Prior to 2004 musical mash-ups were mainly the province of underground DJs. In 2004 DJ Danger Mouse (now of Gnarls Barkley fame) mashed up in The Beatles’ White Album and rapper Jay-Z’s Black Album in a feat of staggering musical chemistry to create the Grey Album.  Think of it terms of the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercial: “Hey, you got The Beatles’ in my Jay-Z!” “You got Jay-Z in my Beatles!” As with the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, a tasty new product is created. Today, you can find mash-ups that meld such disparate artists as Michael Jackson with The Doors; Gorrilaz and No Doubt with Deep Purple; and Led Zepplin with Snoop Dog.  In this week’s column 40 Foot Buffet tweaks the knobs of the mash-up ethos and mashes up the song “This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven” by alt-rockers Pixies with Emily Dickinson’s poem “Going to Heaven!”.  Hey, I stuck some Emily Dickinson in your Pixies! Mmmmm . . . Delicious!

5, 6, 7, My Monkey’s Going to Heaven! (Emily Dickinson v. Pixies) 

If man is 5

There was a guy

from New York and New Jersey,

an underwater guy who controlled all the sea,

got killed by ten million pounds of sludge.

How dim it sounds!

Pray do not ask me how.

Indeed, I’m too astonished

to think of answering you!

The devil is 6

And I’d like to look a little more

at such a curious earth! 

And the ground's not cold:

everything is gonna burn.

I ’m glad I don’t believe it,

I left them in the ground.

Then god is 7

This monkey's gone to heaven.

I am glad they did believe it

for it would stop my breath.

The creature in the sky

whom I have never found

got sucked in a hole,

now there's a hole in the sky.

Going to heaven!

Who knows?

I don’t know when

I'll get mine, too.

Perhaps you’re going too!

We'll all take turns;

If you should get there first,

save just a little place for me.

All lines/lyrics have been kept in tact as they appear in the poem/song.