"Old Mac" is a song released as the first non-album single by the Australian alternative rock band

Tlot Tlot Tlot Tlot ( or ) were an Australian pop rock band formed in 1986 as Man in the Wood. The original line-up was Owen Bolwell on bass guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Briant on lead guitar, and Stanley Paulzen on drums and lead vocals. Briant left i ...

. It was released on 8 December 1992.

Composition

Musically, the song can be considered either

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

. It uses a xylophone intro followed by heavy guitar riffs which play in the choruses. The riffs' chord progression is a constant D#-F, using two guitars for a thicker sound. The verses have the same drum and bass backing as the chorus, but instead of guitars, a keyboard is used. A different guitar phrase, the notes C-F-F#-A#-F-C-F#-A#-C-A#-C-A#, is used between the verses. The breakdown has stomping on the bass pedal followed by the xylophone intro followed by the between-verses bit, but without the guitars. The chorus then begins again. There is a minor pause before the outro (which is just the chorus repeated four to five times) begins. The end of the song consists of a final strum of the guitar followed by Paulzen bending one of the strings as the song fades out. Lyrically, the song is about

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

and is sung from the point of view of

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...

(who is only referred to as a "big yellow clown" in the first verse and is not explicitly named until the end). When Tlot Tlot played the song live, the between-verses bit was played in the intro in place of the heavy guitars, which were placed behind the verses instead of bare keyboards. The chorus was also sung by Paulzen instead of Dixon. In the studio version, Dixon sang "Will anybody be there?", but Paulzen replaced it with "Will

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

be there?" in the first chorus and "Will

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

be there?" in the second. With the "No, I don't think so" backing vocal in the chorus, Paulzen sang it in the studio version, but Bolwell would sing it when playing live.

Track listing

Track 4 previously appeared on ''

Pistolbuttsa'twinkle ''Pistolbuttsa'twinkle'' is the second album by Australian rock band Tlot Tlot. The album was released in 1992 and compiles eight remastered versions of cuts from the band's debut, ''A Day at the Bay'', with previously unreleased songs from the ...

''. A song called "Hearse" was also written and recorded during these sessions, but it went unused and was later released on Ruck Rover's self-titled EP in 1999. Track 5 previously appeared on ''

A Day at the Bay ''A Day at the Bay'' is the debut album by the Australian rock band Tlot Tlot and their first release under that name. It was released in 1991. It was only released on cassette. Angie Hart from Frente sings on "Marshall". "Marshall" was later r ...

''. The title track would later be released on the album ''

The Live Set - Volume 1 Tlot Tlot ( or ) were an Australian pop rock band formed in 1986 as Man in the Wood. The original line-up was Owen Bolwell on bass guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Briant on lead guitar, and Stanley Paulzen on drums and lead vocals. Briant left i ...

'' in 1993, however the recording on the album is not the recording featured on this single. It is instead based on the tape used to back Tlot Tlot in live performance, which was recorded in 1990.

Personnel

* Stanley Paulzen - lead vocals, drums, producer * Owen Bolwell - guitars, bass, xylophone, co-producer * Natalie Dixon - keyboards, female vocals

References

External links

"Old Mac"
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

1992 singles Tlot Tlot songs 1992 songs {{1990s-rock-song-stub