Woody's Roundup

OK, so Cover Riddle #6 was dependent on being able to identify all the people in the pictures. Let's see...

Brent Spiner as Data in Star Trek

Paul Simon guest hosting Saturday Night Live

Kirsten Dunst in the title role of Marie Antoinette

Wallace Shawn as the voice of Rex in Toy Story

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

director Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Little Children) in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut

Itzhak Perlman, famed violinist

Zach Braff on Scrubs

Lewis Black, actor/comedian

Lisa Marie in Mars Attacks!

David Blaine, um, "magician"

Sigourney Weaver in Aliens

And what do they all have in common? They all made their feature film debut in a Woody Allen film!

Maybe I'm just a nut for trivia, but I think that's remarkable. Let's go through that list again:

Brent Spiner as "Fan in Lobby" (Stardust Memories, 1980)

Paul Simon as "Tony Lacey" (Annie Hall, 1977)

Kirsten Dunst as "Lisa's Daughter", uncredited (New York Stories, 1989)

Wallace Shawn as "Jeremiah" (Manhattan, 1979)

Sharon Stone as "Pretty Girl on Train" (Stardust Memories, 1979)

Todd Field as "Crooner" (Radio Days, 1987)

Itzhak Perlman as Himself (Everyone Says I Love You, 1996)

Zach Braff as "Nick Lipton" (Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993)

Lewis Black as "Paul" (Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986)

Lisa Marie as "Office Xmas Party Guest" (Alice, 1990)

David Blaine as "Spectator", uncredited (Celebrity, 1998)

Sigourney Weaver as "Alvy's Date Outside Theatre" (Annie Hall, 1977)

This is based on the sometimes dubious IMDb listings, but it's accurate enough for our purposes. There are even a few more notable names that were close calls, just one or two minor credits off a Woody Allen debut: Jennifer Garner, Sylvester Stallone, Danny Devito, and Adrien Brody (who debuted in New York Stories, but technically in the segment directed by Francis Ford Coppola).

Again, thanks to those who participated and congrats to reader Mimi who was the only one to get it right. From the Fong Songs prize bucket, she received a 2-disc cover compilation from the UK chock full of covery goodness. Onto the cover songs!

Anita Kerr - What's New Pussycat? [originally performed by Tom Jones]
What's New Pussycat? (1965), starring Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole, was Woody Allen's feature film debut both as an actor and writer. The song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the film was also nominated for an Oscar that year.

Built to Spill - Take the Money and Run [originally by Steve Miller Band]
Run DMC - Take the Money and Run (Feat. Everlast) [originally by Steve Miller Band]
Technically Woody Allen's directorial debut was the 1966 film What's Up, Tiger Lily?, a comically re-dubbed version of a Japanese action movie. His first "proper" directorial effort was 1969's Take the Money and Run.

Annie Hall - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go [originally by Wham!]
While Diane Keaton covering Wham! in character may be an intriguing if completely bizarre prospect, this is simply an Italian band called Annie Hall (damn!). Just a note for aspiring artists: naming your band after a popular movie does not do you any favours in the Google department. I did manage to find their myspace page, though clearly the "anniehall" myspace address was taken and they had to settle for "unclepig". This isn't a particularly audacious claim to make, but not only is this my favourite Woody Allen film, but one of my favourite films of all-time, period.

Edward Norton - Just You, Just Me [originally written by Jesse Greer & Raymond Klages]
Woody Allen's first and only musical (I think), Everyone Says I Love You features several unlikely actors breaking into big music numbers including Edward Norton in an early role, here backed by the Helen Miles Singers on the jazz standard Just You, Just Me. Written by Jesse Greer & Raymond Klages, the song debuted in the 1929 MGM musical, Marianne. Frequent Woody Allen collaborator, Dick Hyman also performed a version of the same song in Hannah & Her Sisters.

Dick Hyman & Mike Lipskin - 'Deed I Do [originally by Walter Hirsch and Fred Rose]
Dick Hyman - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da [originally by The Beatles]
As an old school New York City jazz man, Dick Hyman made a perfect fit for Woody Allen's musical sensibilities. He has served in various roles as composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist for Stardust Memories, Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, and Melinda and Melinda. His only on-screen credit is as "Band Leader" in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. I first discovered Hyman when I stumbled upon the stunning Stride Piano Summit album at the library, which the 'Deed I Do cover is from. As I later became a Woody Allen enthusiast, I was pleasantly surprised to find Dick Hyman's name repeatedly gracing the opening credits. That Beatles cover is from an electronic album Dick Hyman did in the late 60's (think: Moog synthesizer).

Incidentally, the writing credits on popular jazz standards is the first big hole in wikipedia's compendium of knowledge that I've come across. Spoiled by the google/wiki one-two punch, it's strange to have to dig a little deeper and find the right combination of google keywords just to find the original composers for these songs that have been recorded hundreds of times. And it's not like these are traditional folk songs of lost origin either... I mean, even those have extensive wiki entries.

Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band - After You've Gone [originally by Turner Layton]
If it wasn't apparent from the soundtracks to his films, which often feature predominantly jazz scores, Woody Allen is a jazz enthusiast. In fact, he supposedly took his stage name (his birth name was Allan Konigsberg) from clarinetist Woody Herman. Allen himself is a clarinetist with his own band that plays dixieland jazz. The 1996 film Wild Man Blues documented Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band on a European tour and, as far as I know, he still plays weekly in New York. That is, of course, when he's not filming. Just a couple weeks ago, Allen and his band played two shows at the Montréal Jazz Festival for the first time, after previous invitations conflicted with his filming schedule. First recorded by Marion Harris in 1918, After You've Gone is my all time favourite standard, so I was happy to find Woody and his band perform this on the Wild Man Blues soundtrack.

Weekend to do list

From Amanda Palmer's myspace:
"Text your friends currently getting muddy at glastonbury:
I just *might* show up on stage with ben folds tomorrow to do some
*possibly* crazy shit that just *might* involve ben playing drums on songs
that *perhaps* might be appearing on my new record."

Danny Michel & Emm Gryner's Under the Covers starts airing this Saturday night at 9pm (in whatever time zone you're in!) as part of CBC Radio 1's summer programming. The first episode is actually a repeat of last year's pilot, though it'll be airing for the next 5 weeks with new episodes. Check the episode guide to see what they've got in store. Very exciting.

For Vancouverites, the Vancouver Jazz Festival is already well underway. I'm excited to see Elizabeth Shepherd performing Sunday, a free show at David Lam Park downtown.

Covering the Mouse Vote 2008: in honour of his first year of Disney cover blogging, Kurtis is tabulating votes for a sort of reader's choice awards. For roughly the next month, vote on the best, the worst, the weirdest, and most unlikely of Disney covers.

By the way, in case you aren't already, reading Fong Songs on via the RSS feed is the best way to keep up-to-date on new posts here. I'm partial to Google Reader.

In regards to Cover Riddle #6, no one's got it right yet. Some good guesses and one person is so close it's almost over, but not quite. I forgot Canada Day is next Tuesday so I'll probably postpone the answer until after that sometime. Some additional clues for the rest of you:

Cover Riddle #6

Answer: Part Five in the extraordinarily sporadic Cover Riddle feature was posted on this date.
Question: What is November 27, 2006?

And here we go with Cover Riddle #6! Unlike previous ones, this one's a visual puzzler. What unique distinction is shared by the following people?

The answer is quite remarkable once you find out, at least I think so. E-mail me your guesses [fongobongo AT gmail DOT com] and I may be inclined to send a covers-themed prize to the first person who gives the correct answer, if anybody at all. I'm on the fence as to whether this is too easy or too hard... I'll be back next Monday with the answers in the form of cover songs.

Okay, okay, here's your hint:
Skanatra - New York, New York [made famous by Frank Sinatra]

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.

Cover Riddle #5

Like Batman, James Bond, and Alien before it, the Cover Riddle is resurrected. The last one I did was, oh, about 8 months ago. These aren't covers, but don't worry there will be cover answers.

Tell me the common thread that links these tunes. Bonus points for not using google, the bane of trivia quizzes everywhere (2nd only to wikipedia). I'm looking for the name of a film and perhaps how each track specifically relates.

Ralph Steadman - Little Boy Billee
Oasis and Friends - Fade Away
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - Hunter S. Thompson's Younger Brother

Piece 'o cake. Go.

(Actually I changed my mind, go ahead and use O Mighty Google. I changed one of the songs to make it slightly less obvious.)

T. Rex

"I got your body right now on my mind but I drunk myself blind to the
sound of old T. Rex" - You Better You Bet

"Practice my T-Rex moves and make the scene" - The Wake-Up Bomb

"The television man is crazy saying we're juvenile delinquent wrecks
Man, I need a TV when I've got T. Rex" - All the Young Dudes

The common thread to the three tunes from the last cover riddle is the references they make to T. Rex, the early 70s glam rock band fronted by Marc Bolan. Some versions of All the Young Dudes also use the lyrical variation: "Who needs TV when I got T. Rex?"... I'm not sure which is more definitive. Google searches pull references to both.

Before I go any further, does any remember this show?


Whenever I think of T. Rex (the band), the chorus to this half-forgotten theme song to an obscure cartoon springs to mind. It was called The Adventures of T-Rex, a ninja turtles clone from the early 90s about 5 colour-coded dino brothers who are stand-up comedians by day and by night the crimefighting supergroup T-REX. When I was about 9 years old, this was on TV every day when I got home from elementary school. I remember almost nothing about the show except that it had this damn catchy theme song. I went on one of these google frenzies to track down an mp3 of the song, which at first required finding out the proper name of the show (googling "T-rex" is not very helpful). This was trickier than expected because at this point the show is almost 15 years old and it hasn't really inspired a cult following. Just as I was lamenting the disappearance of the T-Rex theme song and cursing the relative ease with which you can find the theme to Denver The Last Dinosaur, I stumbled upon some yahoo group devoted to T-Rex. I momentarily signed up on the off-chance that it had an mp3 and it did! Pure gold, baby. Now if I can snag the theme to an old Dino-ghetti commercial, my life will be complete.

For your listening pleasure: The Adventures of T-Rex
I can listen to this ALL NIGHT LONG. Don't laugh.





Speaking of Denver The Last Dinosaur, a couple weeks ago a friend was commenting on the creepy undertones of the line "he's my friend and a whole lot more". Uh oh, what's that supposed to mean? The sexual connotations of that line become full blown if you watch the intro to the show where Denver is raped and/or molested by 4 children... or the line "Shows me a world I never saw before" at which point Denver reaches into his rucksack and pulls out an illicit sex object and thrusts it in the children's faces.
I'm only half kidding. I'll leave it to you to find other unintended sexual imagery on your own.
view Intro to Denver The Last Dinosaur




Another key childhood memory is the album Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers, a cassette that was on heavy rotation in our family's tapedeck on many roadtrips. Sort of a precursor to mash-ups or probably more accurately a descendant of Stars on 45. I have to credit Jive Bunny for introducing me at a young age to both Sweet and T.Rex, though it wasn't until years later that I acted upon the impulse to rediscover the original songs in a nostalgia-induced fever. The song below includes excerpts from Sweet's Teenage Rampage and two T.Rex tracks: Bang a Gong and Hot Love.
Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers - Do You Wanna Rock

OK, onto T. Rex covers:

Children of the Revolution
To Marc Bolan & T. Rex's credit, none of the guys below can touch the original song.
Elton John with Pete Doherty (from Live 8)
Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer (from soundtrack to Moulin Rouge)
Violent Femmes

Jakob Dylan - Bang a Gong (Get it On)
This is a lo-fi rip of the song featured "exclusively" on JCPenney. It's not a bad cover, but why was this recorded exclusively for JCPenney? That makes about as much sense as-- oh, say, his dad hawking Victoria's Secret lingerie...

T. Rex - Summertime Blues [originally by Eddie Cochran]
Interesting cover history trivia: singer Gloria Jones who sang Tainted Love, whose covers are arguably more well known than the original, sang backing vocals for T. Rex between 1973-77 and was Marc Bolan's girlfriend. She is also the mother of their son Rolan Bolan.

T. Rex - Dock of the Bay [originally by Otis Redding]
More interesting cover history trivia: Aretha Franklin's Respect is a cover of a Otis Redding song. I found that out just now. Isn't that weird when you uncover a cover?

The Shins - Baby Boomerang
Certainly one of my favourite covers over the past year, which I snagged with my free eMusic trial. Best deal ever, just for this song. Hearing this actually inspired me to look "beyond Bang a Gong" to discover T. Rex awesomeness.

New Cover Riddle & Overdue Answers

I know, I know. I've been slacking with posts and this trend looks to continue in the foreseeable future. To compensate, I'll try to cram a few extra tunes in here.

There's some unfinished business with the David Fincher cover riddle. Fincher is one of those music-video-turned-film-directors from back when that inspired an "Oh, that's interesting." rather than an "Another bloody music video director!?!" response. Among the videos he directed were:

Paula Abdul's Straight Up covered here by Halifax
George Michael's Freedom '90 covered here by Robbie Williams (as Freedom '96)

...and he even directed the video for Billy Idol's cover of LA Woman [originally The Doors]. Kudos to him!

I've even got another semi-cover riddle lined up for you:
What is the common theme between these tunes?

The Who - You Better You Bet
REM - The Wake-Up Bomb
&
All the Young Dudes
This was originally written by David Bowie for Mott the Hoople and becomes one of those complicated instances of who you credit the original song to... My instincts are to credit the song to Bowie who didn't release an album cut until later, although Mott the Hoople's version came out first. Oh the dilemma.
The F-Ups
Jill Sobule
Ozzy Osbourne
Des de Moor and Russel Churney
Switchblade Kittens

Cover Answer #4 (sort of)

Alright, no time for a proper post-- but I figured it was about time I revealed the answer. I've been told the answer can be discovered with a little help from Google... Damn you, Google, ruiner of trivia!

So the answer is that the three songs prior were used as the music at the end of three consecutive films of David Fincher, a near-great director who's been missing in action for the past few years though seems to be on the verge of a comeback with films coming out this year and next.

1. Se7en (1995) - Trent Reznor's remix of Bowie's "The Heart's Filthy Lesson"
2. The Game (1997) - Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"
3. Fight Club (1999) - Pixies' "Where is My Mind?"

These films are bookended by the flawed Alien 3 (1992) and the disappointing Panic Room (2002), which may have only been disappointing because it happened to follow SE7EN, THE GAME, and FIGHT CLUB. I would easily consider Se7en and Fight Club to be two of the best films of the 90s. Coincidentally, both containing Brad Pitt back when he used to act instead of playing himself. Fight Club also marked the last time Edward Norton was in anything worth watching. Prove me wrong, Ed, prove me wrong. Se7en also features a pre-Scrubs John C. McGinley who is described as "hardcore" by Fincher and Pitt on the DVD's commentary, which I still distinctly remembered when I started watching Scrubs years later. The Game is oppressive and relentless with its story, yet simultaneously darkly amusing. Highly recommended as well.

But the conceit of these cover riddles is that I answer in the form of covers... so you can ponder what I might post in the near future (when I have more free time!).

Cover Riddle #4

Riddle me this, riddle me that: How does anyone find the time and motivation to post on their blog on a regular basis?*

After a disappointingly easy Cover Riddle #3, I tried to come up with something a little trickier. That said, I guess it's very obvious if you already know the answer... (well, obviously). Also check out this week's Coverville episode, for Brian Ibbott's version of Cover Riddles. My guess is that it has something to do with the Oscars-- at least three of the songs are featured in Oscar-winning films, though I'm not sure about the others. I'm amused because a couple weeks ago Brian also beat me to a video games cover post, which I may still do in the future because he left off one of the best ones...

Alright, what is the unifying link between the following covers?

The Heart's Filthy Lesson by Lunasect [originally by David Bowie]

White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane]
For some reason, when I first heard White Rabbit I immediately thought it'd make a good cover song for an up-tempo rockin' version. I've yet to hear the perfect cover of it, but The Damned's is pretty damn close. I have 14 covers of White Rabbit and these are the best ones:
Karen Abrahams with The Austin Lounge Lizards
Blue Man Group featuring Esthero
The Damned
The Murmurs (this one is distinctly Björkish)

Where is My Mind? by Ghoti Hook [originally by the Pixies]

=========================
And now for something completely different...

Watched the Oscars tonight and it played out just about as expected including the not-so-shocking "upset" of Crash for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain... Memoirs of a Geisha was nominated for and won more Oscars than I realized... this year they added elevator music to the thank you speeches to distract the winners, I guess... more arbitrary montages than I remember in past years: tribute to biographies! tribute to epics! Jon Stewart quipped: "Coming up next, tribute to montages!"...

It was slightly embarrassing that they let a bunch of sound editors/costume designers/actors ramble on while totally gypping the winners of Crash (twice) on their speeches. Shouldn't the winner of the night's ultimate prize get to speechify to their heart's content? No. Crank the music, cut to ceiling shot, and show another JC Penney commercial featuring non-stop Bang A Gong remixes. Classy stuff. If they're trying to save time, seriously cut the barrage of montages.

Some favourite moments from the show:
-montage of controversial/socially conscious films including clips from (among others): In the Heat of the Night, Born on the Fourth of July, Hotel Rwanda, The China Syndrome, Network, The Insider, Philadelphia, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Day After Tomorrow. Way to go, Roland Emmerich. Your important contributions to cinematic history are duly noted.

-some Oscar winner for Memoirs of a Geisha thanked director Rob Marshall-- and the camera cut to a nodding Steven Spielberg. Ha.

-Crash wins Best Picture and half the crowd stands up and hugs because apparently everyone was in Crash

-Jon Stewart's analysis after the Best Song Oscar for It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp: "Martin Scorsese: 0; Three 6 Mafia: 1." Frightening, but so true. Robert Altman got his honorary Oscar too... he's now tied with Three 6 Mafia.

-Rachel Weisz wins her Oscar and as she's walking up, the announcer proudly announces she was in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns

-sorta of lame opening with past hosts, but then Mel Gibson comes on in full-Apocalypto mode (my sister has no idea what's going on)

-bizarre camera angles from behind the Oscar winning speeches like an SNL monologue with continuous reaction shots from Matt Dillon

-after Paul Haggis' speech, the co-writer for Crash steps up to the mike and is brutally cut off with the camera cutting away to an agog Charlize Theron who is clearly appalled at the Academy's lack of class

-the South African winner for foreign film demands the cameras to show the two stars of his film, Tsotsi.

-Stewart looking to Spielberg for a Jewish Tragedy Trilogy: "I can't wait to see what happens to us next!" Spielberg did not seem overly amused.

-Ang Lee gives props to China; my dad walks in and asks: "Is that John Woo?"




Cover answers next week (hopefully sooner than later).


*I have absolutely no idea.

Bond addendum

How apropos... was at work and saw the Music from Frasier album with this:

track #14: Frasier - "Goldfinger"

Cute. Though I have to admit I've never seen even 30 seconds of the show.

Shaken 'n Stirred

Ah, the new face of Bond. I'm not sure what to think yet... I'll give Daniel Craig the benefit of the doubt until I at least see a trailer. I think it's good that the producers seem to be taking a back-to-basics Batman Begins-type approach to Casino Royale, although I think hiring Quentin Tarantino (who claims adapting Casino Royale was his bright idea) would have given a much needed shot in the arm to the franchise. I've been less than impressed with the last few Bond films and in my humble opinion, Pierce Brosnan has the odd distinction of being the best Bond since Connery in some of the least memorable Bond films (excluding Goldeneye, which is the only Brosnan one I truly liked).

I like the idea with the Mission: Impossible series of handing over the reins to a different high-profile director each time... just to see what happens. Brian De Palma with the first one, John Woo with MI:2, and now J.J. Abrams for (as one clever bloke put it) M:I:III. At one point, David Fincher was even set to direct (that would've been killer!), which would have been way more enticing than the ol' crazy Tom Cruise show. After seeing the trailer, that one's questionable as well -- bonus points for evil Philip Seymour Hoffman though.

So anyway, the overly simple answer to last week's Cover Riddle #3 was indeed Bond... James Bond. All of the covering artists performed Bond theme songs:
-Duran Duran [A View to a Kill]
-Nancy Sinatra [You Only Live Twice]
-Garbage [The World is Not Enough]
-Shirley Bassey [Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker]
-the one-two combo of Tom Jones [Thunderball] & Tina Turner [Goldeneye]
-Sheryl Crow [Tomorrow Never Dies].

'Twas all a not-so clever ruse to post some Bond song covers, so here we go:

Parodi & Fair - James Bond Theme [originally by The Monty Norman Orchestra]
When Bond made his post-80s comeback with the newly licensed Brosnan as 007, this is the version of the theme song that accompanied the Goldeneye trailer.

Moby - James Bond Theme

Kingpins - Thunderball

Björk - You Only Live Twice

Nobody Does it Better [originally by Carly Simon]
from The Spy Who Loved Me
8mm
Aimee Mann

We Have All the Time in the World [originally by Louis Armstrong]
from On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Iggy Pop
The Fun Lovin' Criminals

A pretty good lounge cover of Diamonds Are Forever performed by Project: Pimento can be found at their website here.

Cover Riddle #3

Hi ya. Long time, no post.


I've been meaning to do more of these "cover riddle" things, although #2 in the series was back in early November (see #1 here). Oh well, upwards and onwards, as they say... to Number 3. Riddle me this: what is the common thread running through these tunes? I'm looking for something very specific here.

Duran Duran - Thank You [originally by Led Zeppelin]
Nancy Sinatra - Day Tripper [originally by the Beatles]
Garbage - Wild Horses [originally by the Rolling Stones]
Shirley Bassey - Light My Fire [originally by the Doors]
Tom Jones & Tina Turner - Hot Legs [originally by Rod Stewart]
Sheryl Crow - Mother Nature's Son [originally by the Beatles]

Answer in the form of covers next week. Good luck.

And the walls came down...

... all the way to hell.

Headstones - Tweeter & The Monkey Man
[originally by the Traveling Wilburys]


Yes, the correct answer to Cover Riddle numero 2 is The Traveling Wilburys. Each of the covers were of members of the late '80s supergroup The Traveling Wilburys: George Harrison (of the Beatles, of course), Jeff Lynne (of ELO), Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan.

They only released two albums: Volume 1 and Volume 3, which are both out of print although I read somewhere that they may be re-released late this year. The non-existent Volume 2 is to account for the passing of Roy Orbison who died just a couple months after recording the first album.

The Traveling Wilburys - Runaway [originally by Del Shannon]
I presume while listening to this song that it's Jeff Lynne singing lead vocals since each of the other Wilburys can be distinctly picked out while listening to any of their songs. Hmmm... not Roy, not Tom, not George, and definitely not Bob. I guess Jeff Lynne was in the midst of producing Del Shannon's comeback album when Shannon committed suicide in 1990. Apparently, there were rumours that Shannon would actually join the Wilburys after Roy Orbison died, but I guess 'twas not to be.

Look for a Wilburys cover coming in January as Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis releases her first solo album and does a version of Handle With Care with guests Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst subbing in for Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. I'll be looking forward to that one for sure.

A 2nd Cover Riddle

Riddle me this: What do these tunes all have in common?

Johnny Cash - I Won't Back Down [originally by Tom Petty]

Leslie West - Old Brown Shoe [originally by The Beatles]

The Jeff Healey Band - All Along the Watchtower (live)
[originally by Bob Dylan]

Yeti Girls - Don't Bring Me Down [originally by Electric Light Orchestra]

Rockapella - Pretty Woman [originally by Roy Orbison]

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Another easy one, je pense.
The answer in the form of a cover in a few days.

You Probably Think This Song is About You

The answer to Sunday's cover riddle is, of course, Carly Simon's You're So Vain. Her song's one of the enduring music riddles that have had people clamoring to find out the identity of the song's subject. A couple years ago, there was even a charity auction where she finally revealed the secret to the high bidder... however, the winner was obviously bound to secrecy by penalty of death by cabbage.

Three of the previous tunes posted were covers of potential candidates: James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Mick Jagger (who sand back-up vocals on Carly Simon's original hit). Another potential suitor was Warren Beatty, who I'm pretty sure does not have the distinction of having another artist cover his songs (if any), hence the Beatty/Madonna duet.

Alright, so here's some covers of Carly Simon's You're So Vain... the Anna Waronker version is particularly good, IMHO:

Anna Waronker
Smokie
Faster Pussycat

A Cover Riddle

Today's theme is "Guess the Theme"...
Riddle me this: What do the following tunes all have in common?

Little Richard - Brown Sugar [originally by the Rolling Stones]
Try to imagine Little Richard covering the Rolling Stones and you'd be 100% right. This cover brings a big grin to my face at precisely the 18-second mark.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Fire & Rain
[originally by James Taylor]

Madonna & Warren Beatty - Now I'm Following You (Part I)
Catchy tune from Madonna's album I'm Breathless, which served as a soundtrack to Dick Tracy (hence Beatty's guest vocals). News to me, but Madonna's massive hit Vogue was originally from this album.

Mr. Big - Wild World [originally by Cat Stevens]

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That shouldn't be too hard, methinks.
I'll post the answer in a few days in the form of a cover.