Comments on: On the radio, the radio

Question: On the radio, the radio

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:14:43 -0800

Looking for a song with the refrain, "On the raa-dee-oh, the raa-de-oh."

I know very little about this song. The refrain is a chorus of women's voices, two or three, heavily Autotuned; the last line of the chorus ends "on the radio, the radio." I can't recall where I heard it, but it stuck in my head like an earworm.

If you've ever heard the female part in Morningwood's "Nth Degree" it sounds just like that bubblegum pop sound - could've been produced by the same engineer.

They actually sing "on the radio" in that song. However, in that song each syllable of "radio" is an eighth note; in the song I'm thinking of the first syllable is stretched into a quarter note, the word "radio" is repeated once, and this ends the refrain.

Google lyrics searches have been useful to rule out Nelly Furtado, Regina Spektor, and Donna Summers; I listened to all three of those songs and none are it. I couldn't find a copy of Martine McCutcheon's cover of the Donna Summer tune but I can't imagine it's what I'm thinking of. I'm not actually 100% certain it's not a different Morningwood song, but since all the Morningwood songs I've ever heard are on my iTunes, and none of them are it, it seems doubtful.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:17:13 -0800

It's by a band called Selecter. The name of the song is "On the Radio"

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:22:37 -0800

Oh, re-reading your question, I could be wrong. Here's a Youtube video of the song I mentioned.

By: keef

keef — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:27:09 -0800

The New Pornographers. "Mass Romantic." Youtube here.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:28:02 -0800

That's not it, vacapinta! But it's entertaining.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:29:36 -0800

Nicely done, keef. Thank you!

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:30:33 -0800

Oh boy, it's on a mix CD occhiblu made for me. I'm in trouble now.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:30:35 -0800

And you heard it on a mix I made for you!

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:30:44 -0800

Jinx.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:31:29 -0800

Martine. It's what I first thought of.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:45:11 -0800

Thanks, fire&wings, I haven't scrubbed my eyeballs with steel wool for a good long while. Now I have an excuse.

By: MiffyCLB

MiffyCLB — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:53:12 -0800

I thought of Donna Summer but maybe you're thinking of something more recent...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7-qMrJ0Kn8

By: Tuwa

Tuwa — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:24:52 -0800

If that's The New Pornographers, I doubt it's autotuned.

By: Aloysius Bear

Aloysius Bear — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:31:54 -0800

For any future Askers, Pitty Sing also did a song with "on the radio" in the chorus. It's called Radio.

By: schoolgirl report

schoolgirl report — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:56:33 -0800

Hah, Aloysuis, I was just listening to Pitty Sing's "Radio" to see if it might fit the bill.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:09:54 -0800

Since the question's been answered, I'll just throw in there that I was gonna volunteer "AM Radio" (which has a profoundly disturbing music video).

By: Sterling Hoyt

Sterling Hoyt — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:49:20 -0800

Yeah, the New Pornographers' vocals are sometimes overdubbed, but I really doubt they're autotuned. They just can sing.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:16:19 -0800

When I think about Jackie Wilson or the Platters and then I think about modern, Top 40 music that's really horrible, it makes me mad.
*Loves Nikko Case more than ever.*

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:17:04 -0800

Can't spell her name right, though. I blame beer.

By: jjg

jjg — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:30:38 -0800

ikkyu2 obviously already has it, but for anyone else who's interested, there's an MP3 on their record company's website here. As for that production technique on the vocals, the term you're looking for is "multitracked".

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:45:08 -0800

It doesn't sound autotuned to me. I was conflating my memory of it with the Morningwood song, which is definitely autotuned.

By: PercussivePaul

PercussivePaul — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:34:42 -0800

That's Neko Case singing with the pornos. She sure as hell doesn't autotune. Check out some of her solo stuff, she's great.

By: PercussivePaul

PercussivePaul — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:38:00 -0800

oh wow, I was at that show in the youtube video! and Neko Case had been replaced by some other girl (Kathryn Calder), because she'd split off go to tour her solo album. Neko's on the original recording, though.

By: Jupiter Jones

Jupiter Jones — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:08:38 -0800

Neko Case was always listed as being a guest on the New Pornographers albums, I believe. She's got her own (amazing career) and does these albums with the New Pornographers for kicks. Awesome kicks. They've got Kathryn now so that they can actually tour. Plus she's sounds a lot like Neko.

It would be a sin to autotune Neko Case. She just sounds like that all the time. Amazing voice. Check out her latest album "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood".