The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #318

#318: "45" (2007) - The Saturday Knights

The Saturday Knights are a Seattle-based four-piece rap-rock act. Rap-rock? Like Limp Biskit? Kid Rock? Linkin Park? Good God, no. These MCs' skills have a much funkier, earthier, and more natural flow; their lyrics wittier; the band (yes, a band, as one of 'em's a guitar/keyboard player)'s range of rock much broader (Oh, deary, did I just say "range of rock?" Wait--gotta answer the phone. Jack Black's calling, and he wants his line back).

Here, on "45" (from the group's eponymous debut EP), the Knights mount their mighty steed and travel back to the psychedelic era to retrieve the fabled Farfisa organ from the clutches of that most dangerous of monsters, the Wooly Booly, whom the Knights defeat with their swinging medallions. They then set sail across the Flannel River to venture forth into Nirvana, to rescue a former producer in distress. The Knights are triumphant, and they place the producer safely within the confines of a drum set. The Knights must then make their trek back home. The digable planets seem to align for our heroes, as they manage to traverse through the treacherous cypress hills unscathed. They finally return back to the throne room in the Kingdom of Paul's Botique and appease their lord by having two of their group act as court jesters and two as minstrels, regaling their master with a pun-filled tale of the most storied legend of the land, Sir Mock Braggadocio.

In the tale spun, Sir Brag must face the dastardly Dark DJ. All seems amiss, as the nefarious one smashes Sir Brag's most glorious wax weapon. Not to fear, though, as Sir Brag uses his terrible track list to vaniquish his enemy. Sir Brag rides triumphantly through the village and down Wall Street, where accolades are heaped upon him, and he responds in kind with gangsta signs.

King Paul is pleased with the Knights' tale, and so he asks the troubadours to remain in his land and continue sharing their stories. The Saturday Knights kindly oblige, though they tell the king that their next tale is much longer, and if his highness were willing, they'd weave their epic of the meager serf, his descent into the dreary garden of sound, and his quest to dethrone the evil, horned Dap King of Muscle Shoals. King Paul told the Knights that yes, indeed, he'd like to hear their tale, that it sounded like quite a doozy.