(Paul Kaufman describes the creative ferment behind a Lemons classic.)
This song was written in tribute to the delicious cheeses of Spain. I chose “Afuegal Pitu” as the title not because it’s my favorite (that would be the powerful blue Cabrales or the smoky sheep cheese Idiazabal, depending on the day) but because it has the best name. Afuegal Pitu has a lot of red pepper in it, and the name is a local-dialect version of “Fire in the Throat.” Indeed, all the lyrics (except for the spoken-word part in the middle) are simply the names of different Spanish cheeses.
I used to live near an excellent cheese shop (the Cheese Board in Berkeley, CA), and I was so enamoured of the Spanish Cheese Poster they had on display, I wrote to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture to ask where I could get one. It now hangs in my kitchen.
The lyrics:
Afuegal Pitu, Tetilla, y Mahon
Torta del Casar, Cabrales, y San Simon.
Chorus: Afuegal Pitu …. Pitu ….
Garrotxa y Mato, Roncal y Leon
Idiazabal, Murcia y Villalon
Spoken word: (This was literally the text of my letter to the Spanish Ministry. Ok, I know my Spanish isn’t so hot.)
Señor Querido,
Quisiera comprar el poster titulado “Quesos de España.” Sin embargo, vivo en los Estados Unidos. Como puedo comprar esto?
(Dear Sir,
I would like to buy the poster titled “Cheeses of Spain.” However, I live in the US. How can I buy this?)
Majorero, Gamonedo, Zamorano
Ulloa y Manchego
This is what happens when you listen to a lot of Stereolab, with a little “Dancing Queen” as a guilty pleasure. Dave Fleminger worked his magic with many instruments here, and Kristin Martin did an absolutely remarkable job with the vocals. We also got some nice keyboard and production help from Steve Lam. Enjoy!
— Paul Kaufman
More Lemons Are Yellow MP3s:
OK you hit me where I live.
Thank you Paul. This is the cheesiest tune of all time. When I do end up going into production, this (with permission) will be the theme music on our website.
I’ve been raising my goats for a while with the object in mind of some stinky cheese. We have some simple beginnings but we don’t have the funk worked out yet.
The funk will come.
We left some ricotta in the cloth too long. It dried out and got smelly. It was hard. It was good.
My little girl is listening to your song right now and dancing around. She says her song will be about meat.
My boy says his will be about tomatoes and mushrooms.
We will put them together. It will be chunky. It will be good.
I personally don’t care about the song. Don’t care about the title.
Just want to hear more about the cheese.
For the record I did mad scientist experiments in the late 70’s with Cleve Backster…we talked to lactobacillus bulgaricus cultures. They talked back.
It was good.
Patrick Works
I am extremely amused that the new Google ad position (which I hope will cover hosting costs) displays Spanish cheeses on this page.
Viva el Che! Compramos mucho queso espanol!
I better get working on those posts about replica watches and male enhancement products.
When I first heard this song I thought it might be in Latin.
Not this one- but our metal version of Adeste Fidelis really rocked!
Paul,
How can I get in touch with you? I’m working on a historical piece about the Che for the UCSD alumni magazine, and I’m intrigued by your cheese tales. 858.822.4053.
Paul, is that on the “lost” album?
Yes. Sadly, the label balked at our “Live at Pompeii” idea, refusing to support the insurance required for the gladiatorial combat that was going to be part of the show. And do you know how many permits you need to stage a volcano eruption over a live audience?
As I remember (and I do need to watch the documentary and read the courtroom transcripts again, it was a prolonged negotiation) the label continued to balk at us even after we scaled that whole volcanic thing back to merely dropping a couple hundred pounds of *warm* ashes. Like that much ash would cause any trouble…we’re talking here about a decent-sized venue, and a couple hundred pounds would spread out pretty thin across the entire seating area, it’s not like we were gonna drop it all on only one spot!
Historical accuracy would call for a measured, equal layer of ash across much of the town, depending on the wind direction.
We had the wind machines…it would have worked great..
That was the year you bought the matching Greek islands, right? I appreciate a band that knows how to accessorize!
Twisted Sister ripped you off! (They even used the melody in We’re Not Gonna Take It).
Twisted Sister -- New Music -- More Music Videos
http://www.mtv.com/videos/twisted-sister/124128/oh-come-all-ye-faithful-animated.jhtml