Oh, how I love the heat of summer. I’ve got a few tunes lined up, but I’ve got to run out (to do something very summery) right now. So enjoy William DeVaughn’s (very summery) Be Thankful For What You’ve Got.
And when everyone shows up, we enjoy this Sean Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra Cover (if you click on nothing else, click on this):
And when you’re done, get a glass of water, send the kids home, and check out this series of covers of a perfect heat of the night song (I’m rather fond of the last (non-video) version, myself).
I probably don’t have a lot in common with John McCain, but I bet we both dig the Andrews Sisters. However, I came by that fandom through my grandmother (and mother) while he probably heard this when it was still a hot hit on the radio in 1941:
This is usually a quieter mix, but I’m feeling a little more energy today. Enjoying the summer. The first track lays down Run-D.M.C’s lyrics and beats from It’s Tricky over Metallica’s Enter Sandman. Try not to bounce to that. This then segues (quite smoothly) into a nifty mashup between UK hip hop phenom Lady Sovereign and the Eurythmics. Finishes up with something unexpected, laying out Tegan & Sara vocals over a Mylo track. Hope you enjoy the genre-bending.
Okay, we start with an obvious choice, but despite my harping on cycling topics, I’m pretty comfortable in assuming that my audience isn’t the type that would consider leading off with Kraftwerk unforgivable:
Going to make these a little shorter. Today’s single cover is Concrete Blonde’s take on Andy Prieboy’s Tomorrow, Wendy. I wore the album (1990’s Bloodletting) out on tape and CD.
(You know, I’m not sure if this is exactly a cover. Andy Prieboy’s original featured vocals from Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano, who later decided to record this on her own.)
We’ll start with the greatest of American traditions – adopting that which came from another country. This is the Canadian Five Man Electric Band’s Signs:
Then there’s Nina Simone’s American classic – Mississippi Goddamn (the recording is more important than the (not original) vid, here – need to ff through the first 30 seconds or so):
Maybe it should be the International Edition. Certainly there’s no one in the US wasting time at work reading this. Independence Day is probably the most widely observed holiday in the US – moreso than Christmas or Thanksgiving. In my first years on the bottom rungs at a law firm, I worked all of these holidays. Plenty of company on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Fourth of July? Ghost town. Anyway, light posting today (unless it really starts to rain). If you’re French, take a half day off, since you helped and all.
Did you skip over the guest Midweek Makeover: Cover Girl Edition post? Go back and check it out – more cover goodness (and High Fidelity-level music dorkery in the comments).
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No more SuperValues meals? The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of McDonalds, because McDonalds apparently lacks the requisite hatefulness to stay in the AFA’s good graces (something about daring to be interested in marketing to gay people). And when know what happens when you lack hatefulness (stolen from the comments at WaPo):
I have to confess to an illicit affair with Mayor McCheese. It started out so innocently; we bumped into each other at a food convention and started chatting about McDonald’s new policy. The conversation began to turn and soon we were discussing the appeal of hot beef and soft buns. We sneaked away to his hut and there I touched his pickles and sniffed his onions. He made sure there were plenty of condiments for us both, and it ended with secret sauce. I have never met any faster food in my life. Now he refuses to return my calls. I am at my wit’s end. If loving him is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Now, there are a billion reasons not to eat at McDonalds (your health primary among them), but this will make me at stop there more often when I want a Diet Coke.
This week’s Midweek Makeover comes courtesy of Peej, commenter extraordinaire and friend. Many many thanks for this, Peej.
I think there is definitely an art to making a good cover. There is a delicate balance to be struck between paying appropriate homage to the original, and putting your individual stamp on it. The cover has to reel in new fans, while retaining the old. You don’t want to be the New Coke version, pleasing no one but yourself.
Of course, all that goes out the window if you just happen to really like that particular cover. And that’s what great about covers; there’s definite rules to play by, except when there isn’t.
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It is a clever cover (or, as was the case here, a parody, which is a cover after all) that surpasses recognition of the original, especially when we’re talking about a classic. It is a brilliant one that exorcises the hold the first cover has over your mind. (Until the next time you remember the parody, of course).
Don’t Fear the Reaper covered by Gus (Scream soundtrack)
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Not all covers have to have a higher goal in life, but it certainly helps if they help make your 70s’ guilty pleasures acceptable to blast and sing along to out loud.
Top of the World covered by Shonen Knife (The Last Supper soundtrack and If I Were a A Carpenter tribute album)
I Think I Love You covered by Voice of the Beehive (Honey Lingers album)
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Covering Queen songs is sacrilege in my eyes. Unless it is done by Rolf Harris, of course.
Bohemian Rhapsody covered by Rolf Harris (release unknown)
College a cappella covers. A lovely little subcategory that can make songs you’ve heard played to death sound fresh and exciting again. It’s only fair that I give a shout out to my alma mater’s award winning group. Please note the kick ass female beatboxer.
How to Save a Life covered by Rutgers Deep Treble (Take the Cake album)
I am sure somewhere some Police fan is going to yell (as much as I would, if anyone dared suggest someone sang a Queen song better than Freddie) when I say I think this is miles better than Sting’s version. But then, I am always right about these things, and everyone else is always wrong, so that’s okay.
El Tango De Roxanne covered by Ewan McGregor, Jose Feliciano and Jacek Koman (Moulin Rouge soundtrack)
