One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded: “The Fish Is In the Freezer” by Uncle Bonsai!!!

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

My radio show, “Theme Attic,”  is on Wednesdays 12PM-4PM ET.

The show can be heard on WHFR 89.3 FM in the Dearborn-Detroit area of Michigan, or it can be streamed with this link: https://www.whfr.fm/streamer/!

The Greatest Songs will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

Here’s a link to have a look at “The Greatest Songs Ever Recorded”: https://philmaq.com/the-greatest-songs-ever-recorded/! Occasionally, an “awesome song” crosses over to become a “Greatest Song!”

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey!

If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ 

One of the first albums that found me when I first started at the radio station was “The Grim Parade” by Seattle based Americana band Uncle Bonsai.

I was attracted by the happy looking artwork on the cover.

I noticed a dog, a cat, a turtle, a rabbit, and a guinea pig.

Then I noticed the foreboding dead tree and shovel in the upper left corner as well as the album title.

Oh. That’s what it means.

I never thought of dead pets being in a “parade,” but most of their lifespans are so much shorter than humans.

Starting off with a snappy staccato acoustic guitar and bass riff, that includes an atmospheric answer of an electric guitar awash in reverb and echo, “The Fish Is in the Freezer” doesn’t waste any time in establishing a funeral setting:

“The fish is in the freezer/
We’re waiting for the ground to thaw.”

From that starting point, the real substance of the song is addressed: How does one explain the death of a pet to a child?

Well, you can lie:

“The fish is up in heaven/
At least that’s what my mother said.”

Mothers are wonderful!

Of course, there’s a fishy heaven!

However, the next line tells the real honest truth from the perspective of a child:

“There used to be another/
But every fish I’ve owned is dead.”

The song then switches to a middle eight that contains some beautiful haunting harmonies!:

“Oh, there’s a place I know/
Where all the dead fish go.
Out in the fertile ground/
Where all the cats hang out.”

That observation always makes me laugh, as well as the next confusing line:

“The fish once had a brother/
Boy fish are the first to go.”

Huh?

But the song is heading towards the end and there isn’t enough time to think too long about it:

“Oh, if I just knew why/
All of the good ones die.
The coldest day in Winter/
I never got to say goodbye.”

I’ve been a part of a few animal funerals, and I’m guessing that they were important at some point in a child’s mental development.

Thankfully I never had to put one in the freezer to wait until the ground thawed.

However, my sister and I would laugh about the song if she heard me play it on my show.

And then the song became a real life situation for her.

She had come in to town to help our mother prepare for moving to Las Vegas after selling her house. My sister happened to also own a couple of goldfish as pets, Opal and Marmalade.

While she was helping mom clear things up so she could relocate, both fish died.

Perhaps, because of “The Fish Is in the Freezer,” they were placed in that cold wasteland that preserves a good portion of what we eat later, until they could receive a proper burial.

To exaggerate things even more, the next time I played the song, I did a homage to Casey Kasem, a DJ hero of mine as well as probably all DJs, by naming myself “Phil Philsem,” and “sending out a long distance dedication to Opal and Marmalade, hoping they could hear it up in fishy heaven!”

I even coerced my son into making a little “Top 40: The Hits From Coast to Coast” synthesized intro!

Yeah. I love this song!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “The Fish Is In the Freezer” by Uncle Bonsai!!!

I’m including a bonus video.

This is a live performance of “The Fish Is in the Freezer” by Uncle Bonsai as well as The Wintergrass Youth Orchestra.

The performance is spirited!

I also thought adding the strings gave the song an added depth!

And I found it an interesting idea of including children in a song about a “fishy funeral!”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

I have plenty of other musical areas to explore:

Here’s a link for my weekly list of Fave Songs:

https://philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-songs/!

Here’s a link for my weekly Fave Album lists:
philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-albums

My somewhat unusual Hall of Fame can be explored here: https://philmaq.com/hall-of-fame/!

Lastly, but most importantly, is my Philby Awards link! A Philby is my annual award for outstanding musical achievement! https://philmaq.com/philbys/!

If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

#TheFishIsintheFreezer #UncleBonsai #TheGrimParade #TheWintergrassYouthOrchestra #OplandMarmalade #PhilMaq #OneoftheGreatestSongsEverRecorded #GSER

This entry was posted in Favorite Songs of All Time, Greatest Songs Ever Recorded and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply