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SONG CHALLENGE WINNER!
The Song Challenge: This
Challenge! was sent in by Mudcatter Jeri a while back and should definitely be
considered an "urban legend" (as in, don't believe everything you read
*BG*). TOKYO (AP) The recent craze for hydrogen beer is at the heart
of a three way lawsuit between unemployed stockbroker Toshira Otoma, the
Tike-Take karaoke bar and the Asaka Beer Corporation. Mr Otoma is suing the bar
and the brewery for selling toxic substances and is claiming damages for
grievous bodily harm leading to the loss of his job. The bar is countersuing for
defamation and loss of customers. The Asaka Beer corporation brews "Suiso"
brand beer, where the carbon dioxide normally used to add fizz has been replaced
by the more environmentally friendly hydrogen gas. A side effect of this has
made the beer extremely popular at karaoke sing-along bars and
discotheques. Because hydrogen molecules are lighter than air,
individuals whose lungs are filled with the nontoxic gas can speak with an
uncharacteristically high voice, giving chic Tokyo urbanites the ability to sing
soprano parts on karaoke sing-along machines after consuming a big gulp of Suiso
beer. The flammable nature of hydrogen has also become another selling point,
even though the beer company has not acknowledged that this was a deliberate
marketing ploy. It has inspired a new fashion of blowing flames from one's
mouth using a cigarette as an ignition source. Many new karaoke videos feature
singers shooting blue flames in slow motion, while flame contests take place in
pubs everywhere. "Mr Otoma drank fifteen bottles of hydrogen
beer in order to maximise the size of the flames he could belch during the
contest. He catapulted balls of fire across the room that Gojira would be proud
of, but this was not enough to win him first prize since the judgement is made
on the quality of the flames and that of the singing, and after fifteen bottles
of lager he was badly out of tune," said Mr Takashi Nomura, Manager of the
Tike-Take bar. Mr. Otoma apparently took exception to the result and
hurled blue fireballs at the judge, singeing the front of one customer's hair,
entirely removing her eyebrows and lashes. When the club's security staff showed
up, he turned his attentions to them, giving the head bouncer no choice but to
tackle Mr Otoma, knocking his legs from under him. Said the club's
manager, "It was his own fault he had his mouth open for the next belch,
his own fault he held a lighted cigarette in front of it and it is own fault he
swallowed that cigarette . . . The Tike-Take bar takes no responsibility for the
subsequent internal combustion, rupture of his stomach lining, nor the third
degree burns to his oesophagus, larynx and sinuses as the exploding gases forced
their way out of his body. His consequential muteness and loss of employment are
his own fault." Mr. Otoma was unavailable for comment.
Pour Me A Pint And I'll Flame When I Sing by Jeri
Jeri's Comments: Well, I couldn't help myself...
From France we do get brandy
From Jamaica comes rum
And onions from Bermuda and Vidalia come
But combustable beer is a Japanese thing
So pour me a pint and I'll flame when I sing
Chorus:
I'll flame when I sing, I'll flame when I sing
Poor me a pint and I'll flame when I sing
My father he do lie in the pond with the fish
To extinguish his eyebrows was his only wish
For standing too close, certain dangers will bring
Just pour me and I'll flame when I sing
Chorus
My wife she do disturb me when I practice a while,
She says "Great Balls O' Fire" is a song not a style;
I'll be the one to get burnt when her suit she does bring,
Pour me a pint and I'll flame when I sing
Chorus