The Ballad of Can Man

Andy "Fish" McElfresh writes:

Here¹s a story about a little side project I did with Kevin.

I¹m not sure anyone else in the group has heard the song, and it really falls under the category of deep Lemmings trivia, but I thought about it the other day and decided to share.

The one and only Stasia

In 199_, I had just broken ties with that miserable fat man, Tim Zagat, and was freelancing at MTV. I had been brought in by Anastasia Pappas, who had worked at Zagat for a brief time before going to work across the street in Columbus Circle with Kevin on a sketch comedy/stand-up show called "Comikaze."

Anastasia has been a friend of the Lemmings over the years, but I also owe her a personal debt of gratitude, since she was always calling on me to do things that I had never done before. I created graphic elements for her, wrote scripts, painted sets, whatever. But of all the odd jobs I did for her, one stands out as having been the most fun: doing a song to accompany a little 3-minute piece she had shot for "Comikaze". And best of all, I would be doing it with Kevin Weist (I say "best of all" now, but at the time I was extremely nervous).

Do I make you nervous?

The segment was about some idiot kid who made a suit out of empty aluminum cans, which made him look like a metallic Koosh ball. He rode around on a unicycle (something I used to do before I realized I could talk to girls), and the whole thing was supposed to raise everyone¹s awareness that recycling is good.

Fish in the early 80's (reenactment)

Those of you acquainted with "Love Slave" know my fondness for Western-style ballads. They¹re great because the lines are short, and if I was to fill three verses about this jerkoff in a can suit, the lines would have to be very short.

Look what I found

Kevin, as usual, took the lump of dirt I brought him and, pretending it was clay, sculpted it into something fun and entertaining. I never realized how much I muttered when I sang, until Kevin produced this thing: his crystalline enunciation, pitch-perfect, um... pitch, and overall enthusiasm made it work.

I was very unsure of myself back then. Here I was, actually trying to pursue my dreams of being a writer and making TV, and this little project, along with my inclusion in the Lemmings, were two disproportionately large votes of confidence that gave me a momentum that I can still feel.

At its heart, it is dumb. Consider it a little bonbon from our past, one that dissolved quickly from memory, but that also came at the just the right time in my life.

Timid woodland bon bons

Click here to listen, then shut up.

p.s from Kevin. I love everything about this song. Fish's lyrics are perfection. You might have to listen twice to catch all the soda references he makes throughout. It was a blast to record, partially because we were accompanied by the great David Barnes on harmonica and Franklin "Cooler in the Shade" Micare on guitar. In fact, it's Franklin who hits that high B at the end.


p.p.s. The Lemmings crossed paths with the lovely Anastasia Pappas on one other occasion. She was the mastermind behind the promos for MTV's Winter Lodge, featuring Winthy.