(c) 2000 by Jeff King, Chris Flattmann & Lewis D'Aubin
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At last I will get what I need
After dinner, time to feed - on
Bitter chill, sticky sweet
I finished my supper and it's time to eat
I Scream - When I am all alone
I Scream - Tastes better in a cone
I Scream - The screaming never stops
I Scream - Mit chocolate sprinkles on top
I Scream!
Confronted mit uber 30 choices
Alternate directions, screaming voices
Strawberry shortcake, chocolate, lime
Too many flavors, und not enough time
I Scream - Is such a creamy treat
I Scream - Is always good to eat
I Scream - Und scream until I'm done
I Scream - Is always so much fun
I Scream!
Das pain has brought me to my knees
I ate too fast, got a brain freeze
So cold, impossible to fight
I clench my fist, take another bite, und
What more is there to do, but to... SCREAM!
Er schreit - he screams
Sie schreit - she screams
Sie schreien - they scream
Wir schreien - we scream
Ich schreie - I scream
Du schreis - you scream
Wir alle schreien - we all scream
Für Eis Kreme - for I Scream
The most intensive taste I have ever felt
Such a bitter waste as it starts to melt
Is this real, or merely a dream?
No way to be sure, as I start to scream!
Back in 2000, Jeff was listening to a lot of Rammstein - the German metal band who had scored a big hit 1997 with 'Du Hast', proving that if the music's heavy enough, it doesn't matter whether you can understand the lyrics or not (see also: 99 Luftballoons)...
I decided to throw this theory into sharp relief by writing an industrial metal anthem about Ice Cream. I began with a beat adapted from a pattern written by my old friend Mike Martin for 'When I Die', a song by his old metal band Dead Rebecca.
The moog sounding synth at the beginning is my trusty old Ensoniq ESQ-1. When we recorded the guitars, we wanted it to sound like the world was ending, and so we scooped all the midrange out. Big mistake! I ended up having to undo a lot of that during mixdown. There were 8 rhythm guitar tracks in all, comped together and hard gated by cutting the tracks on the timeline. The German language part on the bridge was provided by my old bassist George (Dr. Smerlington), who actually speaks 8 languages and whose parents were born in Germany.
This song was a natural for video. We taped it in the back of the dusty warehouse behind where Jim works, at ExpoSigns. The dust in the air really caught the light well, making it completely unnecessary to add fog for the lighting. The place was quite huge, allowing for things like that long truck shot into Jeff's eye (which I accomplished by filming in reverse from a dolly which was pulled backwards by Jim.) We all went through the song a few times, playing the song back at half speed and at double speed. Later during editing, the video footage was sped up and slowed down to bring the pitch back in synch with the music.
A year later, we used I Scream as a pivotal point in our 'Damien Storm' show, parodying real life (Damien Storm's alter ego actually manages a real ice cream shop in Chalmette, and that's where we filmed the scenes set in 1987.) The video was so successful we began showing it instead of performing the song in concert! However, the song remains quite popular and will probably be revived as soon as I can find more of those little foam ice cream trinkets to toss out to the audience...
Credits
Drums...........drumbot
Guitars.........Jeff King
Bass............Chris Flattmann/Jim Fairchild
Synthesizer.....Lewis D'Aubin
Lead vocal......Lewis D'Aubin
Backing vocals..Lewis D'Aubin
Special appearance by George Schleh
Recorded and mixed 2000 at C.O.G. Secret Lab, Kenner LA