Captain Serious

by Butch Young

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Released by Big Stir Digital Singles Series on June 21, 2019

www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles

“Let’s (smile and) salute Butch Young’s lighthearted send-up of sourpusses everywhere. Power Pop aficionados will note the affectionate appropriation of a Van Duran album-title. This presumably rhetorical question is periodically posed to our eponymous Captain, a dyspeptic sort we’ve all had the misfortune to encounter (and perhaps on the Wrong Day, to have been).”

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REVIEWS:

For all the sour, sad sack boys and girls out there, Butch Young’s eminently catchy, sweet-with-the-sour, Brian Wilson-with-a-touch-of-George Harrison ditty “Captain Serious,” about a guy to whom a smile is just a frown turned upside down, is your song. For everyone else, this song is a melodic pop confection par excellence from a Pure Pop Radio favorite.
I quote lyrics fairly often in my reviews, because I believe the words married to music are just as important in the long run, if not more so. Young’s depiction of this much-too-serious captain of his industry includes some rather clever wordsmithing. To wit: “Captain Serious / Is looking sour as a lime or a grape / His face is dour as some days-old lemonade / Left to spoil in the rain”. And this: “Oh, did your mom make you so? / She never really let you play your rock ‘n’ roll / Oh, did your Dad come home / And catch you reading Tolstoy all alone?”

Alan Haber
Pure Pop Radio
June 25, 2019

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lyrics

Captain Serious
Is looking sour as a lime or a grape
His face is dour as some days-old lemonade
Left to spoil in the rain

Is something wrong?
You just do not look happy

Captain Serious
As solemn as a Bergman movie
You’re so austere with us
Is there anything you find amusing?
Are you serious?

Captain Serious
He stays as sober as a judge or a priest
He doesn’t laugh or even smile in the least
As for fun, he’s the thief

Is something wrong?
Why don’t you lighten up, son?

Captain Serious
As sullen as young Brando brooding
It’s all so queer to us
Just what do you think
You are proving?

Oh, did your mom make you so?
She never really let you play your rock n’ roll
Oh, did your Dad come home
And catch you reading Tolstoy all alone?
Alone

Why so glum?
Here in this world of beauty?

Captain Serious
Is solemn as a Bergman movie
You seem austere to us
Is there anything
You find amusing?
Are you serious?

Captain Serious
As sullen as young Brando brooding
Corporal Curious
Is wondering what makes you so moody
Are you serious?

credits

released June 21, 2019
c. 2019 Butch Young

Butch Young: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano + virtual (midi) instruments

Matt Lee; electric guitar + bass

Jeffrey Martin: drums

Mixed by Alan Brownstein

Mastered by George Shilling

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Butch Young Los Angeles, California

Butch Young serves up an idiosyncratic brand of Brit-influenced pop, alternately exuberant and melancholic, by turns Baroque, Bubblegum and bittersweet. Featuring principal collaborator Matt Lee on electric guitar and bass.

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