There are lots of inside jokes on this track. The track begins with Eric asking if we could sing a "totally straight one." This means, of course, a song with no goofiness, but with mostly musical qualities. However, this was quickly shot down. Jacob says, "What's with all the straight ones?" Peter then came in with the word play saying that we don't want to be gay. This was followed by an awkward silence. Then, for some reason, the drawer below our recording studio (Jacob's computer) slammed shut. Jacob Broderick played it off by saying that we would leave that awkward concept in the drawer (the "gay" concept). It would have been more ironic if we would have left that concept in the closet, instead of the drawer.
Eric then relented and agreed to do a "not-straight" one (since we didn't really have a word for that). He then asks if we should ask the obligatory question. Note that this obligatory question is different from the obligatory joke. The obligatory question is the title of the song, "Why does the sun shine?" Eric was always asked this before we would sing the song (because the song is really the answer to this question). Jacob Broderick asked Eric the question, but before he could Jacob and Peter went off on curiosity killing cats. "Curiosity killed the cat, but it fed the dog." That was representative of our goofy character, saying random jokes and phrases in the middle of conversations. When Jacob gets Eric's attention finally, Eric raises his hand and says "Ooh, ooh, pick me!" This was representative of Eric's occasional tendency to raise his hand if he had something to say, even in regular conversations. For some reason, he became "Eric #1." Jacob then asked the obligatory question, and Eric responds by saying that he'll answer it in song. Jacob and Peter offer to help, and Eric gives his permission. He then gives a note and asks if it was ok. This was because, as earlier mentioned, we didn't have a pitch pipe and so had to make up notes for our songs. Eric picked this note, thinking that was in the right range for us. It was, and we began singing.
Other random thoughts from this song:
- In the original version of the song, performed by They Might be Giants, one of the singers speaks the intermittent trivia. Eric decided to speak the same trivia, except he would add random bits to each one. The first, he added "xanthan gum" as a gas found on the sun. The second, he added 2 of James Haskill's vans that would fit inside. James Haskill lived in Wells Hall the second semester, was from Alaska, and had a huge 12-passenger van that he brought down from Alaska. So, the fact that it was his van, and that there were two of them, really impressed us. Especially Jacob Stewart. The third, he didn't really get a chance to change anything, because Jacob Stewart decided to interrupt and go on a tangent about how 93,000,000 miles is "nothing." But then he realizes what he is saying, and Jacob Broderick helps convince him to stop saying it now.
- Later in the song, Eric returns to the narrative trivia by explaining that the heat and light of the sun come from nuclear reactions of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium. Jacob Stewart, trying to be attentive and absorb this information, repeats each element, except for some reason said "Peter" instead of helium. Jacob Broderick responds by going off, clearly explaining that Peter is a human being and not an atom. Very amusing.
- To finish the song, Jacob Stewart starts dancing like a horse. Which, as you all know, is achieved by sticking one arm straight in front of you and bouncing up and down as though you were riding a horse. After another outburst from Jacob Broderick, Eric tries to rally the troops by saying "All together now," to keep the song going so we wouldn't have to run another take.
- Peter's final line just about sums it up. "Frankly, it doesn't matter if we sound bad on that one." And it didn't. It was a humorous song, meant to be funny. Any musicality we may or may not have achieved on this song was just a bonus.
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