How I wish they could release an acoustic version like this – it’d be a sure hit, even if it is about a love between a man and merman (with a mangina).
