SNL’s Run Into Some Trouble with Aphex Twin
This past Saturday’s “Iran So Far” digital short featuring Andy Samberg, Maroon 5′s Adam Levine and Fred Armisen received a ton of great press shortly after its premiere, but slowly creeping behind the acclaim was a word of caution: “The best part about the SNL short is that the song is directly lifted from an Aphex Twin tune.” Those words of dissent came from a commenter on Stereogum‘s post late Sunday night and after refreshing my memory with a link posted to the song it became unfortunately clear that the similarities between the two weren’t coincidental.
Was I blind to the truth by Jake Gyllenhaal’s good looks (again)? Yes. But I was sucked out of my Samburg-induced haze by a friend Tuesday night, reminding me of what I had seen a few days earlier. Pitchfork’s Paul Thompson reported, “On Monday morning, as it made the rounds on the AIM and the blogs and that del.icio.us, ‘Iran So Far’ was yet another mildly amusing Andy Samberg-helmed Saturday Night Live digital short. In case you missed it, it’s a slow jam featuring some hushed rapping about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, buoyed mostly by Fred Armisen’s Ahmadinejad impression and a surprise guest appearance by the actually-OK-in-miniscule-doses Adam Levine…Turns out, the Silk-style backing track of ‘Iran So Far’ was lifted from an unlikely source: Mr. Richard D. James, better known to you and me as Aphex Twin. Samberg (or whoever) lifted the piano track for ‘Iran’ straight offa ‘Avril 14th, ‘a tune from Aphex Twin’s 2001 double LP Drukqs.”
For those unfamiliar with Aphex Twin it would probably seem a little odd that a corporate broadcaster snap up a sample from a British electro-tweak largely popular in the ’90s. But for those who are familiar, it is oh, so obvious…just another corporate scheme to take what the people love away from them…damn you NBC!
With all of the rhetoric behind me I took a few minutes and crudely synched the tracks together. First fifteen seconds of the introduction to “Iran So Far,” followed by fifteen seconds of “Avril 14th.” There’s an obvious similarity between the two songs, but the tempo is off and it’s hard to say whether “Iran” was sampling the track, plagiarizing it or a victim of odd coincidence at this point in time. But after the two introductions I synched the songs together (note that I’ve offset the songs slightly so that the similarity is glaring) and it all becomes very apparent what the deal is.
Since, The Daily Swarm and Pitchfork both confirmed that NBC claims to be awaiting clearances for the song (thus the video is no longer available on NBC’s YouTube channel). It’s just a shame that they, y’know, didn’t work this all out before hand.
Andy Samberg & Adam Levine “Iran So Far” Lyrics:
They say true love comes only once in a lifetime
And even though we’re from opposite ends of the earth
My heart tells me you’re the one for me
Mahmoud, I remember when it started, saw you on the news
You hating gays, I was eating food
I was feeling you, and even though I disagree with almost everything you said
You ain’t wrong to me, so strong to me, you belong to me
Like a very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal to me
Mahmoud, make my heart beating out of my chest
my mind says no but my body says yes
You ain’t no threat, the only threat I see, is the threat of you not coming home to me
Our love for each other is like when atoms collide
Can’t express how I feel, and yo Adam let’s ride
And Iran, Iran so far away is your home, but in my heart you’ll stay
He ran, for the president of Iran
We ran together to a tropical island
My man, Mahmoud is known for violence
Smiling, if he can still do it then I can
They call you weasel, they say your methods are medieval
You can play the Jews, I can be your Jim Caviezel
S&M, (?) when we’re wrestlin’
You can be the port that I put my vessel in
So I try to (?) but you can still see me
With your sleepy brown eyes, butter pecan thighs
And your hairy butt… Yeah.
And Iran, Iran so far away
Come home, and in my arms you’ll stay
Used to look at the stars and dream
Around the world the same stars we’re seeing
And a twinkle in your eyes Mahmoud
Talk smooth to me, in the night sky
With you pants high waisted, damn so fly
We can take a trip to the animal zoo
And laugh at all the funny things that animals do
Like Eugene, you got me straight trippin’ boo
Hope you look at my eyes and say I’m trippin’ too
You say (?) but they already do
You should know by now, it’s you
You crazy for this world Mahmoud
So give us another Holocaust all you want
But you can’t deny that there’s something between us
I know you say there’s no gays in Iran
But you’re in New York now baby
So time to stop hating and start living
(lyrics via Just Jared – thanks Dan!)
Hey, genius, I know your post here is trying to take a stand for unsung artists alike, but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing remotely illegal in someone’s interpretation of another’s work. It WOULD be illegal if it were a written body of work, but as it is Richard James cannot read music, much less write it (granted this is partly the beauty of his genius). And above that, SNL blatantly used the number for their skit. No one was trying to hide anything. It’s fucking comedy. You don’t see Blue Oyster Cult pitching a fit over the ‘cowbell’ skit. And on that note, what makes you or any other shitty Pitchfork/Steroegum/cliche hipster music writer wannabe think that Richard D. James is remotely worried about the use of his work in an American sketch comedy show? Truth is, he could probably care less. He’s got bigger fish to fry. For shit’s sake, the man has changed the face of music the world over and has worked with every player worth working with out there. Without effort, he possesses more world spread fame than most American artists could ever dream of. Mind you, this is the same man that Great Britain nominated as a candidate for Man of the Year in the late 90s (he was beat out by Elton John, and look how long it took for him to achieve that). So be a bit more careful of how you throw your tags around; “British electro-tweak?” Get a fucking clue, OK? Richard D. James worrying about NBC, would be like God punishing you if you farted in church. It’s just ignorant to suggest that the big bad corporate American NBC is taking anything from someone who is way out of their league. As influential as American pop-culture may be, it isn’t the world. But it’s obviously the only one you live in. You know, I hate it just as much as the next when I see corporations taking advantage of the unprotected, but I at least I take the time to observe the situation beyond what’s right in front of me, because thanks to you, captain obvious, the foot work of immediate observation is already done for me. Thank you for fighting the good fight. Seriously, what the fuck would I do without you. It really is a good thing we’ve got such open-minded, cool people out there in the blog-sphere to do our thinking for us. Really, go ahead and put your distorted ideas out there for the world to see. What makes yours any different from the untrustworthy voices coming from the idiot box?
Regards,
The Real Steven
Hey, genius (fresh, isn’t it?)
I never said that there was anything illegal about SNL using James’ song (which there isn’t, as it was a live performance and laws abide to such and such, so on and so forth when there is no duplication inherently suggested)…I did say, “just another corporate scheme to take what the people love away from them”…and dammit, the people need the voice of Culture Bully to fight for them, especially given the circumstance of a multi billion dollar corporation loosely borrowing a track from a millionaire. You’re right, I concede.
“You don’t see Blue Oyster Cult pitching a fit over the ‘cowbell’ skit.” – lawyers…they roam the streets at night…be careful…
“And on that note, what makes you or any other shitty Pitchfork/Steroegum/cliche hipster music writer wannabe think that Richard D. James is remotely worried about the use of his work in an American sketch comedy show?” And you should know… Though I am a shitty Pitchfork/Steroegum/cliche hipster music writer, I don’t. No witty comeback to that one, I just think that the neglect of a simple credit on behalf of the network was, in hindsight, rather near sided….never did I say that James did not want his music used in American television.
“The man has changed the face of music the world over and has worked with every player worth working with out there.” – He is one of my favorite musicians, an absolute top five…but…be realistic, and remove yourself from the interwebs…no he hasn’t.
“Mind you, this is the same man that Great Britain nominated as a candidate for Man of the Year in the late 90s”…and Rush was awarded the Order of Canada…I suppose that may be the equivalent of saying that music fans everywhere are looking forward to the Spice Girls reunion.
I just don’t understand where you are getting this slanted opinion of mine from, one which includes “distorted ideas”…please, before you take time out of your life (one, like mine, which is ever so fucking short) to rant about something so inconsequential as a reaction to MY reasoning for posting an overlapping track that features a bits of a sketch comedy act and bits of an electronic artist that hasn’t been relevant for some six years….just simmer, and turn the page.
Though, I must say…your focus is stunning,
-Chris
Touché, mon frere.
““The man has changed the face of music the world over and has worked with every player worth working with out there.†– He is one of my favorite musicians, an absolute top five…but…be realistic, and remove yourself from the interwebs…no he hasn’t.”
I don’t think he’s “worked with every player worth working with out there” but it could definitely be argued that he changed the face of music the world over, even if only for a little while.
As for his relevance, he may not have made any relevant music in at least 6 years, but I think the majority of his work from the 90′s will always be relevant. His best material still sounds fresh and vibrant 10 (or more) years after the fact. That’s difficult for any musician, and nearly impossible for an electronic musician.
I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but I don’t think his importance in the grand oeuvre of popular music can be underestimated.
Otherwise, I agree with you and I think Steven overreacted and needs to be punched.
haha, well, I doubt he needs to be punched, but I appreciate your sentiments.
Aphex Twin could release just about anything right now (given that its labeled Aphex Twin and not AFX, or any of the other pseudonyms James has) and it would receive critical acclaim and be heralded as a much needed comeback (though Druqks wasn’t that long ago, was it?)…and I would agree. I too agree with you that his importance in pop music is underestimated as his influence is genre spanning…something few artists even come close to achieving.
I’ll still fight you on your “he changed the face of music the world over” statement though…by definition its almost impossible to influence music on a global scale. I don’t know that it can be done. His work helped change the face of pop music in primarily Western countries – but that’s about as far as I’ll go.
Again, don’t get me wrong…love the man’s music