LazyTown's lyricist and song-writing collaborator with Máni Svavarsson talks about the inner-workings of tune construction -- The Fabulous Mark Valenti!

November 27th, 2008





   It was always great fun to work on lyrics for Máni's music because he's like a 70-piece orchestra with only one chair. He can write in any musical style and arrange for any musical instrument.

   Máni usually had an idea in mind for the music style - techno or Europop or whatever - and he would create an mp3 file of the melody so I could start fitting words in. Sometimes he would have an idea of what kinds of words he was thinking of, other times he would just put nonsense words in place just so I would have an idea of the timing. Sometimes the nonsense words were better than the ones I added...

   Máni's studio was right next to the sound stage and so we would create a rough version of the song, run out to get it approved, then finalize it and have the actors sing their lines. Julianna did most of the songs, and she was amazing in that recording booth, it was like watching a seasoned pro taking control of the lyrics, the phrasing, making the song come to life. It was easy to forget how young she was at the time, but she never gave less than a professional performance.

   Here are some of the songs Máni and I worked on together:

   Cooking By The Book - Máni had already devised the chorus' hypnotic hook (It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake...) but he needed verses. A lot of characters would be making cake on-camera, so each of them needed to sing a little about baking. Gummi Thor (Ziggy) is not really a singer - I think he would say so himself - but he worked really hard to nail that part, where he sang "I pile on the candy..." He sang it over and over again until Máni thought he was close enough, and then it was up to Máni's electronic wizardry to make it work.

   Galaxy - I tried to give Julianna some fun phrases that would communicate the excitement of blasting into outer space. I mentioned the Northern Lights as a tribute to our host country, Iceland.

   Go For It - I wanted to give kids a phrase that would encourage them to exercise without using that specific "e-word" - one we never used in LazyTown. The line "Turn your workout into play" kind of sums up the philosophy of LazyTown about exercising. It's not work, it's play. Have fun with it.

   Good To Be Bad - This is one of my favorites because it gave Stefán a chance to add brilliant touches of physical comedy and silliness. If you can find the video of him singing it, listen for his little James Brown yelp at the end of the song. Just hilarious.

   I Love Christmas - I wanted the song to be much longer so it could be released as a holiday song. But due to production reasons we couldn't make it any longer. So we ended up with a lovely, short Christmasy song that works well in the episode.

   It's Mine - These are my lyrics but the song is pure Jodi. With his theater background and acting skills, he epitomized that character in the singing of this song - a complete, fully-realized performance.

   Playtime - A really fun song to work on thanks to Máni's amazing composing skills. If you listen carefully you can hear dozens of different elements working in harmony, with all of the mechanical and percussion noises. The words had to be equally mechanical and percussive, so that one was a challenge.

   Step By Step - A nice little song that teaches kids to look before they leap into a project. This is one of those Máni Melodies that gets stuck in your brain for weeks. How does he ever get to sleep at night??

   Teamwork - Julianna did a great job with this song. The lyrics are kind of sing-songy - "stars in the sky, hot weather in July" - but she can sing the phone book and make it sound great.

   Woof Woof Woof - If someone ever hands out a prize for best use of mouth muscles in a song, it should go to Stefán Karl for this. He did such a great job with a very difficult set of lyrics. Even with his Icelandic accent, he managed to sing "a fighting flea-bag full of fur" in English and not only did he do it flawlessly, he did it on key and with great comic style.

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Thanks Muchly To Mark Valenti and Many Happy LazyTowns


© 2008 L.G. Wise (X RADAR Publ.)
All Rights Reserved

No part of this commentary can be used, reprinted, copied or stored in any medium without the publisher's authorization.





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