In part I of this blog series I promised to document my experience writing,
producing and marketing a novelty song; with the ultimate goal being that I own
the publishing rights to a song that has permeated culture. I decided that song
would be “Poopy Diaper”.
I should be upfront and say that anyone who willingly puts their name on a song
called “Poopy Diaper” and spend weeks bringing that song to fruition has, in some
way, hit bottom. Who the hell would go to the trouble of documenting what adults
feel when they change their childrens’ diapers?
I’ll tell you who. It’s someone who doesn’t want to bother cultivating a unique
sound, much less an audience, and wants to fast forward straight to the part where
royalty checks arrive in the mail.
Anyone who’s raised young children remembers the period when very real things
happened on that diaper-changing table. They will also remember that by the time
potty-training became an option, their child ironically possessed the ability to
verbally express that potty-training was a stupid idea.
I want my song to throw gasoline on that very important family conversation. I
want baby boys to hate this song because their parents sing it to them. I want
sleep-deprived moms to plop her daughters in front of YouTube to learn what needs
to be sung when big things are happening in their pants.
I want older siblings to taunt their younger siblings with it, who will eventually
recount this experience on an expensive therapy couch…only to sing it to their
own children.
When I was a music major I learned an ugly German word for music that has been
created for a specific purpose…”Gebraunchsmusik”. In a 1921 academic
publication, musicologist Paul Nettl observed a clear distinction between music
that was intended mainly to be in the service of dancers, and that which was
mainly intended to service the ideals of art. He called the latter
“Vortragsmusik”. Basically, “Vortragsmusik” was the high-falutin’ music that
expanded our minds…”Gebraunchsmusik” was simple-minded music that, much like a
toaster oven, served a very specific purpose.
The purpose of my original composition is to serve parents of the upcoming 11
billion people that will be pooping in their pants.
In my next blog, I’ll talk about how I actually produced the song itself. Stay
tuned.
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Mike Bielenberg is a professional musician and co-founder of http://www.musicrevolution.com, a production music marketplace with over 22,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of musicians mbielenberg@musicrevolution.com. 
