Fong Songs 101 All-Time Covers: #35 to 29

=============================================
Just joining us?
I'm counting down 101 of my all-time favourite covers before packing this blog away in the attic.
Read my countdown preamble here.
=============================================
A Set of Standards
Standards are tricky since these are the ones that have been done a zillion times, but then again, no one generally cares how zany and original you get with it. The songs have stood the test of time and have been performed so often, most people have probably never even heard the "original", if such a recording even exists. In fact, we may have only ever heard most standards through cover versions! These are few of my favourite versions of my favourite standards.

35. The Arcade Fire - Brazil [originally by Ary Barroso]
I love the wonderfully sinister strings in this brooding rendition from recent chart-toppers The Arcade Fire. Fittingly, Brazil director Terry Gilliam filmed their recent live show at Madison Square for an online broadcast with the potential for future collaborations. Got my floor tix to see them with guests Calexico at the end of September here in Vancity. Should be a good one!

34. Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad - After You've Gone [originally by Turner Layton & Henry Creamer]
Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad is my favourite album of jazz standards, which might not be saying much considering I can't think of another that I listen to with any regularity. In any case, I love the soothing, Billie Holiday-esque vocals from Katharine Whalen of the Squirrel Nut Zippers backed by an ace band that included a couple fellow Zippers. The disc was recorded during a dark period for the Squirrel Nut Zippers with band acrimony, legal troubles, and a split on the horizon, but you wouldn't guess it from the jaunty and light-hearted renditions of tunes like Deed I Do, My Baby Just Cares For Me, and Sugar. Though perhaps the gloomy and regretful Yesterdays (also great!) serves as more than a tribute to Billie Holiday.

33. Sammy Davis Jr. - The Lady is a Tramp (Live) [originally by Rodgers & Hart]
I'm guessing Sammy Davis Jr. must have sung this song hundreds of times with numerous recordings, but it's this particular version that has stuck with me, perhaps because it was simply the first I heard. It's from a compilation called Live From Las Vegas that I borrowed once from the library. It included cuts from Tom Jones, Louis Prima, and Nat King Cole, but where in Vegas and which year, I have no clue. I love how this starts... with some sort of gaffe that makes Sammy restart the song with a faux stern warning to the flutist (I think). He vocally races back to where he left off with a laugh and soon the full band kicks in with a bang. The rest of the song is just killer. Every time I hear this version it makes me wish I could've seen his show live.

The Rolling Stones
32. Choro Azul - Paint It Black [originally by The Rolling Stones]
From the Japanese compilation A Tribute to the Rolling Stones comes this reinvention of Paint It Black as a Brazilian samba with Nina Simone-like vocals.

31. Ruth Copeland - Gimme Shelter [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This is an epic tour-de-force of funk with British folk/blues singer Ruth Copeland backed by George Clinton and members of Parliament. I'm going to just reprint what I previously wrote about this cover once upon a time:

"Eschewing the trademark rhythm guitar opening, it starts off with just the drums, before the main chords are dramatically pounded out on a piano. Then, enter the fuzz. Warbling, wah wah, fuzzy guitars featuring a blistering Jimi-like lead by Parliament's Eddie Hazel. And Ruth Copeland's soulful wails of War! Children! Rape! Murder! cement this as the winning cover. Halfway through, the drums crawl to a stop, replaced by a slow organ with whispered vocals of the chorus, which swell to a chaotic climax as the band bursts back in and "love's just a kiss away" is repeatedly chanted like it's the end of the world."

Yes, that was my favourite Gimme Shelter cover for a long time, but it was eventually eclipsed by the next cover...

30. Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter [originally by The Rolling Stones]
Everyone's heard Merry Clayton's blistering vocals opposite Mick on The Rolling Stones' original Gimme Shelter, but she doesn't get nearly the recognition she deserves. A year after the original, Clayton released her own solo version, which starts off similarly before the awesome awesome horn section comes in (and you know I love the horns). She actually recorded the original version of The Shoop Shoop Song, remarkably when she was just fifteen years old. Covers-wise, Clayton also does an incredible Bridge Over Troubled Water and a stunning version of Neil Young's Southern Man. Oddly enough, she sang back up both Neil's self-titled debut AND Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. She was born with an incredible voice and it's a wonder she never became a superstar, but luckily I'm not the only one rooting for her comeback... Aeroplane, a Belgian/Italian DJ duo that is now simply an Italian solo act after an amicable split, tracked down Merry Clayton to provide her still wicked vocals on a track called I Don't Feel. The debut album We Can't Fly is due in September.

29. RLM & Katsuhiko Sakamoto & Ikuko Harada - 19th Nervous Breakdown [originally by The Rolling Stones]
This jazz trio + flute cover comes from that same Japanese Stones tribute as Choro Azul's Paint It Black. With a near incomprehensible accent, the lead singer here sounds like he learned the song phonetically (perhaps with the wrong lyrics sheet to boot) but bonus points for unabashed enthusiasm!

Taking a break this weekend to visit the Island. The Fong Songs 101 countdown will continue on Monday with (count 'em) 1, 2, 3, 4 numbered-themed covers.

Black Hole, Take 2

Some exciting news today in the movie world. Neil Gaiman's latest journal entry had some "small news things":

• he's almost finished his next book The Graveyard Book
  
• Beowulf and Stardust are both up for some Saturn awards
  
• a dino-eating demon frog Beelzebufo was found in Madagascar
  
• oh, and DAVID FINCHER IS CONFIRMED TO DIRECT GAIMAN & ROGER AVARY'S ADAPTATION OF CHARLES BURNS' BLACK HOLE.

I can just imagine that in conversation: "Blah blah blah, David Fincher is directing my script, blah blah blah."


Now, some Soundgarden covers:
Handsome Hank and his Lonesome Boys - Black Hole Sun
Lota Red - Black Hole Sun
Steve & Eydie - Black Hole Sun
Copeland - Black Hole Sun
Cibo Matto - Black Hole Sun
The Moog Cookbook - Black Hole Sun
Paul Anka - Black Hole Sun
Peter Frampton - Black Hole Sun (featuring Mike McCready & Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam)

While Neil is my favourite author, I have to admit none of the films he's been involved with have been entirely satisfying. Mirrormask, Stardust, Beowulf... I really wanted to like them, but they all sort of fell short of the mark. He did write the script for the English translation of Miyizaki's Princess Mononoke, but that doesn't really count. On the other hand, David Fincher is among my favourite directors and if he didn't get a free pass already for Se7en and Fight Club, he definitely sealed it with Zodiac for me. So between this film in development and Coraline directed by Henry 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Selick, things are looking up. Even more so if Neil gets his Death adaptation back up and running post-strike. Last year Neil was hanging around the Hellboy II set, picking up pointers from Pan's Labyrinth and future Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro, who's signed on as a producer for Death with Neil making his directorial debut. Even while watching actress readings for Stardust, Gaiman was covertly screening for potential Deaths...

**UPDATE! Neil just posted the 3D teaser for Coraline previously seen before Beowulf. After crappy camera phone recorded versions cropped up on youtube, Laika studios gave him the go ahead to post higher-res videos. Go here for your choice of youtube or quicktime. This is great because when I went to see Beowulf 3D, I distinctly did not see this trailer.

Another Gaiman project kind of, sort of, someday in the works is his and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. One of my several Best Life Moments was two summers ago when I met Terry Gilliam and he signed my copy of Good Omens (read the long version here). At the time he told me (this made me feel all special) that Good Omens was his next project after Tideland, provided financing fell into place. But knowing Gilliam's film history (see: Lost in La Mancha), I knew not to get my hopes up too high. And now two years later, there's not much movement on the project. But don't give up hope yet! The best source for Good Omens rumours is here and as recently as last month, Gilliam said that the chances are better of getting it made in light of all the high profile Neil Gaiman projects recently. Originally Gaiman and Pratchett had sent the book to Gilliam in hopes of getting a blurb, but he read it, loved it, and wanted to make it into a movie. At one point he had written a script with Tony Grisoni with Johnny Depp and Robin Williams attached, presumably as Aziraphale and Crowley, but still couldn't get financing for it.

I'm sure you've all heard the bittersweet news of Gilliam's latest project The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus being saved after the untimely death of Heath Ledger. The acting trifecta of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell have stepped in to finish the movie, which is set to finish production here in Vancouver. The fantastical plot, in which Ledger's character travels through parallel worlds, allows for this creative solution to the horrible circumstances. The BBC has a pretty good article about the show-must-go-on mentality of the movie business. I'm glad Gilliam found a way to continue the movie in a way that I believe honours Ledger's last performance. Fortunately we'll also get to enjoy Christopher Plummer as the 1000-year old title character and Tom Waits as the Devil.

Viva Las Vegas! Viva Brazil! Viva Terry Gilliam!

Less than a day after the post, somebody e-mailed me the correct answer (no wiki/no google I am told) to Cover Riddle #5, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Written, of course, by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman, and adapted by Mr. Terry Gilliam into a film starring Johnny Depp. Depp is included among the "friends" of Oasis and he plays guitar on the track if I remember correctly.

So, my top 3 Viva Las Vegas [originally by Elvis Presley] covers:

1. Dread Zeppelin - Viva Las Vegas
Most people probably don't take Dread Zeppelin as serious as I do, but I think they managed to take a novelty concept and make it work quite well. An Elvis impersonator fronting a reggae Led Zeppelin cover band... okie dokie, crazy but I like it. I think they're still around, but I basically stopped listening to their stuff after "The Fun Sessions" (quite good), a Dread Zepp cover album of classic rock songs, the first to stray from Led Zeppelin material. This is one of their best Elvis/Led Zeppelin mash-ups as Viva Las Vegas clashes with Zeppelin's Custard Pie.

2. Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas
I don't really have anything to say about this, except that it's over-the-top goofy yet vaguely unnerving in a "scary clown" way. It's also really good. This cover was actually used in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as well.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Viva Las Vegas
The Boss covers The King.

===============================

And now on to the real reason for my post:
One of the highlights of this past summer's 2-month trip to Europe was getting to actually meet TERRY GILLIAM, the American member of Monty Python and one of my favourite directors, at the Filmmuseum in Brussels. Twelve Monkeys is one of my favourite all-time films, so this opportunity was just absolutely crazy for me. I just happened to be in Brussels for a couple days and I found out he was going to be previewing Tideland three days later on June 6 (6/6/06). Fate methinks? Of course, I changed my plans to go to Amsterdam and did everything in my power to go to that screening. In the month preceding this event, the Filmmuseum was having a mini-Gilliam retrospective, which included screenings of all his films and select Gilliam-approved picks. So the night before Tideland, I was lucky to be able to see the 60's Czech version of Baron Munchausen which was a clear influence on Gilliam's version.

I was actually quite bummed out on the day of the screening because all attempts to get tickets failed since it had been sold out for weeks in advance. In fact, some old Belgian ticket guy chastised me for being so stupid as to think I could actually secure a ticket. Bwahaha, I sure showed him later! Since I couldn't get into Tideland, I decided I'd go see Jabberwocky, Gilliam's first post-Python film, which was showing next door for only €2. I was hoping that Gilliam would possibly show up at Jabberwocky since the Tideland screening wasn't until later in the evening. And guess what? He did. Following Jabberwocky, Terry came out in a typically Gilliam-esque Hawaiian shirt and briefly talked about the making of the film. Actually it wasn't quite a Hawaiian shirt, but it was loud, garish, and most people would not be caught dead in it, but Terry wears these sorts of shirts very naturally. So I guess that puts him in the same company as Weird Al.


The major coup for me was after his brief talk... He was whisked away to the lobby, but I was near the front so I quickly followed and luckily he wasn't off to Tideland quite yet. I gingerly approached and asked him to sign my copy of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, which I had been carrying around Europe as train-reading material. To understand the sheer magnitude of this event, you have to understand that Neil Gaiman is my favourite author (see sidebar)and Terry Gilliam has on/off been planning to make Good Omens for years. Upon seeing what I had in my hands, he exclaimed "Oh! Look what he has." (or something to that effect) and he told me that this was his next project once the financing comes together, though hopefully this doesn't end up like another Lost in La Mancha. And that is the tale of how Terry Gilliam signed and doodled in my paperback copy of a Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett book in Belgium. Damn sweet.


To make a long story longer, I did actually weasel my way into the sold-out Tideland screening/film talk despite not speaking any Flemish (and scant French). Standing around with a lot of other unlucky schmucks who didn't have tickets, I was one of the last people to squeeze into the €30 event after a bunch of no-shows didn't claim their tickets. Bonus! One of the most memorable days of my life.


Now, Brazil covers! The details of the original are not completely known to me, but I vaguely remember that "Brazil" is the English title of an older Brazilian song, the title of which I don't know.

Some variations on Brazil from the soundtrack of Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult classic:
The National Philharmonic Orchestra with Kate Bush - Sam Lowry's 1st Dream/Brazil
The National Philharmonic Orchestra - Central Services/The Office
The National Philharmonic Orchestra - Bachianos Brazil Samba
Geoff Muldaur - Brazil

The Arcade Fire - Brazil
I just heard this cover for the first time recently... It starts off fairly normal, then some wonderfully sinister strings creep in. I love it!

8½ Souvenirs - Brazil
A band I discovered recently from their sweet cover of After You've Gone.

The Toronto All-Star Big Band - Brazil
During a street jazz festival in Toronto this summer, I saw this awesome youth orchestra crank out classic standards including this one. This album version is from an earlier incarnation of the band.

Beirut - Brazil [live]
Live accordion-based cover. I'm pretty sure I nicked this from over at Mocking Music.