Cloves and Fedoras: Jon Lajoie's song "Stay at Home Dad" is True to Life

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

A couple of weeks back I wrote about a band called Wolfie's Just Fine. I really liked their new album and I put a full review on the site. As I mentioned in that blog, the lead singer is actor/musician/comedian Jon Lajoie. I'm a big Lajoie fan.

After listening to Wolfie's Just Fine new album on repeat for a couple of weeks, I decided I wanted to revisit Lajoie's comedy music. I own all of his music, but, my absolute favorite song is called "Stay At Home Dad". Now, most of you know that I am a stay at home dad, as I have written a piece about it and I have recorded a podcast about it. So, being that I'm a stay at home dad and a Lajoie fan, I wanted to really dig deep into the song and see how closely Lajoie's comedic version is to my real life. I'm going to break down the song, analyzing each lyric, don't worry, the song is short, and I will also break down the chorus, comparing it to my life.

Let's go.

The song opens with the chorus. The chorus is as follows, "I'm a stay at home dad/ I'm on paternity leave/ I'm a stay at home dad/ It's just the baby and me/ I'm a stay at home dad/ While my wife's at work/ I got a bottle in my hand and spit up on my shirt". So, yes, I too am a stay at home dad, obviously. That's an easy comparison. But, I am not on paternity leave. I was with our first kid, and it was great. It was so nice to be at home with my wife after we had our son. Now, with my daughter, I am the stay at home parent, so no paternity leave. It's just my straight up job. Which leads me to, "it's just the baby and me". Two days a week, my four year old is at school, so it is just the baby and me. I truly enjoy these days. This is when I really learn what my daughter likes and dislikes. This is also how we get on a schedule. The one on one time you get with kids is crucial. I got that with my son and now, I'm getting it with my daughter. Then, my wife does go to work, five days a week, 8 hours a day. She leaves the house at 7am and she doesn't get home until 4. So, another thing I relate to. And then there's the bottle in my hand and the inevitable spit up on my shirt or burp cloth. My daughter tends to wake up about an hour after my wife leaves and that's when I make my daughter's breakfast, which includes a 6 ounce bottle of formula. Sometimes, she eats it all, other times, she just wants the food and a little formula, but spit up is always the recurring theme. I have spit up on not only my shirt, but it's on my pants, socks and burp cloth. My baby loves to spit up. Lajoie nails this part. He is one hundred percent right about this. so, that's the chorus. It comes up a couple of times in the song later, but I just hashed it all out here, so I won't have to do it again. I will say though, for the most part, Lajoie is about 90 to 95 percent correct with all the stuff he says about being a stay at home dad. The only part that isn't that similar anymore is the paternity leave thing, but that's it.

Then, the first verse. It goes as follows, "baby wakes up around 5am/ kicking and screaming until his face turns red/ he usually tends to calm down once he's fed/ I give his bottle my wife gets out of bed". Okay, first off, I already said my baby sleeps until about 8 am my time. so, thankfully I don't have to deal with the 5am wake up call, but I think this makes me an anomaly. Most kids do get up very early, but my kids are pretty decent sleepers. Now, that's not to say that I haven't had early wake up calls, but it's not an everyday occurrence. The kicking and screaming only happens about 50 percent of the time. Some mornings I catch her before she starts to really freak out, but other days, it is the kicking and screaming and the red face. This definitely has happened to me on more than one occurrence. And yes, once I feed my daughter, and my son was the exact same, they immediately calm down after they get that first sip from their bottle. the crying stops and everything goes back to being calm and quiet. My wife is already on her way to work when I feed her, so she has been out of bed for awhile prior to the first feeding. This verse is very different from my everyday life, but I bet most stay at home parents deal with Lajoie's version much more so than my version. My kids are decent sleepers and my wife leaves before they wake up.

Then the second verse goes, " cook my wife breakfast while she's getting ready/ uh oh uh oh someone's diaper is smelly/ uh oh uh oh it leaked all over his belly/ uh oh uh oh it looks like mustard and jelly". So, all of this has, and will continue to happen to me, unitl my daughter is out of diapers. Also, my wife takes breakfast to work or makes her own breakfast. She is a much better cook than I will ever be. But, the smelly diaper, the leaky diaper, the mustard and jelly look of a leaky diaper, it's all true and it has all happened to me about a dozen times. My life very much mimics this verse, minus the cooking breakfast, to a T.

This verse is followed by, " kiss my wife good bye while I clean up his bum bum/ it's time for his bath/ this is going to be fun fun/ I try not to get soap in his eye/ he really doesn't like it, it makes him cry". Yes, a good bye kiss happens every morning, but not while I'm changing a diaper. But, after a leaky diaper, there is always a bath. My daughter loves baths. She soaks it all in. She doesn't even care about getting soap in her eye. We also buy the tear free shampoo too. So, this verse is different from my life. But, as I have said before, I'm in the minority. I'm sure a lot more parents deal with what Lajoie has to say, I just don't. I'm lucky I suppose.

The next part of the song goes, " but if he cries I've got a trick/ I make funny noises with my mouth like this/ goo goo ga ga ga/ then we play peekaboo/ it makes him laugh". When my daughter cries I do all the same stuff and more. I make funny noises. I make her laugh. We play peekaboo a ton. She loves it all and I do it all. Totally parallels my real life. Then we get the chorus. It's the same, with a few changes. He mentions he likes his job a lot. I do as well. He mentions that it's a full time job. It sure as hell is. He mentions having an afternoon snack and watching shows during afternoon naps. That's when I watch movies and my shows and when I eat lunch. So, spot on.

The final verse has the lyrics, " if I have to run errands I take the van/ strap him in his car seat/ and take the baby bag/ I always make sure his seat is well strapped in/ my baby's security is important/ groceries, pay some bills, visit grandma/ but I have to be back by 4 o' clock/ so I can prepare supper while I watch "Oprah"/ what sounds good tonight, maybe some pasta/ and a Caesar salad, my wife likes that/ 5 o' clock is the time she gets back/ she asks me how my day was I say not bad/ it's all in a days work as a stay at home dad". So, the errands. My life is running errands and I always take the SUV. I always make sure my daughter is comfortable and safe in her seat. I NEVER leave the house without my diaper bag. So far, 100 percent correct. We visit my kids grandparents all the time and we always make sure we make it home before my wife gets home so my kids can wind down. However, I do not prepare supper or watch "Oprah". I'm not a good cook, see above, and I don't care for afternoon talk shows. My wife gets home an hour earlier, but still pretty much the same. We always ask each other about our days and we always seem to say the same thing, it's a days work. This verse is pretty much one hundred percent straight on. It is a near perfect representation of my life.

The ending is the chorus as well, with some extra stuff added in. Lajoie mentions he gets high on baby hugs and watches movies and shows with the kids. I do both of these things, but my favorite Disney movie is the "Lion King", not the "Lion King 2". Then he finishes it off by repeating, "that's right I take care of my children" over and over again.

This song is almost the perfect representation of my daily life. I think about 75 to 80 percent of it is an exact parallel of my daily life. Lajoie is a genius comedian and song writer and "Stay At Home Dad" is his piece de resistance. It's an excellent, and very true, song.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not need "Oprah" in his day, he already has Ina. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Listen and Enjoy Wolfie's Just Fine Debut Album "I Remember But Then I Forgot"

Last week the band Wolfie's Just Fine released their debut album, "I Remembered But Then I Forgot", and it is really good. Now, for those of you that haven't heard of Wolfie's Just Fine, I bet most of you know their lead singer and guitar player, Jon Lajoie.

Lajoie is a comedian and actor from Canada. He has had small parts in movies and TV shows, but he is best known for playing the role of Taco on "The League". He and Rafi(Jason Mantzoukas) were my personal favorite characters on the show. Taco was the younger, stoner brother of Kevin(Steve Ranizzissi). He was always broke, but coming up with new business ventures. Anytime Lajoie was on, it was bound to be hilarious. He also has released solo, comedy music records under his own name. I own these albums as well. I bought them after I heard him sing on "The League". I thought the stuff he did on the show was funny, and the albums are just the same. It's goofy music. He sings folk, rock, pop and rap songs, but they are all very vulgar and very hilarious. He has some great songs on his first couple of solo records. Some of my favorites are "Stay At Home Dad", a Rage Against the Machineesque rock song about changing diapers, feeding his baby and making dinner for the family. He also has a folksy tune about the horrifying "2 Girls One Cup" video, where he almost makes it a love song. It's disgusting and terrifying and awful, but damn it's catchy. He has a fake, almost comically bad rap song called "Show Me Your Genitals", that is exactly what you think it's about. The way Lajoie raps the song is great and very funny. Basically, all his early music and his YouTube channel is based on comedy. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and I like that.

About a month ago, I had heard rumors that he was going to make a "real" album. No jokes, very little swear words and have a real, straight up folk band backing him up. I was intrigued. This wasn't the same feeling I experienced with Donald Glover when I found out he was a rapper who went by Childish Gambino. I thought he would be jokey, but he is a straight up rapper, and he is very good. The feeling I had when hearing that Lajoie was going to put out a real folk album was gloom. I didn't know if it would work. His comedy stuff is so funny and plays to his persona so well, I didn't want him to stray from that.

Then, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, Lajoie released the first single from Wolfie's Just Fine, "It's a Job", and I listened with caution. Instead of the gloom I initially felt, I immediately loved the song. His voice was a perfect fit for this style and genre of music. The backing band was great, never playing too loudly or too softly, they hit the sweet spot. I don't know why I had the gloom feeling at first, because a lot of his comedy music is folk based. So, instead of being dirty or gross, he just wrote and sang regular old folk songs and the single is awesome.

The album came out last Friday and I bought it that day. I have listened to the album three full times now, and it gets better and better to me every time. I love Lajoie's voice on every song. I love the band on every song. I love the lyrics and I love the music. I genuinely love this entire album. It's all folk, but the band does both slow and upbeat folk songs. It's really good guys.

Besides, "It's a Job", there are some other great songs like "I Forgot", "Todd and Janelle", "Never Me", "Marie-Eve" and "Running From My Savior". "I Forgot" is one of the slower folk songs, with a great guitar riff and great lyrics. The song slow burns and the riff running through the whole song is wonderful. It's a beautifully slow, throw back folk song. "Todd and Janelle" is a great, faster love song about two people that don't seem to really like each other. It's the only song with swear words on it, but it's not to shock, it's needed to explain the relationship between the two title characters. The music is faster, with a great drum groove. I didn't like the song at first, but on the third listen, I was on board and it's one of my favorite tunes on the whole record. "Never Me" has a great piano groove and awesome vocals from Lajoie. The song is very Billy Joel esque, but in a good way. I don't care for Joel personally, but I do enjoy his faster piano music and this is Lajoie's best interpretation of a good Billy Joel song. It's one of the more fun songs on the record. "Marie-Eve" is a wonderful love song. It's all the best things about old school folk stuffed into one 3 minute song. This song could have easily been written and sung by a young Bob Dylan. I wouldn't have been surprised had it been on the soundtrack for "Inside Llewyn Davis" had it been released at the time. I love this song. It's probably my favorite song on the whole record. The closer, "Running From My Savior" is so good and kind of boastful. It's a very good mix of rock and folk, definitely leaning more folk, and it finds Lajoie calling himself a God at the end of the song and during the chorus. I like that he can still be boastful, even when making a legit album. It also doesn't hurt that the song is very well written and very well played by the band.

I love this whole album, obviously. I hope Lajoie continues to do both styles of music. I still really enjoy his comedy music, but I really, really like this new direction he has taken. As I've written many times before, it's nice when musicians and singers take chances, and this is a huge risk taken by Lajoie, that totally pays off. I hope this album gets Lajoie noticed and recognized more in the music business. He's a well known actor by now, but he needs to be more well known as a musician.

Remember when listening to Wolfie's Just Fine, if you are already a Lajoie fan, it is not comedy, it is legit music. Don't expect jokes. But, I think if you are a true fan of his, you will really enjoy this album and really like this direction he is moving in. I love the band and I love the album. Go check it out if you are already a fan of Lajoie's, but also check it out if you are a fan of folk music. It's worth a listen, and I think all fans will really like it. I know that I do.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is getting more and more interested in the world of comedy - music fusion. His most anticipated film of 2016 fits this bill. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.