Crimp (song)

A crimp is one of the humorous a cappella nonsense songs sung by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt in the comedy television series The Mighty Boosh. A crimp is sung in a scat style featuring lyrics characterized by non-sequiturs that are rhythmically similar to beatboxing.^[1] A crimp is often sung about a single event that happened to one or both of the crimpers, and usually can only be entirely understood by them and in this way it is very personal. Crimp is more than just a song, it often sports a small performance of hand gestures and pantomimes performed in sync with the music as well as all other crimpers.

Origin and creation

The term "crimping" was officially created by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt,^[2][3] although its stylistic origins reach back to David Bowie's 1979 song "African Night Flight". The term "crimping" was first coined in "The Power of the Crimp", episode 3 of the third season of The Mighty Boosh. Originally they did not want to name it; however, after fan reaction, they decided to do so and made an episode about it. The name was derived from the word Krumping.^[4]

Characteristics of crimp

Crimp is rhythmically related to puirt a beul and beatboxing. Unlike beatboxing and scat, crimp contains lyrics bearing a similarity to puirt a beul in the sense that the rhythm is more important than the words themselves.^{[original research?]} Two features that particularly distinguish a crimp from similar styles are that:

(A) A crimp must be a cappella, and

(B) It must be sung by two or more people in synchrony.

The skill of crimping is in maintaining a synchronized rhythm. Crimps often are fast paced and tend to have a twist at the end, often being a sudden change such as the Four Way Crimp ending with "Fuck you!", from an episode of The Mighty Boosh.

Sugar Puffs controversy

Controversy arose in March 2008 when a new advertisement campaign for the cereal Sugar Puffs was shown to have imitated the particular style of crimping.^{[5][6] [7]}

In their 2008–2009 Stage show, the Mighty Boosh made reference to this event when they are shown decapitating Honey Monster. Tony Harrison is later shown "raping" Honey Monster's head whilst screaming, "Take it! Take it like you take other people's ideas, you plagiaristic yellow wanker!"

References

• Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, The Mighty Book of Boosh, Canongate Books, 2008, ISBN 1847673228.

External links

• Crimping on Urban Dictionary
• Crimp lyrics
• Crimping introduced to the USA

Video links

• Official BBC World Wide video of "Soup Song" crimp
• Official BBC World Wide video of "Four Way" crimp

See also

• The Mighty Boosh
• Scat singing
• Beatboxing
• A cappella
• Puirt a beul

Notes

1. ^ . http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/leisure/latest/3802792.The_Mighty_Boosh_at_Liverpool_Echo_Arena/. 
2. ^ Time Out, 1 March 2010
3. ^ "Mighty Boosh 'work with Ronson'". BBC News. 7 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_7492000/7492614.stm. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
4. ^ Mighty Boosh pt 2: Crimpin' Ain't Easy. Boing Boing. 13 August 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79F6pga4TUg. Retrieved 2009-10-07. 
5. ^ "Sugar Puffs ad accused of ripping off The Mighty Boosh". Brand Republic. 19 March 2008. http://www.brandrepublic.com/login/News/794409/. Retrieved 2009-10-07. 
6. ^ Rifkind, Hugo (28 March 2008). "People: Madonna, the Queen, Ian Paisley, Gareth Thomas". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3635188.ece. Retrieved 2009-10-07. 
7. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a91889/mighty-boosh-pair-furious-with-sugar-puffs.html?rss