Audio Regretsy
Regretsy
I’m laughing so hard I’m crying.
This album immediately conjures memories of a cassette tape that fell into my possession some years ago. It was a self-produced album belonging to a family friend. Production values were identical, except that he was Hungarian, unable to speak English, but singing entirely in English.
Both my mother and my step-father speak English as a second language, so far be it from me to hold that against someone. The problem was, his use of words was so bizarre, and his pronounciation so completely garbled, that I swear that one of the songs was about goats and clouds.
I was 13 at the time. My step-father introduced the tape to us, proud of this tape from his musician friend. He started the tape, and the warbling of the sound quality immediately didn’t bode well. When he began to sing, the notes came out flat and wobbly, and the words sounded like he was speaking through some automated translator. I started to laugh. Hesitantly at first, watching my parents to see if my reaction would be received without incident. I tried to stifle my laughter out of politeness, but this only amplified things. It soon became contagious, as it quickly became apparent to my parents that he was singing about livestock and meteorological phenomenon. It wasn’t long before tears were streaming down all of our faces, holding our sides in pain.
Varga takes me right back, Casio and lo-fi recording to boot. This makes me do a little dance of exquisite joy.
