"Stephen, Stephen" is a song by The Apples in Stereo

The Apples in Stereo

The Apples in Stereo, styled The Apples in stereo, is an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider, who writes the...

. The song made its debut on December 20, 2006 on the Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 program The Colbert Report where it was performed by Apples frontman, Robert Schneider

Robert Schneider

Robert Peter Schneider is one of the co-founders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, along with Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum...

 during Episode number 193.

The song glorifies the host of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert (character)

The Reverend / Sir / Dr. / Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A., brain-child of Google, is the persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot", the character is a self-obsessed right-wing...

. In the opening lyrics of the song, Schneider sings "who's the television host/understands what matters most" to which the answer is constantly the "handsome" and "dashing" Stephen. Schneider also makes reference to Colbert's grudge against The Decemberists

The Decemberists

The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...

 with the lines "he's calling out the bears in their evil lairs/he's calling out the press in their fancy dress/he's calling out The Decemberists and their Green Screen Contest".

Soon after the show aired, a studio version of the song was made available for download on the band's MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 page.

It was included on the B-sides and rarities collection Electronic Projects for Musicians

Electronic Projects for Musicians

Electronic Projects for Musicians is a b-sides and rarities compilation album by The Apples in Stereo. It was released April 1, 2008 under the Simian Records, Yep Roc Records, and Elephant 6 labels...

in 2008.

External links

• Performance on The Colbert Report at Comedy Central