Robin Cooper's Blog, page 6

Little Mouse – The Demo Recording

Been meaning to blog this for a while. Back in 2002, me and Peter Serafinowicz were trying to figure out a song for the Music episode of Look Around You, Series 1. This was the one composed by the ‘song-writing computer’, the Harrington 1200 (£999.99½). Eventually we ended up with ‘Little Mouse’, but for a while we’d been thinking of a song called, ‘Henry VIII’. The chorus went…

‘Hey there, King Henry the Eighth,

You better get out of the cold…’

Anyway, this gradually morphed into a track about a small, and quite friendly rodent. I remember, one day, we were at my old flat, and we’d been quite stuck. We had the title – Little Mouse – and a few lyrics, but couldn’t get the whole tune. We were about to give up for the day, when suddenly it came to us and we wrote the song really quickly. We then recorded us singing the finished version on a crappy tape cassette. The choruses had slightly different lyrics (‘Look to the north and we’ll find our Xanadu…’ etc) and I didn’t have a guitar solo as yet.

A week later we called up Barnaby Pinny – one of my oldest buddies (who can also be seen playing drums on ‘Regaeman’ in Series 2) who’s an incredible song-writer and producer. He turned our song into a SONG. And the rest is… the present.

So here’s the original demo recording by me and Peter. I’ve cut it to a slide show of behind-the-scenes pics from the filming of Series 1. You’ll also see the brill Tim Kirkby who directed the show, in lots of pics with us.

And here’s the song done all proper, like…

A new kind of nightmare

Thanks to my buddy, Peter Serafinowicz for showing me this slice of utter terror. The thought that must have gone into this…

I wonder if any of those kids watching ever slept again.

Mind-throbbing excellence from Alan Warbuton

Alan Warburton is a stunning visual artist and animator. A while back I posted his brilliantly freaky ‘Spherical Harmonics‘. Well, now his new film is out, and it’s, of course, fantastic. Enjoy…

Psychometrics from Alan Warburton on Vimeo.

Why can’t TV just be this? Forever?

Caution: Rap in the workplace

From the people who brought you this, here’s why office workers should never do a ‘witty’ workplace rap. Get ready to tear your own skull out:

God saved my hamsters

Wow, this was a pretty freaky phone call, but thank the Lord all hamsters were saved. Look out for the wild horn-blowing. (Apologies for sound quality).

Definitely proud of the squeaks at the end….

Stunning animation from Alan Warburton

I can’t stop watching this. It’s so strange and eerie, and just so imaginative.

Spherical Harmonics from Alan Warburton on Vimeo.

Alan Warburton’s site is right here. And you can tell him how good he is right here.

Origen’s Wake

Back in 2001, when I was working at Channel 4 in the comedy department, I was lucky enough to be able to commission the brilliant Waen Shepherd to make this amazing animation as part of the Comedy Labs strand. I recently watched it again and it’s as funny, spooky and horrible as I remember it. Just perfect…

Great music too from Waen too.

Lovely English language film

I love this. The dramatic scene is just so stilted and odd. Look out for Russell, the ‘pop singer,’ and when he plays the piano and sings, “Yes… I know…” quite mournfully.

Danke @tomparratt. Es war sehr gut.

Unspeakably terrible university recruitment video

This is seriously like something for some kind of cult. Not ONE of these people can hold a note. Also, ‘rapping’ while holding a recycling bin is something I have never seen before…

Thanks to @mylarmelodies. Altogether now… :L-S-La-La-La-La-La-L-S…’