FRONTIER PSYCHIATRIST

"Frontier Psychiatrist" is a song by Australian electronic dance music group The Avalanches. The song was produced by group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann, under their production alias Bobbydazzler, for the group's debut album Since I Left You. The song is built around many sampled elements, much like other tracks from its parent album, including prominent vocal samples of comedy duo Wayne and Shuster and an orchestral background sourced from an Enoch Light version of the composition "My Way of Life" (1968). It was released on 21 August 2000 as the second single from Since I Left You. Upon release, it peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number 49 in the group's native Australia, becoming their first single to enjoy commercial success. "Frontier Psychiatrist" was well received by music critics, who praised the Avalanches' utilization of samples in making the song. Background: According to group members, "Frontier Psychiatrist" was not planned beforehand by the group and in his words, "just happened from us just fucking around." Group members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann were driving figures in the production of the album's songs, spending months scouring Melbourne's "old record stores for old records" and spending hours sampling music from the records they found to create the songs on the album. The duo primarily worked with a Yamaha Promix 01 and Akai S2000 samplers. Dexter Fabay, turntablist and keyboardist for the band, brainstormed the idea for "Frontier Psychiatrist", and his scratching abilities are heard prominently on the song. Composition: "Frontier Psychiatrist" is built around several elements sampled from other music; Chater and Seltmann, who produced the song, sampled music from several vinyl records in the production and creation of the songs from Since I Left You. The song also makes prominent use of scratching done by the band's turntablist Dexter Fabay. The prominent orchestral sample heard throughout the track is sourced from a recording by the Enoch Light Singers of the 1968 composition "My Way of Life", originally composed by Bert Kaempfert, Herbert Rehbein and Carl Sigman. The track also contains several vocal samples of Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, the most prominent of these samples taken from the duo's comedy routine "Frontier Psychiatrist" Only the aforementioned two samples are credited in the liner notes of Since I Left You; various other uncredited samples are used in the song, with sources ranging from golf instructionals, Christianity records and "Reading for the Blind" tapes. The spoken sample at the beginning ("Is Dexter ill?") comes from the John Waters film Polyester, followed by Maurice Jarre's overture from Lawrence of Arabia. The closing mariachi band played "El negro Zumbon" first performed by Silvana Mangano in the movie Anna. Music Video: The song's music video, directed by Kuntz and Maguire, features various characters re-enacting and playing various elements of the track, including vocal samples, violins, horns and drums. The video was released to critical acclaim. The video was the runner-up in the "Best Music Video" category at the 2002 Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival. Pitchfork Media placed the video at #19 on their list of the "Top 50 Music Videos of the 2000s". An alternative video was made, featuring actors acting out the 'dialogue' of the track in various scenes, including a psychiatrist's office and "Dexter's" bedroom. In addition, Rorschach ink-blots are animated to reflect various samples in the track.

[Intro] "Is Dexter ill? Is Dexter ill? Is Dexter ill? Is Dexter ill today?" "No, Mr. Kirk, Dexter's in school." "I'm afraid he's not, Miss Fishpaw. Dexter's truancy problem is way out of hand. The Baltimore County School Board have decided to expel Dexter from the entire public school system." "Oh, Mr. Kirk, I'm as upset as you to learn of Dexter's truancy, but surely expulsion is not the answer!" "I'm afraid expulsion is the only answer! It's the opinion of the entire staff that Dexter is criminally insane, sane, sane, sane" [Hook] That boy needs therapy Psychosomatic That boy needs therapy Purely psychosomatic That boy needs therapy Lie down on the couch, what does that mean? You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut! What does that mean? That boy needs therapy I'm gonna kill you, that boy needs therapy Rannygazoo, let's have a tune Now when I count three That, that, that, that, that boy, boy needs therapy He was-he was white as a sheet And he also made false teeth [Verse 1] Avalanche is above, business continues below Did I ever tell you the story about Cowboys, and m-midgets, and the Indians and fron-frontier psychiatrist? I-I felt strangely hypnotised I was in another world, a world of 20,000 girls And milk and rectangles To an optometrist! The man with the golden eyeball And tighten your buttocks, pour juice on your chin I promise my girlfriend I'd (play) the violin, violin, violin [Refrain] Frontier psychiatrist Frontier, frontier, frontier, frontier psychiatrist Frontier, frontier, frontier, frontier psychiatrist Frontier, frontier, frontier, frontier psychiatrist Frontier, frontier, frontier, frontier psychiatrist [Hook] That boy needs therapy Psychosomatic That boy needs therapy Purely psychosomatic That boy needs therapy Lie down on the couch, what does that mean? You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut! What does that mean? That boy needs therapy I'm gonna kill you, that boy needs therapy Rannygazoo, let's have a tune Now when I count three That, that, that, that, that boy, boy needs therapy He was-he was white as a sheet And he also made false teeth [Refrain] Frontier psychiatrist [Verse 2] Can you think of anything else that talks oth-other than a person? A-a-a bird? Yeah Sometimes a parrot talks Hello, hello, hello, hello Hello, hello, hello, hello Yes, some birds are funny when they talk Can you think of anything else? Um, a record, record, record, record?