Chi si ricorda di Basketball Jones? (TV Eye)

Prodigiosa reliquia dei più profondi anni '70, Cheech and Chong (Richard "Cheech" Marin e Tommy Chong) furono un duo di stand-up comedy, dissacranti paladini della controcultura più estrema col vizio della canzone; una specie di Cochi & Renato di Haight-Atsbury.

Nel 1973 pescarono addirittura il jolly con una hit clamrosa: Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces, una sbeffegiante parodia del mondo dello sport cantata da Cheech Marin in un demenziale falsetto su un atmosferico funky-spaziale alla Little Wing (derivato in realtà da Love Jones dei Brighter Side of Darkness),  che monta in un crescendo ripetitivo e prevedibile ma straordinariamente contagioso, a cui (pare) contribuirono tra gli altri  George Harrison, Carole King, Michelle Phillips e Nicky Hopkins. La canzone faceva parte dell’album Los Cochinos che raggiunse persino la posizione n°2 nella chart di billboard.

L'anno seguente, sull’onda del successo, fu realizzato un videoclip animato per promuovere il brano, anch’esso oggi paurosamente datato e per questo un bel pezzo di modernariato.

Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones

Got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo

Yes, I am the victim of a Basketball Jones

Ever since I was a little baby, I always be dribblin'

In fac', I was de baddest dribbler in the whole neighborhood

Then one day, my mama bought me a basketball

And I loved that basketball

I took that basketball with me everywhere I went

That basketball was like a basketball to me

I even put that basketball underneath my pillow

Maybe that's why I can't sleep at night

I need help, ladies and gentlemens

I need someone to stand beside me

I need, I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life

Someone I can pass to

Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go

And not end up in the popcorn machine

So cheerleaders, help me out

(Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones)

Oh, that sounds so sweet

Sing it out

C'mon Coach Booty, Red Blazer, sing along with me

That be bad, honky

Yeah

I want everybody in the whole stadium to stand up and sing with us

Oh yeah, sing it out like you're proud

All right, everybody watchin' coast-to-coast, sing along with us

Bill Russell, sing along with us

Chick Hearn, sing along with us

Chris Schenkel, don't sing nothin'

Oh, it feels so good

Gimme the ball

I'll go one-on-one against the world, left-handed

I could stuff it from center court with my toes

I could jump on top of the backboard, take off a quarter, leave fifteen cents change I

could, I could dribble behind my back I got more moves than Ex-Lax I'm bad I could

dribble with my tongue Here I go down court, try to stop me You can't stop me 'cause I

got a Basketball Jones Here I come That's my hook shot with my eyebrow Yeah, I could

dunk it with my nose I'm, I'm bad as King Kong, gimme the ball I'm hot, I'm hot as...,

I'm hot as..., I'm hot as... uh Uh, uh, uh, uh

                

Basketball Jones / Don't Bug Me - Ode Records - 1973

Los Cochinos (LP) - Ode Records - SP 77019 – US - 1973