I Just Attempted the John Mulaney Challenge - it went poorly
So the John Mulaney Challenge is based off of his story about going to the Salt & Pepper Diner in Chicago. He and a friend queued up 20 plays of "What's New Pussycat" by Tom Jones (with a single "It's Not Unusual" at the 1/3rd way mark). While doing lawn work I decided to attempt it to see how far I could go...the answer kind of surprised me.
First of all he is 100% correct that it isn't that obvious on first listening where the song ends. It is so unbelievably repetitive that unless you know what is happening or are listening intently to the words you don't really realize where one song ends and the next begins.
Second of all...I hate Tom Jones. This song...it's really a relic of its time and does not age well. The harmony is very simplistic and repetitive so it's almost impossible NOT to listen to Tom Jones crooning and doing creepy "sexy voice" with very unsexy words like "nose" and "eyes". I remember listening to the song as a kid and liking it just because it was simple and loud and bold and the lyrics were easy to sing along to but as an adult it just made me feel really uncomfortable, like this is the song that is playing in the head of date rapists around the world.
Thirdly... Tom Jones says the word "Pussycat" 26 times. So that is a total times of over 500 times to listen to him say the word and of course he says it in a skeevy way. The song is only about 2:15 long so that is a "pussycat" every 5 seconds.
Fourth, the moment when "It's Not Unusual" came on was such a wave of relief. I knew what was happening and inflicted this on myself but the wave of happiness was amazing. I was singing it out at the top of my lungs because it was something different and it was a break from nonstop pussycats. It literally lifted my spirits as a wave of relief of getting to listen to something, anything else. The key isn't just that the lyrics are orders of magnitude less dumb and creepy but there is actually a peppy melody that plays along so it gives you an aural relief.
Fifth, It's Not Unusual ends very suddenly. And then BWAM BWAM WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT blared and I was angry. My glorious oasis had been taken away and I was back in pussycat abyss. It broke me. It really did. I was able to suffer through another 5 What's New Pussycats just so I could make it as far as they did in the story and then I had to turn it off. But even with it off the echo of it remains. Now whenever there is silence I just hear it...whispering at the back of my mind. It has replaced silence for me.
Now I am frantically keeping things noisy around me, trying to drown out the What's New Pussycat that has embedded itself into my psyche.
I am afraid of what will happen when I finally have to close my eyes and go to sleep. When the night's air grows still, when my breathing slows to a soft steady rhythm....BWAM BWAM WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT!!!
