Chromeo – Old 45’s. Fun-loving and funky, New York/ Montreal disco pop crew Chromeo have never dicked around with their music videos. The duo have recently shared a video for their White Women single “Old 45s” and, as could be expected, it’s a ton of fun. Traffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams. One of my favorite songs from the already great Chromeo album gets a video that’s basically a short film very much within their style, replete with comically overdone dance numbers, models, and dudes with weird beards. Plus Napoleon Dynamite.
Chromeo is a Canadian electrofunk duo formed in 2004 in Montreal. The men of Chromeo have just released Business Casual, which is their third full-length album and a testament to the growth and further sophistication the band has undergone over the many years they’ve been collaborating. After their sophomore release, Fancy Footwork, pushed them into the stratosphere of party-rocking, club-banging, and heart-thrilling electrofunk, we might consider Business Casual their postgraduate work. Where does a group go after mastering their craft? Do they rest on their laurels? Do they retreat into self-parody? Neighbor, please. Chromeo, in 2010, have pushed forward into yet newer levels of song craft and body moving music that is respectfully indebted to its noble inspirations while still being fully contemporary. Are there lush string arrangements on “Don’t Walk Away”? Do we have Moroder-esque analog synth layers draped all over “Don’t Turn The Lights On”? Is there a fully authentic French ballad (don’t forget, Dave and P are of the Québécois persuasion and will never abandon those roots) in “J’ai Claqué la porte”? Well yes, actually, to all of the above. Lyrically, Dave continues to mine the rich vein of affairs of the heart. Is there really any other topic that Chromeo needs to cover? Arrogant ladies, dancefloor seduction, boudoir skills, love gone wrong, and knights in shining armor… Chromeo does all this and more with their trademark Franco-insouciance-that-borders-on-coolness and their always sexy worldliness (pause). In these uncertain times of financial upheaval and musical mediocrity, Chromeo’s Business Casual is a testament to the fact that inspirational funk shall always prevail. Vive le Chromeo!
Chromeo – Old 45’s [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Directed by Dugan O’Neal and prominently featuring the band’s new Surface to Air collection, the clip sees the duo transform a tavern in the middle-of-nowhere. Thanks to an old jukebox, the bar turns into a funky dance party assisted by guests HAIM and Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder, who gets into a violent brawl.
Chromeo – Old 45’s Lyrics:
[Verse 1:]
Dudes just step to ya with a corny line
Asking for your name, saying what’s your sign?
You turn around like boy quit talking to me
He could pick you up in a limousine
You’d look back like whachu mean
Just worried about more important things
Boys are non-committal
Always in the middle
It bothers you a little
Bothers you a little
Why can’t we be like Mom & Dad?
You don’t wanna settle
Didn’t you get the memo
You only get a date if you’re walking in stilettos
This is enough to drive you mad
[Chorus x3:]
If you think romance is dead and gone
Find an old jukebox full of 45’s
Pop a nickel in it and it all comes back
[Verse 2:]
Write her up, maybe out of touch
You only see schmucks
And you’ve really had enough
It’s not adding up and you just don’t understand
Straight shooter, he’s a straight shooter
Cut to the chase and he asked if he could do her
PS he had a ring on his left hand
Boys are non-committal
Always in the middle
It bothers you a little
It bothers you a little
Why can’t we be like Mom & Dad?
Don’t wanna settle
Didn’t you get the memo
You only get a date if you’re walking in stilettos
This is enough to drive you mad
[Chorus x2:]
If you think romance is dead and gone
Find an old jukebox full of 45’s
Pop a nickel in it and it all comes back to me