8. Stewie's Chord Song
When Stewie meets new-born baby Susie Swanson, in the episode Oceans Three and a Half, he becomes infatuated, and to profess his love to her, he decides to write her a song: cue hilarity. At first he struggles with the line Susie, youre a baby, complete with a couple of strums on a guitar. Brian tells him that it is horrible and he confesses that it needs work. Later, after watching the baby from the window, he gives song writing another go. However, instead of writing a song about his feelings towards the young baby, he writes a song based on a journey through the chord progression. The G chord, on which he starts, is his house and through the use of different chords he experiences a nice sunny day, turned cold due to the weather brought on by chords in a minor key. This itself has already got the audience laughing but when Brian enters the room, the song changes pace. Stewie starts to sing to Brian: why are you bringing me down, man? At the end of the scene, to show how proud he is of his creation and to undoubtedly get a few laughs, he adds: Music and Lyrics by Stewie Griffin. Again the scene works through relatable experiences: at least some of the audience will have a story to tell about how they have embarrassed themselves in the name of young love, and the effect means the scene's humour works on more than the surface lesson.