“Waiting Room” director Andrew “*frosh.” Pickett has crafted a clever and comical video for “Rhyming Dictionary” by Jeff Elbel + Ping. The song is an odd exercise in trying to rhyme with medical terms, standing as the weirdest offering from the Chicago-area progressive roots-pop collective’s new concept album The Threefinger Opera. If nothing else prepares you for the tone of “Rhyming Dictionary,” it’s knowing that the song’s radio debut occurred on long-running funny music program The Doctor Demento Show. Guest players include Love Coma singer Chris Taylor and Adam Again guitarist Greg Lawless.

The Threefinger Opera itself is a relatable rock ‘n’ roll fable drawn from true-life misadventures, centering upon a character called Mr. Ping. In spite of a calamitous catalyst, The Threefinger Opera is defiantly optimistic and relentlessly fun.

The loopy “Rhyming Dictionary” lyric plays a purpose in The Threefinger Opera’s arc. “This is a strange song to isolate from the storyline,” says Elbel. “On the other hand, playing “Rhyming Dictionary” alone amplifies Mr. Ping’s skewed frame of mind. His world has been turned inside-out by a personal catastrophe. He’s coming to terms with a setback using the best tools he has; he writes a song. But what makes a melodious rhyme with ‘cervical radiculopathy?’”

*frosh.’s video production capitalized on a sliver of time between sets on a whirlwind day at the 2022 Audiofeed Music Festival. With a brief window following Elbel’s three consecutive sets on the opening day, *frosh. devised a plan to tell his story in essentially a single shot. Elbel is joined by friends and passersby as he walks the main road through the Champaign County Fairgrounds in Urbana, Illinois. Audiofeed hero Harry Gore takes Chris Taylor’s role as the Professor, who delivers a lecture in the style of Ben Stein’s Economics Teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Students of music videos will recognize “Rhyming Dictionary” as *frosh.’s roaming homage to one of the first and most iconic music videos, released by one of Elbel’s major songwriting heroes.

Sonic inspiration is drawn from Elbel’s caveman pop favorites including Ian Dury & the Blockheads, the J. Geils Band, the Rolling Stones, and a wisp of AC/DC. “I took the low E string off my Telecaster and tuned to an open G chord like Keith Richards. Songs like ‘Start Me Up’ just started falling out of the guitar. I made an arrangement that was torched and rebuilt with John Blum when he came to The Happy Club for drum recording.”

Classic rock stompers notwithstanding, Elbel’s melting pot also nods to Young MC’s “Bust a Move” and Deee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart.”

In addition to Taylor, Ping’s musical guests on the recording include San Antonio-based guitarist Mitchell Connell as well as Lawless. “I’ve played fretless bass on many Chris Taylor sessions alongside Mitchell, and his playing takes any song somewhere new,” says Elbel. “His personality and character leap from the notes. Greg Lawless is one of my biggest guitar heroes dating back to my time with Farewell to Juliet. I’ve covered Adam Again songs, and Greg played on an FTJ album in 1997. Our habit seems to be making a song together every 25 years. I hope we both get to live for another 50 or so.”

The Threefinger Opera demonstrates Ping’s affinity for wide-ranging musical styles, unfolding as a virtual jukebox. The sonic house party hosts a plethora of musical guests, including friends from the Fixx, Calexico, the Choir, the Claudettes, Resurrection Band, the Seventy-Sevens, and more.

Not long ago, Elbel endured a crushed nerve that paralyzed two fingers on his left hand. Rather than mope through a lengthy rehabilitation, Elbel decided to see what he could accomplish with his remaining three digits. “I wanted to find new ways to do what I love when the old ways became unavailable,” says Elbel.

Click here: The Threefinger Opera is available now via Bandcamp (ping.bandcamp.com). Anyone who mentions True Tunes or the “Rhyming Dictionary” video when ordering physical media will receive their order wrapped in screen-used slides from the video until supply runs out!

on Facebook: facebook.com/ping.rocks

“Rhyming Dictionary” music by Jeff Elbel and John Blum. Verse lyrics by Jeff Elbel. Chorus lyrics by Jeff Elbel and Chris Taylor. Additional rhymes by Dave Dampier and Maron Gaffron. Published by Zimbalon (ASCAP).

John Blum: drums
Mike Choby: keyboards
Mitchell Connell: Texas blues guitar
Jeff Elbel: guitar, bass, vocal
Maron Gaffron: vocal
Greg Lawless: psycho guitar
Tom Sharpe: percussion
Chris Taylor: vocal, academic lecture

Mixed by Matthew McCabe at Finley Sound, Loomis, CA
Mastered by Miro Svetinsky at Mirolab, Long Beach, CA

 

Lyrics:

I’ll never be a hip-hop star

My flow’s not legendary

But I’ve got rhymes to fill a book

– a rhyming dictionary

My skill with words is testament

To literacy and wit

But my vocabulary’s stretched

And now the rhymes don’t fit

Can’t walk on water in these brimstone shoes

Can’t be filled with laughter when I’m singing the blues

Can’t roller-skate in a buffalo herd

Can’t understand why love’s a dirty word, now

You can mock and laugh at me

And have your fill of jeers

I’ll humbly take your tutelage

Believe me, I’m all ears

If you choose to acquiesce

And lend your aid to me

I need a rhyme for cervical radiculopathy

Can’t catch the ball with my hands in my pockets

Can’t shoot the moon if I don’t build the rocket

Can’t find a clue without a magnifying glass

Can’t do a dance if I’m sitting on my lawn chair

Cervical radiculopathy is a clinical description of pain and neurological symptoms (Anyone? Anyone?) resulting from a type of condition that irritates a nerve (Anyone?) in the cervical spine, the neck. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

My elocution’s eloquent

My prose is always pleasant

My discourse is distinguished

And ideas incandescent

I’ll never stoop to sing about your chronic halitosis

I’ll need some different words to rhyme “foraminal stenosis”

Can’t feed the hawk if I want to keep the dove

Can’t catch a bullet in a baseball glove

Can’t clap in time on the one and the three

Can’t get through the door without the master key

My situation’s out of sorts and getting kind of scary

But I’ve got rhymes to overflow a rhyming dictionary

My language rarely lacks, and my lyrics are a hit

But my vocabulary’s stretched and now the rhymes don’t fit

Rhymes:

Flammable ketosis

Garanimal in focus

Tyrannical ten locusts

Phenomenal neurosis

Grammatical …

Copyright © & ℗ 2022 Marathon Records. Published by Zimbalon (ASCAP).

Click here: The Threefinger Opera is available now at ping.bandcamp.com