![Folk rockers Saintseneca pay tribute to Chris Farley with new song “In A Van”](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2019/09/14173946/tvg5zcsisokygofhdz6y.jpg)
One of the most resonant characters created by Saturday Night Live’ s Chris Farley was motivational speaker Matt Foley, famously debuted in a 1993 SNL skit. In a too-tight plaid jacket, Foley/Farley enthusiastically cautions pot-smoking teens David Spade and Christina Applegate that they were bound to wind up in a “van down by the river” (just like Foley himself).
Although Farley died in 1997, his comedic legacy lives on, and is inspiring various musical outputs: A few months back, his old pal Adam Sandler penned a tribute song he performed as host on the pair’s old stomping grounds, Saturday Night Live. And now Columbus, Ohio folk-rock band Saintseneca has released a song called “In A Van,” a phrase very familiar to Farley fans.
Stereogum reports that Saintseneca’s Zac Little “was revisiting old Farley sketches with friends recently and was so inspired that he decided to write a song.” In a press release, Little described, “The gauzy ’90s TV sheen, the feathery haircuts, a couple cringe-y jokes that didn’t age well. But I saw his talent and craft shine through, in a way I had never quite noticed before. It was amazing, funny, and a little sad—knowing the end while witnessing the best all at once.”
The song references that “different sheen seen from afar” while also describing Farley perfectly: “falling down like none another / falling down, all eager to please.” The lyrics continue, “The brilliant bits / at our best, just reflections lit by a brighter light”—and it would be hard to find a brighter light than Farley, a soul determined to wring as much entertainment out of every opportunity he got; just check out that Matt Foley clip again, as he holds absolutely nothing back, even destroying an entire coffee table. But the chorus consolingly preaches, “In a van down by the river / I am living the life,” in a peaceful, placid manner that possibly even Matt Foley would appreciate.
8 Comments
I got a Community notification for this?
You’ll be getting plenty of Community notifications when you’re LIVING in a VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Their next gig is at Comet Ping Pong (Sept. 17), so someone better check that van for “hotdogs” and “pizzas.”
I’m going to celebrate this song by LIGHTING UP A DOO-BIEEEEEEEE!!!
My SNL rewatch (yeah I know) reminds me that Chris Farley actually was a very funny man but that this started the slide into him being unwatchable.
One of the most resonant characters created by Saturday Night Live’s Chris Farley Bob Odenkirk was motivational speaker Matt Foley, famously debuted in a 1993 SNL skit 1991 Second City show.FTFY
“The lyrics continue, “The brilliant bitsAnd they continue and continue, without a closing parentheses. So it’s an odd song…