So, I was just singing along to my summer soundtrack today, when everything went wrong.
True to summer form, I was bumping some Jack Johnson, and halfway through the lyric “…makin’ Banana Pancakes, pretend like it’s the weekend”, I started accidentally going off on a musical AdventureTime tangent (“makin’ bacon pancakes…”) And then, my thoughts went haywire from there. Just like anytime there’s any remote level of mind clashing synchronicity in my life. Which breakfast ditty – both of whom I love like my own personal lyrical children – came first? The fruity chicken – or the egg with a side of bacon? Also, who did I love more? Jake? Or Jack? Did I have to choose? Should I love Jack’s more because the lyrics fit my vegan diet better? Even though Jake’s is more catchy – especially when I now have the visual of Wolverine lip syncing it? Wait… did the cartoon writers purposely make bananas the equivalent of shit in their show for this very reason? As a jab at Jack’s song?
Now, completely outta my mind, I’m grasping for any level of comprehension to assuage my affinity confusion.
Maybe, I thought, finding out each’s backstory will help.
Starting with Jack:
Ya know, I always thought “Banana Pancakes” was like the Hawaiian version of “Baby it’s cold outside.” Like, he’s trying to get his bish to say inside, play hookie, and make nookie ‘cause of the weather. (“Can’t you see that it’s just raining? Ain’t no need to go outside…”) However, I had it all wrong. Or if I’m right – that’s not how it started at least. The banana pancake love ballad actually just was peripheral to a one-liner lyric that came randomly, improv style, when he was trying in vain to get his wife’s attention about a whole different song he’d been working on and, as he says, “she wasn’t giving me the reaction I was looking for.” Verdict? This song’s even more likeable because instead of taking her indifferent response as a sign to give up, homie immediately manifested this off-the-cuff masterpiece.
Onto our affable dog’s mealtime song now:
(Here’s the f’real dude, John Dimaggio, singing it):
Aaaand, that’s just about where we could just stop. Because: awesome.
However, when I did try to carry on with scouring the internet to find out what the inspo was behind this beloved tune, I could find nothing…. Until I did. I did find something. Not an interview. But something. John D explaining that he’s never had bacon pancakes – and that he probably never will.
Because they’ll probably give him a heart attack.
Are you rocking the shocked face too?
Jake would never eat bacon pancakes?
Alright. Jury ruling time. I’m gonna go ahead and leave the dietary/health bits out of these dueling breakfast songs because I feel like A.) that’s a fun sucker, and B.) that’s irrelevant when we’re dealing with ukelele armed Hawaiian Jesuses and bespectacled shapeshifting canines. And since I can’t find an interview from the actual creators of the latter song, we’ll hafta nix that factor too. What we’ll hafta go on for today is whether the deeper, underlying stuff the actual singers feel while singing it makes either one better than the other. The verdict on that? Well, Jack fabricated a lovely but unrelated-to-what-was-happening-at-the-time song around one lyric. And Jake would never even f’real eat the title of his tune IRL. And you know what that means? We’ve gotta tie. ‘cause, like most pop singers, Jack and Jake are both singing songs that kinda have nothing to do with their real lives.
And that’s fine by me – ‘cause TBH – I’ve also never put either food in my face hole.
So I’mma just keep using it to sing both songs – apparently at the same time.