Cannabis Cantata Part 1

This is the introduction to the cannabis cantata. like BWV211, it starts with a brief recitative from the narrator, played by Tyler Burton, followed by a da cappo aria. In BWV211, the first aria is Schlendrian's complaint about his daughter, Lieschen's, coffee habits. In the Cannabis Cantata, we find Lisa, played by Kalean Ung, complaining of her father's pot smoking habits.
Lyrics:"couldn't we do with out parents?
I don't mean to seem so ungrateful but my dad's a cannabis user
it's really sad
I make a couple of figures per year,
and he sits on his rump
in that worn down dump
just like a lump or forest gump.

painting his tripped-out pictures
during the day he covers his windows turns off his lights and lights a candle really I think he's
he's just too lazy to replace his bulbs, to replace his bulbs!
I think it's the pot He us es a lot i wish he would stop! this isn't joypop.

though I keep on giving him warning
he'll take a hit a hit just to get out of bed
he thinks he's so savvy but he's really just so boring
he use to be on top but now he's a dead head

i think it's the pot
it must be the pot
It must be rot ting his brain!
it's worse than cocain!
His mind is sure shot
i know it's the pot
really how could it not?
he's right on the edge of a dangerous ledge
because of that mary jane cannabis

he used to have plenty of money
used to run his very own coffee house it was a lucrative business
the caffein trade
he used to tell me a buck in the hand
was worth two in the bush
it'll save you when your family can't
he'd always rant

I know the coffee business
did not do so well for you but hows about picking it up some thinking of lump sums
doing something productive today
and he just cops a smile
and he tokes his toke
says it floats his boat
I'm looking at five years no parole
keeping my deadbeat dad on the roll

You'd think his failing brain cells would be a good warning
He'll some times come over and simply for get why he came!
I've got to be grateful I know he sent me to a very prestigious university
he used to be un lumiere
but now he's chef stupid

i think it's the pot
it must be the pot
It must be rot ting his brain!
it's worse than co cain!
when you really think a bout it how could it not? be that pot mary jane cannabis devil's weed sinsemilla
home grown hemp
dope."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jazz
• bebop
• vocalese
• opera
• oreo
• ucsc
• chamber
• music
• marijuana
• recital
• thesis
• pot
• funny
• comedy

[JYoung135]

I definitely heard a lot of Zappa in there, probably more than JS Bach.

[jedbeetle]

yup.

[meliante2]

Congratulations! Very cool concept! It is a brilliant idea to revisit the original idea of the cantata! But I wish the original music by Bach had been kept, and only the lyrics and scenery had been changed, because I am in love with his cantatas.

[jedbeetle]

Cantatas have scenery? I prefer his more non-theatric music mself...

This was a Master's Recital in composition - i don't think pulling a "weird al" on a bach cantata would have gotten me that degree lol. my intention was to write a be-bopera, and i had been considering the cannabis cantata for some time(not my original idea to make one, but i'm the only one who's done it, as far as i know). this performance wasn't the best musically, but we practice... i guess if you're not a jazz fan then...

[meliante2]

Me too prefer non-theatric music. It is the very reason to me prefer cantatas rather than operas.

About the Cannabis Cantata... It is a really funny and inteligent adaptation. I find the Cannabis Cantata is excellent as a play and has excellent lyrics. But in therms of music I would prefer to have it as a parody of the cantata BWV 211. But I think this way only because I am rather a classical music lover rather than a jazz fan.

[jedbeetle]

yeah, i figured that you preferred the straight to the swing :) i like the classical stuff...from baroque days, i prefer the counterpoint heavy material. i like pre-baroque music a lot - especially the heavily chromatic renaissance stuff.

you know, a lot of my lyrics directly replaced some of Picander's libretto, so it would be pretty easy to do a direct parody using these words...but they'd be in english.

i could find someone to translate...

[checko56]

Que gran estupidez.