Ebn-Ozn (often spelled Ēbn-Ōzn) was the New Wave duo of Ned "EBN" Liben (sy… Read Full Bio ↴Ebn-Ozn (often spelled Ēbn-Ōzn) was the New Wave duo of Ned "EBN" Liben (synthesizer) and Robert "OZN" Rosen (organ, vocals) that made a small splash in the music scene with the single, AEIOU Sometimes Y, in 1983.

The duo came together in the early '80s in New York when Rosen met Liben through a friend of his girlfriend. Soon after meeting they started spending time together in clubs listening to different types of dance music. In 1983 they released two singles on Elektra Records, AEIOU Sometimes Y and Bag Lady (I Wonder), with the former becoming a modern rock radio staple for a short while, and the latter a minor radio hit. Both had videos that received significant airplay on MTV. The video for "Bag Lady" features actress Imogene Coca in the title role. Their only LP, Feeling Cavalier, included both singles and was released in January 1984. The duo then went their separate ways.

Liben went on to work with comedian Judy Tenuta (as her music director) and Scritti Politti, while Rosen formed a studio group, before leaving music to become a screenwriter. Liben passed away in 1998 of a heart attack.

Bag Lady
Ebn-Ozn Lyrics

Through the New York winter
With rags around her feet
Clutching ancient shopping bags
Destitutions beat
Burned out like a frozen matchstick
Screaming at the wall
A helpless hungry lady
With no friends to call

I wonder

Where she goes when the night falls
What thunder
Has made us deaf to her calls?
Bag lady
Oh gloveless, shattered frailty
The damp wind bites her hands
She shuffles by a restaurant
Towards their garbage cans
She eats the rotten refuse
Like vermin on the dead
Screaming at the passersby
"Get it through your heads!"

Sometimes on my way to work
I give her my spare change
The Shopping Bag Lady
Looks at me like I'm strange
She never once says thank you
But I don't mind a bit
All these homeless people
Can't make no sense of it

Lyrics © ROBERT OZN D/B/A DADA NADA MUSIC, MIDNIGHT DANCE MUSIC

Written by: Robert Rosen, Ned Liben

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

@rozenaxsax5133

24w↑1

Imogen Coca was even more incredible than I thought backing the 60s which is about the last time I ever saw her on TV or anywhere or even thought about it and here in 2023 I discovered this video that she made back all those years ago that I never knew about until now. She was on the show of shows and made it brilliant with Sid Caesar and Howard Morris and Carl Reiner and we laughed our asses off back in the 1950s when we were kids and now here I'm an old man and I'm laughing my ass off seeing her face with all those expressions she had a plastic face and was an incredible comic actress do I wish young people of today could learn about and know.

@mshockey73

13y↑8

I used to think I dreamt this video up. I would ask people if they remembered it, over the years, but no one did. Well, here it is. I love YouTube. Thanks for posting...

@toddsundell262

Yep, I remember it too!

@Phoenix85006

YouTube is awesome 👍

@StevenVerd

14y↑9

"We are not going to tie aunt Edna to the roof!"

@andrewyoung2796

3y↑1

Can we at least consider it?

@67440dodge

29w

OZN (Robert Rosen) was my neighbor til he moved to NYC to do Broadway shows then a couple Hollywood gigs and then did EBN-OZN during the MTV days. It was a shock seeing him on MTV in the AEIOU vid..

@MadameLil

17y↑4

Thank you folks SO MUCH for finally running this vid! Imogene Coca was a great underrated talent!

@brokedownsystem

11y↑4

wikipedia. Liben passed away from a heart attack around 1998 and Rosen has been a writer/producer for movies as well as a reader for scripts (more or less like Eric's job on Entourage). Both of these men started out as remarkable youths and sounds like they experienced an amazing life.

@madamewoselle

12y↑3

I love the serious turn to the camera where he shouts "BAG LAYYDAAAY"

@StarRidingDreamer

12y↑4

Of all the 80's MTV videos/songs, this one stuck with me, after all these years 8}

@17Se7en7

I miss music with a conscious

@xenussister

17y↑1

This video makes me cry, every time. Wonderful!

@brainmachine235

48w

OMG! Imogene!

@keithbrown6879

10y↑3

Freakin' Awesome. I love EBN-OZN.

@johncolletti6285

3y↑1

Great classic band in history.

@ledzep6808

16y↑2

You can get the CD from Amazon. I've had mine 2 months and have yet to tire of it.

@k8fan

15y↑5

Yep! Imogene Coco was a brilliant comedian (most famously on "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar) and, late in her career as "Aunt Edna" in National Lampoon's Vacation. She was also a genuinely nice person.

@foofango

17y↑1

I had never seen this before. But it is now my most favourite video ever!

@kjkalways8470

21w

It’s AUNT EDNA from National Lampoons Vacation!!! 😂😅❤

@ledzep6808

16y↑2

Thank you so much! I have been looking for EBN-OZN for years. I saw this video once or twice on MTV many years ago and liked it, but forgot about it. One night about 5 years ago, I was cleaning out some things and found a piece of paper with EBN OZN written on it, but couldn't remember the song. AEIOU was brought up by a friend, but it didn't seem right. Now I know it was this one that had made the impression. Thanks again for bringing a piece of my childhood home to me.

@Kohntarkosz

13y↑4

I remember reading about these guys back when this record came out. There was an article in Guitar World, with photos showing the guitarist surrounded by guitars and synthesizers. At that time, he was working with one of the first MIDI guitar synth units. When they went on tour, the entire band triggered synthesizers from their instruments, which was kinda unusual at the time (actually, it's unusual NOW).

@mikeyirish1967

14y↑1

EBN-OZN were the freakin' jam in the '80's -- thanks for the memories with this posting!!!!

@paul2019.

I wonder if I’m the only teenager on earth who knows this song. Or this short lived group in general

@537map

14y↑1

Always one of my favorite "guilty pleasures" from the eighties...

@Raptorizor

14y↑1

I'd give anything to have a set of pipes like that guy!

@GreatDarkSpot

17y↑1

I actually had a friend who tried to win the guitar, but he didn't get lucky. Glad to find this video - never knew the bag lady was Aunt Edna!

@djnix2403

13y↑1

It is a great mix of styles. One of my favorites and a cool video.

@chancetx

17y↑1

Wow, I've been wanting to see this again for years. Thanks for posting this - I've been searching youtube regularly hoping this would show up.

@mattgies

4y↑2

I guess it was this many years ago that half dollar coins were still in use?

@eartant

15y↑2

I played this tape to death in the 80's.

@mpagner

17y↑1

This is a classic 80s "message song" - a poor man's David Lee Roth dressed in clown wear singing about the homeless. It's no "Allentown," and definitely not "We Are the World," but it was just as important. Or so it thought it was. EBN OZN rules. RIP EBN, who passed away in '98 : (

@canpsychu7

14y↑1

I couldn't agree more. Now that I've found this song, I will try to track down Feeling Cavalier on CD.

@KevinYannutz

10y↑3

I wish I could find ebn ozn on Pandora.

@SweetSweetWaldo

8y↑3

"Is this your idea of a good restaurant? DOG KILLER!"

@therealsoulproduct

12y↑3

Check out OZN's guitar. It's in the shape of the U.S.

@wildnholiday

4y↑2

Imogene Coco,. Who knew, after all these years. 🤷🏼‍♀️

@muchagecko

14y↑1

I never saw this video before - but holy smoke - that's Ebn's apartment! Wow. This brings back memories. Thanks.

@BobbyNewb

15y↑1

I was a mega-fan of these guys, I had the album back then. Sadly one of them has died, not sure which. Great memories, they were a major part of my life as a young teen.

@Phoenix85006

Ned Liben "Ebn" is the one that died in 1998.

@videosuperhighway7655

33w

Aeiou song

@afmx1

16y

I looked all over for this on the web. I can't believe it's on here. I was about to bust out my 33 rpm record to digitize it.

@tommythevenot7617

9y↑10

Hasn't anyone else noticed Liam Neeson taking the trash out at 1:10?

@k8fan

16y

Glad to have made it available.

@Derek67

cool guitar

@doverh3

Interesting video, first time watching it too.

@k8fan

17y↑1

You're welcome. She was screamingly funny, and a really nice person as well.

@Sparkina

13y↑3

@HarryRatio You know it, and also Great-Aunt Jenny on an episode of The Brady Bunch

@canpsychu7

14y

Thanks so much k8fan for posting this !! I've been trying to find this song for years, but all I ever came across was Erykah Badu. Thanks !! : )

@THE-HammerMan

3y↑1

The best song they ever made. The best and classiest thing they ever did was star the great Imogene Coco in this.

@UnanimousDelivers

14y↑1

OK after all that Emergency Broadcast Network, why suddenly "What do you mean you want to go OUT!?" XD

@BurningChrome

15y

I remember it. It was a remixed techno version or something like that. I can't find it now either :(

@billuscredellus

6y↑3

it was OK, but had a GREAT Message, and I Like that lady, Miss Coca. I think She could have done a Show like Carol B. What do You All think ???

@andrewyoung2796

Imogen

@k8fan

17y

No, just somebody who taped it. As I mentioned in the description for the original post, "I worked with her on a tour a revival of the musical "Whoopie!"."

@hevblumling4917

I wish I could find the lyrics to this song.

@kozmicboi

15y↑2

Omg this is so deliciously horrible I love it.

@k8fan

17y

It was cut off on the eMpTyVee broadcast. But I believe I might have another recording of this that has it. But it will be a few weeks before I get back home to the computer that has this video.

@Derek67

4y↑4

" I Wonder where she goes when night falls".....she doesn't go anywhere....she's homeless....

@DJAlgorhythms

14y

@HarryRatio Yes.

@DigitallyPink

15y

I can't find it either :( but found a link to the video on VH-1 to which didn't work either :( If and when you do find it, please let me know and I'll do the same

@k8fan

17y↑1

It wasn't a credit roll as such. It said (I think) "Dedicated to all the homeless people".

@Jkbox1

14y

What's with the too-cool gangster from Germany? Were they filming a Falco video the same day?

@mfactor88

15y

maybe the clip cut a little too close to the bone re the homeless problems to be truly popular (i see the guitar is shaped like North America) anyone point/link me the AEIOU sometimes Y clip all i can find is wankers home videos :( and i have seen the real promo clip so i know its out ther :) thanks

@TheOldTapeArchive

14y↑1

Whenever a a record company takes down a song, like AEIOU, and doesn't offer it for sale on their site, just download it P2P (I wouldn't touch that user unfriendly resource hog itunes even if everything was free). Warner Music Group is notorious for video takedowns, so I don't buy anything from WMG.

@MaryjaneMonarch

11y

That was Oprah!

@shsbrat

11y

hot then, hot now.

@christschool

11y

Where is Ebn/Ozn today?

@montehung

one of members has passed away for long time.

@finnmccool684

4:09 4:16

@k8fan

15y

I don't know if it's "censorship" so much is it's short-sightedness and stupidity. The record company has their own site, and as part of that they supplied a company with a list of every artist and song they've ever released and instructions to remove those. The stupid part, o course, is that they are not going to upload replacement versions. Having these videos up here means they will sell more official versions...but they are, as I said, short-sighted and stupid.