Going to use this Friday to play what I would have had up here on Wednesday. The first track everyone knows. Everyone. The Clash’s Rock the Casbah:
Algerian Rachid Taha knows it, too. Apparently a huge fan of Joe Strummer. But he thought the song was a little condescending, so he had a go at it, in Arabic. Dunno about you, but I like this version - Rock el Casbah - better:
Midweek makeover? Forget that, today is a milestone makeover, and that’s probably underselling it. No covers, either. It’s the real thing.
Probably a bit of Me Decade overkill, but for some of you, that’s just not possible. (More music to come, this weekend.)
and
and
Update: Stupid Youtube. This is the last one.
Just a bit of fun.
and then
and most recently
Updated to avoid a serious omission.
Just because I quite like them both.
Herman’s Hermits pine over Mrs. Brown’s Lovely Daughter in 1965
And Phranc does the same in 1995
Two things go perfectly together, tonight. First, this interview with Berkeley Breathed, on bringing Opus to an end (killing him?!):
Breathed says it’s the anger that led him to close the book on “Opus,” that the increasingly nasty political climate has made it too difficult to keep his strip from drifting into darkness. Breathed has described his work as a hybrid of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz’s gentle humor and Michael Moore’s crusading social justice. Perhaps losing touch with his inner Charlie Brown, Breathed has said that “a mad penguin, like a mad cartoonist, isn’t very lovable,” and wants Opus to take his final bow before bitterness changes him forever.
And yes, it’s a repeat, but apt:
Much like Friday Notes, it’s a mess. Most Weekend Music comes from a theme that’s built over the week, but this is just what’s been in rotation lately.
First, we have my favorite track from the last couple of weeks - Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass. Incredible flow with some thought behind it:
You might have heard about the Obama radio spot cut by an old bluegrass talent, week before last. His name is Ralph Stanley, and this is him many years ago:
And a classic that’s been appealing, lately:
Bonus earworm - Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss:
Some songs are great, but get so driven into the ground by repeated play that you one day you realize that you just can’t listen to it anymore. But then - after a bit of time - you hear something on the radio that’s starting with the same chords, but isn’t quite right with the rhythm, and . . . you discover that someone’s rehabbed the played-out original with an excellent cover. This happened with I Turn My Camera On (it was Apple that ruined it, right? Just like 1,2,3,4 and Feed Good, Inc.?).
Here’s Spoon’s original
And Rock Kills Kid’s cover
