How a throwaway joke from the 1990s became a surprisingly persistent earworm
Some songs arrive fully formed, destined for greatness.
Others spend thirty years lurking in the shadows, waiting for an unsuspecting audience to discover that a country song called “ I’d Rather Be an Ewok Than a Wookiee “has absolutely no right to be as catchy as it is.
When we spoke to the song’s writer, he seemed as surprised as anyone that he had finally allowed the track to escape into the wild.
Interviewer: Let’s start with the obvious question. Why would anyone write a song called I’d Rather Be an Ewok Than a Wookiee?
Songwriter: I wish I knew.
Honestly, I wrote it when I was about 22, somewhere back in the mists of the 1990s. At the time I was playing in various bands of mixed quality and mixed success. The funny thing was that the success level wasn’t always directly related to the quality level.
Like most musicians in their twenties, I wanted to make it. Or at least be a singer.
Interviewer: So this was part of your serious artistic period?
Songwriter: Not even slightly.
One of my closest friends, Terry, and a few others were all chasing the same dream. Some of them actually got a lot closer to it than I did.
Mind you, I did get a record deal at one point.
Interviewer: You did?
Songwriter: I did.
Interviewer: And what happened?
Songwriter: Well… I managed to make a complete mess of it.
Looking back, that was probably my best shot. But when you’re young, you tend to believe there’ll always be another opportunity just around the corner.
Sometimes there is.
Sometimes there isn’t.
Interviewer: A valuable lesson.
Songwriter: An expensive lesson.
But one thing we all enjoyed was trying to make Terry’s sister Laura laugh. That became a sort of unofficial creative benchmark.
This produced some truly groundbreaking works.
There was Terry’s masterpiece, Oink, which consisted largely of the word “oink” repeated over music, occasionally accompanied by pig noises.
No actual pigs were involved.
Interviewer: Important clarification.
Songwriter: Necessary clarification. Terry’s dad, Kev, ran an animal rescue centre and did in fact have pigs. None of them appeared on the recording. Though that is another story.
I also wrote a song about Teletubbies.
As you can see, we were operating at the absolute cutting edge of musical innovation.
Interviewer: Yet this one survived.
Songwriter: That’s the weird thing. It always had something.
I don’t know where the first line came from. I genuinely can’t remember thinking it. One day it was just there:
“I’d rather be an Ewok than a Wookiee.”
And somehow it sounded right.
Interviewer: You’re aware that sounds like the opening line of a philosophical treatise written after several pints?
Songwriter: That’s entirely possible.
Interviewer: Is there a deeper meaning?
Songwriter: Maybe.
On one level it’s just a daft song about Star Wars characters.
But if you really want to overthink it, maybe it’s about people who just want a quiet life. Good people who love their families, enjoy life, and want to be left alone and get on with things.
But if you’re an evil empire, don’t push them too far.
Eventually they’ll push back.
Then again…
Maybe it’s just a song about space bears.
The trouble is that once you’ve heard it, the thing burrows into your brain. You find yourself humming it while making coffee. Then you’re singing it in the car. Then three days later you’re wondering why you’re still thinking about Ewoks.
It’s annoyingly catchy.
Interviewer: So after all these years, do you actually like it?
Songwriter: Grudgingly.
It’s ridiculous. It’s completely unserious. It shouldn’t work.
And yet, out of all the songs I wrote during that period, this is the one that refused to die.
I suppose every songwriter secretly hopes they’ll leave something behind…as my friend Steve Brown says in his similar attempt at immortality “One hit song before I die”
I just didn’t expect mine to be a country song about space bears and Wookiees.
Mostly the space bears.
