
The James Allenspach Songbook
By James Allenspach
The ongoing catalog of the random songs produced by James Allenspach, a citizen of Chicago, Illinois.

We Are The World
Hey, happy Podapalooza! This episode comes out in the middle of the Coronavirus epidemic, in celebration of the virtual podcast festival Podapalooza. This my version of a charity single, and is a response to the odd fact that, after Band-Aid sang "Feed the world" in their single, USA for Africa sang "We are the world". Makes you think!
00:25
April 25, 2020

Pokerface #4
Ha you thought I was done with the Pokerface and the thing and the hey hey.
00:17
February 20, 2020

Bread and Butter
I sincerely apologize for whatever you are about to hear. In my defense I can only say that I have to get this nonsense out of my head so that my wife doesn't hear it every day for the rest of our lives.
00:52
February 19, 2020

For Your Eyes Only
I did a couple of new James Bond songs in the previous season, so here's another one! I can't imagine why I haven't been called by the James Bond people yet to sing a new theme for the next movie...
01:02
February 18, 2020

Punch It
Hey this is one of those songs that appears to have no origins. So whatever.
00:10
February 16, 2020

Sugar Round
One of those melodies that I got from a dream. There have been a couple of these, which I will post in later seasons.
00:12
February 15, 2020

Southern Man
Recorded live on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois! Another use of the versatile "Spiderman" melody, this song is my tribute to the beautiful men and women of the great South. I think.
00:13
February 14, 2020

The Ronald Reagan Man
I think I dreamt this song, or it just came to me pretty quickly. I soon realized that it's a rewrite of the song "I've Been Everywhere" but by then it was far too late.
00:48
February 13, 2020

Wean My Baby off the Rock 'n' Play
Inspired by a Lifehacker article with the title "How to wean your baby off the Rock 'n' Play". Some songs just write themselves, you know?
00:13
February 12, 2020

I'm Gonna Make a Movie
Welcome to the 5th season! This song was, I guess, inspired by the song "Act Naturally" but who knows for sure.
00:37
February 11, 2020

Hamilton Mixtape Part 3
Yes, this is the year of the Hamilton! To commemorate Mr Miranda's triumphant new movie, here's a remix of the Hamilton song with another "classic" Broadway song.
01:31
January 10, 2020

Skyfall
Hey, a second James Bond theme! Yes, I might just be working my way through the entire film catalog. Or maybe not. Who's to say?
00:19
January 09, 2020

Sturdely Purt
Well, now this is just singing nonsense. Sometimes you just enjoy the sound of certain syllables and you have to celebrate them in a singing fashion.
00:17
January 08, 2020

Three Sausages
Yes, the melody is from the classic Dokken song "Dream Warriors". Who doesn't love a good Dokken reference?
00:18
January 07, 2020

Rehab
Much love to the late great Amy Winehouse for the original concept. Can you imagine what the future would be like if she had actually gone to rehab?
01:08
January 06, 2020

Staycation
Why has no one ever written a song about the new trend of the staycation? Let me be the first to do so, and thereby dominate the field.
00:21
January 05, 2020

Call Me Maybe
This of course is inspired by the famous Taylor Swift song of a few years ago. The lines about bowling pins are the product of a common literary device that I use, which is to think of something completely random that doesn't relate to the song at all, as long as it provides a decent rhyme. Wordplay!
00:30
January 04, 2020

Ugly in an Elevator - remix
Yaay, our first remix! This song originally premiered in season two and let me tell you it never really left my mind. So I hope you enjoy this re-imagining of the song.
00:22
January 03, 2020

Where'd you get that hat?
One time my wife got on a bus, and a woman exclaimed, "Where'd you get that hat!" Of course my wife thought it was a legitimate question, and she told the woman where she got it. The woman replied, "No, it's just a saying, like 'Where'd you get that hat'."
00:16
January 02, 2020

No Time to Die
Welcome to the 4th season! To kick things off, here's the new theme song for the next James Bond film, due in 2027.
01:15
January 01, 2020

Frosty the Snowman
This song goes way back to my early years, when an aunt made us laugh by singing the first verse with Frosty having bowling pins instead of eyes. And there the joke ended, until I thought of adding more lyrics when I was in my teens. And that's my Christmas story!
00:37
December 20, 2019

The Thanksgiving Song
Hello! While I'm still taking some time off, here's a song for Thanksgiving that came to mind when I was thinking about spelling the word "Thanksgiving" for some reason. Enjoy this, and keep your podcast apps open for a possible Christmas song next month!
00:52
November 25, 2019

Pokerface #3
Is this the last song with this title? One can only hope. With that, that's a wrap on season 3. I'm taking the rest of the year off, because I've given you so much content already. Look for some holiday specials, and season 4 in January, if I can be bothered to record it!
00:08
October 20, 2019

Old Town Road
An attempt to fool listeners into thinking this is an actual song.
00:45
October 19, 2019

No Scrubs
Sure, I've heard the song before. This is totally how it goes. I heard it once in the 1990s...
00:17
October 18, 2019

You Can't Touch This
It's amazing what you can do with a lunch hour, isn't it? This was of course inspired by the MC Hammer song, and is one of the longest songs I've come up with yet.
01:12
October 17, 2019

Grub
I think this was inspired by an old Bob and Ray sketch, "Grub: The Story of Food". Who knows?
00:45
October 16, 2019

Mr. Tambourine Man
What would it sound like if you replaced the word "telephone" in the New Edition song "Mr. Telephone Man" with the word "tambourine"? What indeed.
00:22
October 14, 2019

Biddie Bankalone
Or "Bankelone", I can't decide. This song follows the pattern "my first name's ___ and my last name's ___" and is one of the few songs of this type that can be considered a complete song.
00:11
October 13, 2019

Pokerface #1
It's right there in the title. "Pokerface". Combining "poke" and "face ". This title has inspired a lot of random singing, as we will see throughout this season.
00:26
October 12, 2019

Big Faces
Welcome to season 3! This song was recorded live at the Glenwood Sunday Market in Rogers Park, Chicago.
00:08
October 11, 2019

Don't Call It A Comeback
Remember the MTV Unplugged performance that LL Cool J did? And there was that one guy in the front of the audience who was obviously waiting for that song so he could stand up, take his shirt off, and start boxing? This song is dedicated to that guy.
00:15
September 19, 2019

Doodley Doop
Singing "High Hopes" with the lyric "doodley Doop" is surprisingly addictive
00:12
September 17, 2019

Bad Romance
The first major entry in a long list of songs written by just knowing the title and not the song.
00:27
September 14, 2019

Walk This Way
I was just struck by the two lines from Aerosmith's song, and wrote some more rhymes to go further.
00:15
September 14, 2019

I Put It Away
Another song recorded almost immediately after it was written. The inspiration for this song: I went to the local market, and when I was leaving said market I checked my pockets to confirm that I had the credit card that I used for the transaction. I had, in fact, put it away.
00:10
September 12, 2019

Ugly in an Elevator
Welcome to the second season! This song was written about a minute before the recording, and was recorded in an actual elevator for verisimilitude.
00:09
September 11, 2019

If You're Blue
One of the many variations on the lyrics of "Puttin' on the Ritz"
00:07
August 18, 2019

Hamilton Mixtape Part 1
If you record this song onto a mixtape, it will officially become a Hamilton mixtape!
00:12
August 16, 2019

Jesus Christ Superstar
More of a joke than a song that I created, but I'm all about the old standards, as we will see.
00:08
August 15, 2019

As I Went Into the Sea To Have a Wee
This song was inspired by a line that Stephen Merchant spoke on an old Ricky Gervais podcast episode.
00:29
August 13, 2019

Pissing on a Dream
Welcome to the podcast! I'll be recording the random songs produced by my brain every so often. This will be nothing but the songs, so episodes are going to be very short.
00:08
August 11, 2019