Paint the Town Red — Doja Cat

#365Songs: January 3rd

What’s more thrilling — and frustrating — than the sample rabbit hole? That rhythm that flips the switch in your brain, gets you humming for days, and then comes back to haunt you when you try to remember where you’d heard it before?

To be clear, this is not always a good thing. There are plenty of random samples floating in my head of songs nobody should ever hear again. I’ll leave those for the “songs I’d never recommend” end of year post. See? This is why we stay tuned to 365 Songs. We’re full of surprises.

(Ok, listen. I get that it’s a Leap Year and that there are actually 366 days in 2024, but chill. It’s not a big deal.)

So the rabbit hole. On August 4th, my kid and I listened to Doja Cat’s Paint the Town Red on the way to school. My first thought was damn, this song is fucking great. When this kid likes a song, he’ll play it 100x in a row. He’s the sort of kid who in the ’80s and ’90s would wear out a cassette tape after a week. On rotation number two or five or 78, I yelled “WAIT. THIS IS NIGHTMARES ON WAX. THIS IS YOU WISH!”

I’ve said that many times, to many people over the past six months. Just like that. “THIS IS NIGHTMARES ON WAX. THIS IS YOU WISH!”

And then one day I heard Private Number by William Bell and Judy Clay and that sent me into a spiral. Holy shit. Again, “THIS IS NIGHTMARES ON WAX.”

Except it’s not. Private Number was released in 1968. THEY were sampled. All these years, all these years, I thought I knew everything,

And then, just yesterday, I did some research for this post and discovered that Doja Cat isn’t sampling Nightmares on Wax. And she isn’t sampling William Bell and Judy Clay. SHE IS SAMPLING DIONNE FUCKING WARWICK.

Like, what?

Walk on By was released in 1964, and according to all things internet research this is not the same rhythm as the one in Private Number. EXCEPT IT IS.

Ba do do di dee do. Ba do do di dee do. Badada.
Do do dee di dee do.

(That’s my translation. Don’t blame the real artists for that mess, ok? Thanks!)

Listen and report back, please. Join me in this rabbit hole. And seriously, all four songs are brilliant. Enjoy.

Walk on by
Walk on by
Walk on by
Walk on by
Yeah, bitch, I said what I said

(Ba do do di dee do. Ba do do di dee do. Badada.
Do do dee di dee do.)

I’d rather be famous instead (walk on by)
I let all that get to my head
I don’t care, I paint the town red (walk on by)
Bitch, I said what I said
I’d rather be famous instead (walk on by)
I let all that get to my head
I don’t care, I paint the town red (walk on by)

(Ba do do di dee do. Ba do do di dee do. Badada.
Do do dee di dee do.)