============================================= 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. =============================================
Playing with Shadows 77. Labelle - Moon Shadow [originally by Cat Stevens] From their 1972 album Moon Shadow, Labelle completely make this song their own, transforming Cat Stevens' peaceful folk ballad into a vivacious soul number with a healthy dose of funk. This is actually a shortened version of the album edit, which stretches the track to over 9 minutes by adding (unnecessarily I think) a 5 minute slow groove coda.
76. The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes [originally by The Postal Service] The original electropop version of this song by The Postal Service (i.e. Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard) is excellent in its own right, a bittersweet song of loneliness in a post-apocalyptic world. I prefer to interpret the lyrics quite literally rather than a metaphor for a broken relationship, but in any case The Shins' warm acoustic cover is a joy to listen to, providing an even more dramatic contrast to the melancholy lyrics than the original. This cover was actually included on The Postal Service's single for Such Great Heights.
75. Dick Brave & The Backbeats - Black or White [originally by Michael Jackson] Dick Brave & The Backbeats only put out one album, a collection of rockabilly covers that included Red Hot Chili Peppers, Avril Lavigne, Eddie Cochran, Pink, and Aerosmith. Far and away the two best covers of the album are a toe-tappin' reworking of George Michael's Freedom and this lively update of Michael Jackson's 1991 hit.
From the Wonderful World of Disney Covers The realm of Disney covers is wide and wonderful, which is why we're lucky to have Kurtis and his Covering the Mouse to help highlight the best (and sometimes worst) of them. I nearly forgot that I first got an e-mail from Kurtis just over three years ago inquiring about some Disney cover songs. This led to a long e-mail conversation over the next few months swapping Disney covers and discussing an idea he was toying with: an all-Disney cover blog. Soon this would eventually evolve into Covering the Mouse with me providing sagely advice as a veteran (ha ha) two-year blogger. I can't believe at one point I actually suggested expanding the scope to include all cartoon covers, thinking it would help extend the lifespan of his blog. Now it's been three years and I realize there's no danger of Kurtis running out of Disney covers anytime soon! As one of my favourite subgenres of covers, I'm more than happy to chip in every now and then with some of my favourites, so I'll continue to do so in my monthly guest post over there.
74. Devo 2.0 - Monkey's Uncle [originally performed by Annette Funicello and the Beach Boys] The first time I heard this while randomly shuffling my iPod I didn't even know it was a cover, but I resisted skipping long enough to get hooked on its nutty lyrics and unusual electro-pop rock arrangement. I soon found out it was Devo 2.0, a Disney kids reincarnation of Devo that actually featured the original performers. They produced one album of revamped Devo covers that flopped and this cover for a Disneymania compilation. I'd never heard of the original song or even the movie it was originated from, 1965's The Monkey's Uncle. I was immediately fascinated since it was originally performed by Annette Funicello and the Beach Boys over the film's opening credits (watch it here!). It was also written by the Sherman Brothers who are actually my favourite Disney-associated songwriters, notably writing songs for Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, The Jungle Book, Disneyland, and so much more.
73. Daniel Bedingfield - A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes [originally performed by Ilene Woods in Cinderella] This starts off as a dreamy ballad, then flips into a snappy big band number and I do dig when covers get the big band treatment. Along these same lines, I'll actually be going to see Michael Bublé tonight for the first time! The two previous times I've tried to go have been sold out, but for a hometown show I expect it to be pretty awesome.
72. Vika, Linda & Siniva Bull - The Bare Necessities [originally performed by Phil Harris and Bruce Reitherman] Speaking of the Sherman Brothers, they were brought in to redo the soundtrack to The Jungle Book after original songwriter Terry Gilkyson's songs were deemed "too dark", but Gilkyson's now-classic The Bare Necessities was retained and went on to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Song. Vika and Linda Bull are a sister duo from Australia and this particular cover comes from a rare album I stumbled across in Hong Kong called Duets: A Family Celebration that featured Australian artists covering Disney songs with their siblings, parents, or children. As I just found out, this thing is so rare that I can barely find much information on it other than a few posts (including my own) on Covering the Mouse. I can't even find the CD to consult the liner notes, so I'm not even entirely sure what relation "Siniva" is to the sisters or if that's even the proper name since I specifically recall that the CD designers had ill-advisedly chosen a nearly illegible cursive font that made tagging the MP3s difficult and potentially erroneous. In any case, this has become my all-time favourite Disney cover song with its unique arrangement and incredible singing.
Tomorrow the Fong Songs 101 countdown continues with some duets and some instrumental covers.
Five years ago today, I started Fong Songs. I had moved to Vancouver for a two month stint taking a two month course in 2D animation and after happily reading other mp3 blogs figured "Hey, I can do that!" (isn't that how all blogs inevitably start). Now, full circle, I'm living in Vancouver semi-permanently and in less than a month I'll be going back to school for my master's degree. So yeah, the blog end is near, I face the final curtain, yada yada yada. I've done it my way, more or less.
The Polyphonic Spree - Five Years [originally by David Bowie] Maxine Weldon - My Way [originally performed by Frank Sinatra; lyrics: Paul Anka]
While it may have started as a lark, Fong Songs has gone on much longer than I expected and it has resulted in many random fortuitous happenings and discoveries that I would have never imagined. I mean, to a narrow cross-section of the population I can brag how Neil Gaiman once pimped one of my blog posts in a tweet to Adam Savage! Even more astonishing to me was when I discovered that three months earlier I had also introduced Neil to the brilliant PoZitive Orchestra as evidenced by another of his tweets! Gasp, Neil, a closet Fong Songs reader?! Ha ha, I can dream. One of the coolest things that happened that I don't think I've ever mentioned was getting an awesome e-mail from Walt Kraemer, the composer of the Pinball Number Count, who thanked me for my post and actually asked me to help him in his quest to track down as many versions of the Pinball Number Count as possible! I got to participate in a cover songs round table discussion on the seminal Coverville and was even a cringy interviewee for an online radio station. I also performed my first (and last) Fong Songs interview with Max Vernon, one of those rare artist submissions I championed that I actually still listen to and follow. I got chummy with other cover bloggers to form a sort of covers community and they're still chugging along (you should have them all bookmarked already anyway, but be sure to visit their blogs on the sidebar to get your covers fix!). And then there was that awesome time I got DMCA takedown notices (9 total!). Yep, good times, bad times, you know I've had my share.
In light of the impending school workload and my steady decline in regular blogging anyway, I'll be going into a state of semi-retirement, though I won't completely close up shop. In the footsteps of many of my favourite bands, I guess you can say I'll be on an indefinite hiatus. I may drop in every now and then to check on the place, but don't hold your breath. I also plan to continue my monthly Disney cover post on Covering the Mouse (speaking of which, my latest guest post coincidentally went up today as part of Robin Hood Week).
So with less than a month left before sticking a fork in this blog, I thought I'd compile and post my 100 all-time favourite cover songs as my melodramatic swan song. Starting Monday (I may regret this) I'll post 5 songs a day for 20 days straight or until I get shut down by the powers that be. I'll lay down some judging criteria later once I come up with some. Stay tuned!
Christopher Lee - My Way [originally performed by Frank Sinatra; lyrics: Paul Anka] Awesomely bizarre cover that will not make the final cut.
I'm more curious than really excited about this latest Tim Burton experiment. Cautiously optimistic . . . or is cautiously pessimistic more accurate?
The Damned - White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane] God the Band - White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane] Call Sign Cobra - White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane] The Murmurs - White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane]
A new White Rabbit cover by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals accompanies a recently released compilation called Almost Alice, songs "inspired by the film". While featuring a new single by Avril Lavigne (yeeha.), the album intriguingly features Robert Smith covering Very Good Advice from the original Disney animated version and Franz Ferdinand putting music to The Lobster Quadrille, a song from the original book. A new Wolfmother track too.
Head on over to Covering the Mouse to check out my guest post all about the love theme from Disney's 1973 animated Robin Hood. Stay tuned because I will be dropping by there monthly to share even more Disney covers.
The Wombats - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You [originally by Bryan Adams]
Decembers in pop culture land are always filled with a glut of year-end lists, but this year is even crazier with everyone tossing out decade-end lists left and right. I didn't want this to get out of hand, so I've really narrowed the scope to just a flat-out list of my personal favourite cover songs of the decade and THE absolute worst film of the decade.
Attempting to rank these would be an exercise in futility, so this is purely based on iTunes playcounts. I have 6000+ covers tagged as being in the 00's, but of course it wouldn't surprise me if some poor covers were left out of the running based on incomplete tags. While posting all 50 songs would be overkill, not to mention an open invitation for a blogger crackdown, I've randomly linked to a few covers, some of which I've probably never even blogged about despite their high ranking. Here we go...
Top 50 Covers 2000 - 2009: 50. Dick Brave & The Backbeats - Freedom [originally by George Michael] 49. The Breeders - Wicked Little Town (Hedwig Version) [originally from Hedwig & the Angry Inch] 48. Bowling For Soup - The Bare Necessities [originally from Disney's The Jungle Book] 47. Ben Folds - Songs of Love [originally by The Divine Comedy] 46. The Bad Plus - Tom Sawyer [originally by Rush] 45. The Living End - I Get a Kick Out of You [originally by Cole Porter] 44. Tok Tok Tok - The Weight [originally by The Band] 43. The Phantom Of The Opera - Nightwish [originally by Andrew Lloyd Webber] 42. Rasputina - Rock and Roll [originally by Led Zeppelin] 41. Brad Roberts - Bette Davis Eyes [originally by Jackie DeShannon] 40. Pascale Picard - Shine On You Crazy Diamond [originally by Pink Floyd] 39. Devo 2.0 - Monkey's Uncle [originally by Annette Funicello with The Beach Boys] 38. The Wrong Trousers - Such Great Heights [originally by The Postal Service] 37. Lulu Hughes - Time [originally by Pink Floyd] 36. Hayseed Dixie - Holiday [originally by Green Day] 35. Fall Out Boy - What's This? [originally by Danny Elfman] 34. Mark Ronson - Oh My God (feat. Lily Allen) [originally by Kaiser Chiefs] 33. The Polyphonic Spree - Lithium [originally by Nirvana] 32. JerryC - Canon Rock [originally by Pachelbel] 31. The Bicycles - Cuddly Toy [originally by Harry Nilsson] 30. Serena Ryder - It Doesn't Matter Anymore [originally recorded by Buddy Holly; written by Paul Anka] 29. Motormark - Left To My Own Devices [originally by Pet Shop Boys] 28. Mark Ronson - Just (feat. Alex Greenwald) [originally by Radiohead] 27. Serena Ryder - Some Of These Days [originally by Shelton Brooks] 26. Chris Thile - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground [originally by The White Stripes] 25. PoZitive Orchestra - Shine On You Crazy Diamond [originally by Pink Floyd] [DIRECT LINK] 24. Daniel Bedingfield - A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes [originally from Disney's Cinderella] 23. D-Sailors - We Built This City (feat. Wick Slick) [originally by Starship] 22. Danny Michel - Lady Stardust [originally by David Bowie] 21. The F-Ups - All the Young Dudes [originally by David Bowie] 20. Phantom Planet - Our House [originally by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young] 19. Blacklight Posterboys - Jet [originally by Paul McCartney & Wings] 18. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Nothing Compares 2 U [originally by Prince] 17. Jon Brion - Play the Game [originally by Queen] 16. Days of the New - L.A. Woman [originally by The Doors] 15. OK Go & Bonerama - Rock 'N' Roll Suicide [originally by David Bowie] 14. Mint Royal - Singin' in the Rain [originally written by Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown] 13. The Polyphonic Spree - Wig in a Box [originally from Hedwig & The Angry Inch] 12. The Shins - Baby Boomerang [originally by T. Rex] 11. William Shatner - Common People [feat. Joe Jackson] [originally by Pulp] 10. Jamie Cullum - I Get a Kick Out Of You [originally by Cole Porter] 09. Harvey Danger - Oh! You Pretty Things [originally by David Bowie] 08. Manic Street Preachers - Can't Take My Eyes Off You [originally recorded by Franki Valli] 07. RLM & Katsuhiko Sakamoto & Ikuko Harada - 19th Nervous Breakdown [originally by The Rolling Stones] 06. Estradasphere - Super Mario Bros. 2 SuperBuckJazz [originally by Koji Kondo] 05. The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes [originally by The Postal Service] 04. Ben Kweller - BK Baby [originally by Vanilla Ice] 03. The Bens - Wicked Little Town (Tommy Gnosis Version) [originally from Hedwig & The Angry Inch] 02. Ben Jelen - Wicked Little Town [originally from Hedwig & The Angry Inch] 01. Danny Michel - Young Americans [originally by David Bowie]
It shouldn't surprise any regular reader that Danny Michel's Young Americans tops this list since it's more or less my favourite cover of all-time. Perhaps a little more surprising, two covers by four Bens of two different versions of Wicked Little Town take the two and three positions. A third cover by The Breeders also made the cut, so quantitively you could say Wicked Little Town is my favourite song of all-time, cover or otherwise, and I wouldn't really argue. With five entries, David Bowie dwarfs the competition in having his songs covered lending some vague credibility to an argument I heard once that everybody does a better Bowie song than Bowie himself (not at all true, though he does inspire great covers).
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Thankfully, I managed to avoid almost all of Rotten Tomatoes' Worst 100 Films of the Decade, but a couple slipped by. While some bad films are merely boring or forgettable, these ones also inspired active hate.
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) 4. The New Guy (2002) 3. August Rush (2007) 2. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) 1. Titanic: The Animated Movie (2001)
No, I'm not joking. This exists and I have seen it. I came across the DVD multiple times in the Chinese section of the public library before morbid curiosity got the better of me and I took it out. Oh boy, did I regret it. This incomprehensibly abysmal movie can basically be summed up with this clip of a rapping dog:
When discussing decade-end lists, my co-worker says this doesn't count because it's not even a movie and he's kinda right. While Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is so terrible it's almost laughable, this abomination is so mind-blowingly atrocious that it makes you hate yourself for having watched it.
Yarrrr, billions of blue blisterin' barnacles, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Aye, we be celebratin' here at Fong Shanties with some cover song booty. Plunder away!
The Pointer Sisters - Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) [originally from Pirates of the Caribbean] Before 2003, the idea of a movie based on a theme park ride seemed absurd. Arrrr, a couple billion doubloons in booty later, nobody be laughin' now. Except, of course, them Disney buccaneers... all the way to th' bank, yarrr! T'is be from the 1996 out o' print CD Disney's Music from the Park.
Captain Bogg & Salty - Part of Your World [originally from Disney's The Little Mermaid] Aye, 'tis another Disney cover and Captain Bogg & Salty do a fine piratey rendition.
Captain Tractor - Drunken Sailor [Traditional] Captain Tractor - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate [originally by The Arrogant Worms] We be in fer a solid floggin' by the grog-swillin' CRTC if we don't be servin' up some more CanCon here, so here be both a traditional and a modern shanty from Edmonton balladeers Captain Tractor. Sailin' through the rough green waters of the North Saskatchewan river, Captain Tractor be renowned across the land for pillagin' them Arrogant Worms of their most popular shanty and havin' a bigger radio hit with it.
PRESS PLAY ON TAPE - Theme from Monkey Island [originally by Michael Land] 'Tis a jolly rockin' cover of the main theme from the uncle of all pirate video games, The Secret of Monkey Island as performed by PRESS PLAY ON TAPE, a Commodore 64 revival band from o'erseas in the land of the Danes. In celebration of today's festivities, the hearty folks at TellTale Games, who have done a superb job reviving Guybrush Threepwood & Co. from a long murky slumber, be giving away the first episode of The Tales of Monkey Island! Aye, put away those gold doubloons and sail on o'er to www.playlikeapirate.com for yer free game-- TODAY only! Speaking of which, the recently revamped special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island is also 50% off this weekend... only $4.99 o'er at Steam.
Normally when I wear my Harvey Danger shirt around, I'm mistaken for a staunch supporter of High Definition or, sometimes, hard drives. But for one glorious weekend, I could be readily identified by strangers as a fan of Harvey Danger. And perhaps it would be the only time in history I would run into somebody wearing that same shirt and we'd exchange silent nods of approval. In the Emerald City, this was literally the end of the yellow brick road for Harvey Danger, 17 years after forming at the University of Washington. I've mentioned before how the band has a relatively small but extremely passionate following and that was demonstrated in spades last weekend. At least a few superfans had attended multiple shows in different cities on this final tour, which went through Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles before swinging back to their hometown Seattle for three final shows: an all-ages show Friday, an early show Saturday, and the Last Ever. I met a mom who had flown in for the Friday show from Orlando with her 18-year old son for his graduation present (awesome!). Others had flown from as far as North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, the UK, and elsewhere to be at their last ever show. Me, I hopped on a train down from Vancouver to take in the festivities.
Sleepy Kitty, a two-piece band from Chicago/St.Louis, restored my faith in opening bands, which lately I've been entirely ready to do away with. Sleepy Kitty consists of original Harvey Danger drummer Evan Sult (on drums, naturally) and Paige Brubeck on guitar, keyboards, and harmonized vocals (looping pedals!). Ever since I've been addicted to their song Gimme a Chantz! from their $3 EP What I Learned This Summer. Check it out on their myspace site. They opened for two of the three shows and I enjoyed them so much I could've gone for a full blown gig. It was only their third (or fourth?) show ever, so hopefully we'll be hearing more from them soon. The early show on Saturday featured Can You Imagine? as the opener, a bubblegum pop/50's rock & roll band that includes one-time Harvey Danger producer Steve Fisk on keyboads and cartoonist Peter Bagge on guitar/vocals. Afterward, I was mentally forming a blog post about other comic book people who've released music... off the top of my head I could only come up with Robert Crumb and James Kochalka, so that might require some more diligent research.
For the uninitiated, I won't bore you too much with the details (there's another forum for that), but needless to say it's a little magical being in a room filled with people who know every single Harvey Danger song inside and out. At one point, Sean Nelson just stopped singing and let the crowd takeover for the first couple verses, which he really could have done for every song. Over the course of two days, Harvey Danger played well over 7 hours of music. Someone who wrote down the setlists tallied 77 songs total! The all-ages show at The Vera Project, a non-profit music/arts centre for youths, clocked in at almost 3 hours, which was probably the band's longest ever show... until they topped it the very next night. The format was the same for all the shows: ~1.5 hour set, followed by an "on-stage encore break", then Q&A/request free-for-all. In order to make a request, one had to raise their hand and ask the band an "interesting" question, which ranged from the uninspired ("What is the meaning of [insert HD song]?"), intriguing ("What was your creepiest encounter with a fan?"), painfully cliché (nearly anything pertaining to Flagpole Sitta), and random ("Do you love your father?"). Sean would usually pause before making a decision: "Uninteresting! NEXT!" or "Now that's an interesting question." Occasionally, the worthiness of the question would be decided by a gladiatorial thumbs up or down as determined by the cheers or jeers. If your question was answered, then your request was granted.
For the last ever Flagpole Sitta, John Roderick of The Long Winters ran on stage to help sing the BA-BA-BAAA's. After the song ended, Sean said something along the lines of "We're going to take five seconds to appreciate the fact that we never have to play that song ever again", followed by a band toast.
They played my all-time favourite HD song Loyalty Bldg. at the final show. Perfection.
During the middle of what seemed like a record-breaking fifteen minute (Theme from) Carjack Fever, Sean gave each member of the band an extended introduction for the last time.
Someone asked if they ever play Rock Band and if they do, do they play the instruments they play in real life. Sean went to each band member for their replies: "No." "Nope." "No." "No, but I'm buying that Beatles one."
BNL's Steven Page was around somewhere but I didn't notice. @stevenpage: "Harvey Danger taking requests. No teleprompters, no binders of lyrics. Pretty impressive. Tho they only made 3 albums."
The first two shows both ended with Radio Silence, which is a fitting last note to go out on. When this was played during the requests portion of the final show, we were left in suspense as to what would the last Harvey Danger song played would be. In a risky, but brilliant move, they capped off the night with a new song, the appropriately titled The Show Must Not Go On, which was followed by what may have been the first and last band hugs.
As with all the shows, the band came out after to chat with fans, sign things, take photos, etc. It speaks to their extreme generosity that they stayed until absolutely everyone had been taken care of. Personally, it was just wonderful to have the opportunity to say thanks for all the years of fantastic music.
On the covers front, they played a stunning cover of The Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money at the Vera show. When asked later by a young fan what was his favourite song ever, Sean said probably that one. At the final show, Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things was the first request, saving me the trouble of requesting it myself! Another request was their almost never played cover of The English Beat's Save It For Later, here mixed with a snippet of Pearl Jam's Better Man. I overheard them playing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road during the soundcheck but that didn't crop up at the actual show. Their Dead Sea Scrolls rarities CD sold at the shows contains an unheard cover of Hall & Oates' Maneater and a live cover of Randy Newman's Louisiana, 1927.
Here's where I'd usually post some cover songs, but instead here are my two favourite HD originals from each album.
Harvey Danger - Jack the Lion [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?] Harvey Danger - Carlotta Valdez [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?] Harvey Danger - Loyalty Bldg. [from King James Version] Harvey Danger - The Same as Being in Love [from King James Version] Harvey Danger - Moral Centralia [from Little By Little...] Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise [from Little By Little...]
The latter two albums are both available on iTunes, while their debut album is more or less readily available as a physical disc (check Amazon or your local used CD shop). Of course, as it has been for the past 4 years, Little by Little... can be downloaded for free from the official site. When asked if that release tactic was regarded as a success, Sean said the fact that the room was filled with people singing along to every song from the album proves it was, though in hindsight they'd make the "donate" button more prominent, ha ha.
One last thing I want to tell you about is a stunning collection of live music housed at the University of Washington, one that you can only listen to IN-PERSON if you happen to be visiting Seattle. Between May 2002 and December 2007, audio engineer Jim Anderson recorded every (or pretty damn nearly every) show at the Crocodile Café before it closed down, re-opening in March of this year as The Crocodile. In October 2008, he donated this massive collection of digital recordings to the University of Washington's Ethnomusicology Archives. In total, this amounted to over 2800 HOURS of live music. It is not available online and can only be listened to at one of two terminals at the Libraries Media Center. Here are some of the gigs that caught my attention:
Five full Harvey Danger shows and a handful of solo gigs by band members
Andrew Bird 2003/06/12
The Dresden Dolls 2004/08/22
The Living End (!!) 2006/12/16
Sam Roberts 2003/10/24
Jon Brion 2004/12/18
The Ditty Bops 2005/03/10, 2005/06/25
For White Stripes-related fare:
The Greenhornes 2002/11/13
Brendan Benson 2005/11/08
Blanche 2005/06/25
Holly Golightly 2003/09/26, 2004/10/26
The Kills 2003/09/26, 2004/12/04, 2005/03/25
And that just barely scratches the surface. In fact, the list is so dense it hurts my eyes reading through it. There are even recordings of Disney Cover nights!! In one recording, Sean Nelson performed some Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, and Winnie the Pooh tunes! I even heard a pretty decent punk rock cover of Oogie Boogie's Song. Disney cover jackpot! Take a look at the extensive list to see if your favourite artists are on there-- tons of indie blog faves I'm leaving off. I'll be back in Seattle in October for a Ben Folds + symphony show at Benaroya Hall, but I think I know where I'll be spending the afternoon...
I've been slacking a bit on the blogging front as I play with my new roommate, a cat named Jaboo I adopted a couple weeks ago. My own charming cat stories are forthcoming. Also, my brand new iMac arrived on Friday and proceeded to consume my whole weekend. Lots of fun. One of the things I've been looking forward to for months, when a new computer was but a tiny seed germinating in the back of my brain, was editing a video of Wall-E and Eve's space dance to the soundtrack of Cubismo Grafico's cover of A Whole New World. This has been an idea I've thought about and been obsessed with ever since I heard this cover from the 2007 Japanese album Lovebeat Disney and realized, whether intentional or not, that the space dance sequence was a 29th century equivalent of the A Whole New World scene from Aladdin. The female vocals of Cubismo Grafico are reminiscent of Eve's distinct digital voice and the whole cover has a futuristic electro vibe in general, which made it a perfect match.
Cubismo Grafico - A Whole New World [originally performed by Brad Kane and Lea Solonga from Disney's Aladdin]
Mission accomplished:
By the way, Happy Father's Day to all the daddy types out there!
The Oscar pools are over and the little gold men have been doled out, so now it's time to roll out the blue carpet and hand out the little furry blue monsters! As a belated tie-in to the Academy Awards, I've made up some arbitrary Oscar-themed categories of cover songs for you, the Academy of Fong Songs Readers, to vote on by secret ballot. Write-ins are welcome, but please no ballot stuffing, this isn't the NHL All-Star Game. Note: if Google Reader is any indication, voting won't work from the RSS feed, so drop by for a real visit! Grover-winners will be announced at the end the week along with some more tunes for your consideration. On with the show!
BEST NON-ORIGINAL SONG BY AN OSCAR-WINNING MUSICIAN This category is for artists who have won an Academy Award for Best Original Song as opposed to an acting award, so no Sinatra or Cher.
Bob Dylan - This Old Man [Traditional] I forgot Dylan won an Oscar for the song Things Have Changed from 2000's Wonder Boys. This rendition of This Old Man sounds exactly as you might imagine if you were told beforehand that Bob Dylan was covering a children's nursery rhyme, complete with harmonica and his trademark vocals. Theoretically it could also sound like this.
Melissa Etheridge - Born to Run [originally by Bruce Springsteen] I don't really understand at all the snub of The Boss for his title song for The Wrestler when there were only three nominated songs, two of which were from Slumdog Millionaire. Did you know 1945 Oscars had fourteen nominees in this category?? Now that's pretty absurd, but I don't get how THREE songs from TWO movies is reflective of "Best Original Song" for all of 2008. Melissa Etheridge, winner in '06 for I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, covered Springsteen at the 2001's Concert for New York City. Hopefully next year Bruce will get a Best Live-Action Short Film nomination for this.
Jorge Drexler - High & Dry [originally by Radiohead] Jorge Drexler's Al Otro Lado del Río from The Motorcycle Diaries won for Best Original Song at the 2004 Oscars, though he was replaced during the song performance portion of the ceremony by the more "audience-friendly" Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas. Instead Drexler sang a bit of his song a cappella during his acceptance speech.
BEST COVER OF AN OSCAR-WINNING SONG The number of Disney song winners is staggering, so I excluded them completely from this category. Perhaps unfairly, but I'm arbitrarily setting the rules-- like the real Academy!
Dorothy Ashby - The Windmills of Your Mind [originally by performed by Noel Harrison] Winner in 1968 for The Thomas Crown Affair, this stunning cover by jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby is one of my favourites. From the 1969 album Dorothy's Harp, this could've come out next week and still sound hip and current.
Nick Cave - Let It Be [originally by The Beatles] Did you know The Beatles won an Oscar? I sure didn't, but they did for Best Original Song Score in 1970 for Let It Be (the film). "Original Song Score" is distinct from "Original Score" and "Original Song" and appears to have been completely phased out as a category in the mid-80s. Someone will have to explain the intricacies of that to me. Anyway this cover is from the all-Beatles cover soundtrack for I Am Sam, of course the film in which Sean Penn "went full retard and went home empty handed" at the 2002 Oscars. But he took one home last night, so take that Robert Downey Jr. in blackface!
Manic Street Preachers - Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head [originally by performed by B.J. Thomas] Hal David and Burt Bacharach won the Best Song Oscar for writing this memorable ditty from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.
The Dan Band - Flashdance/Fame [originally performed by Irene Cara] We got a combo here with two Oscar winning songs performed by The Dan Band, known for their profanity-is-funny covers from Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and a live album.
Sammy Davis, Jr. - Theme from Shaft [originally by Isaac Hayes] I'm a sucker for the In Memory montage of every Oscars telecast. This year offered an different, yet respectful twist with Queen Latifah paying tribute in song in a more celebratory than mournful manner, though it was severely undermined by ill-advised cuts to wide shots of the stage with the miniscule unreadable text rendering several luminaries unidentifiable. Among those remembered was Isaac Hayes who passed away last year within a day or so of Bernie Mac with whom he co-starred in the film Soul Men that was released a couple months later. I love that Sammy Davis Jr. covered this iconic theme, which took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1971.
BEST COVER OF AN OSCAR-WINNING SONG BY A CANADIAN JAZZ ARTIST A little CanCon for you since it'd be nearly impossible to play this game with the Genie Awards. Go ahead, you can look that up on Wikipedia.
Molly Johnson - Streets of Philadelphia [originally by Bruce Springsteen] This is from Molly's 2006 album Messin' Around, which also has an interpretation of Prince's Tangerine. Springsteen wrote this for the 1992 film Philadelphia. Unbeknownst to me, he was competing against Neil Young's Philadelphia also written for the film.
Michael Bublé - Call Me Irresponsible [originally by performed by Jackie Gleason] Written by Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen, this was famously covered by Frank Sinatra, who I suspect Bublé is channeling here from his 2007 album, also called Call Me Irresponsible.
Elizabeth Shepherd Trio - Beauty & The Beast [originally by Alan Menken & Howard Ashman] Elizabeth Shepherd is up for Best Vocal Jazz Album at next month's Juno Awards, which are here in Vancouver this year. I had to send my friend to Japan to get this cover song, which comes from the compilation album Modal Jazz Loves Disney. This is like when George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or some big star goes to Japan to film/shoot advertisements that no one over here will see, which is unfortunate since it's a great cover of the Disney modern classic.
Holly Cole - Baby, It's Cold Outside [originally by Frank Loesser] I didn't realize this song came from a film, but it won for 1949's Neptune's Daughter, which included two performances of the duet by the combos of Ricardo Montalbán(!) with Esther Williams and Red Skelton with Betty Garrett. Apparently multi-Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver performed this song with buster Poindexter on an old episode of SNL.
BEST RENDITION OF BEYOND THE SEA BY AN OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR NAMED KEVIN It's really too bad Kevin Costner didn't record a cover of this song, leaving this a two-horse race. I would be astounded if anyone came up with a legit write-in vote for this.
Kevin Kline - La Mer [originally by Charles Trenet] Kevin Kline, Oscar winner for A Fish Called Wanda, actually goes back to cover the original French version of Beyond the Sea, originally titled La Mer. Songwriter Jack Lawrence penned new English lyrics for the tune that are unrelated to the original lyrics beyond the reference to the sea (la mer).
Kevin Spacey - Beyond the Sea [as made famous by Bobby Darin] Kevin Spacey won Oscars for The Usual Suspects, had a string of solid roles through the mid-90s, then capped it off with another win for American Beauty. Then he seemingly took a cue from Cuba Gooding Jr. and hasn't really done anything all that worthwhile since. Perhaps Men Who Stare at Goats will be a return to form (no joke). For his pet project biopic of idol Bobby Darin, Spacey produced a whole album of covers and even went on a mini-tour.
THE VINCENT L. GAMBINI AWARD FOR WORST COVER BY AN OSCAR WINNING ACTOR Like the Gordon E. Sawyer Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Award, this category is an honour of dubious merit bestowed on a particularly wretched cover song of my choosing performed by an Oscar winner. This isn't the William A. Shatner Award since he's unfortunately Oscarless and I find even his worst covers amusing and fascinating ("MISTER TAMBOURINE MMMAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAN!").
This year's inaugural award goes to its namesake, Joe Pesci singing in character as Vincent LaGuardia Gambini from My Cousin Vinny. It's from a frightening 1998 album of originals that includes such winners as Take Your Love and Shove It, Yo Cousin Vinny, and Wise Guy. This karaoke arrangement of the Louis Armstrong classic is not completely atrocious, but exceedingly unnecessary.
Joe Pesci - What a Wonderful World [originally by Louis Armstrong]
BEST COVER BY AN OSCAR WINNING ACTOR OR ACTRESS For this category, I deemed Oscar winners who were primarily musical artists ineligible to be nominated. I also excluded cover songs that were performed for a musical adapted for film. So as you might imagine, the shortlist for this award is rather short especially when the remaining covers must be deemed Grover-worthy. Try to ignore the famous names and keep your ears open. Here are the nominees:
Gwyneth Paltrow - Bette Davis Eyes [originally by Jackie DeShannon] Modeled on the 80's Kim Carnes version, the mother of Apple covered this for the film Duets, which she starred in and was directed by her dad Bruce. The movie received mediocre to outright awful reviews, though I've always been a little curious to check it out because of its eclectic cast which includes Huey Lewis (as Gwyneth's dad I think?), Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, and Paul Giametti as competitors at a national karaoke championship, plus it's got a soundtrack of cover songs. Paltrow won the Best Actress Oscar for 1998's Shakespeare in Love.
Clint Eastwood - Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive [originally by Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer] Speaking of snubs, didn't Gran Torino get nominated for anything? Mind you, I heard it wasn't Clint's best, but I know it was nominated for (and winning) some accolades earlier in the awards season and I would've liked to see Jamie Cullum perform at the Oscars. He co-wrote and performed with Clint Eastwood the title theme to Gran Torino, their second collaboration after the theme to Grace is Gone. Clint covered this song for his 1997 film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which also featured a jazz cover by Kevin Spacey probably before anyone realized he was a closet crooner. Eastwood has multiple nominations and two Best Picture and Director Oscars under his belt, and even an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Bonus Oscar connection: Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive was one of the 13 runner-ups in the 1945 Best Original Song Oscar competition.
Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters - The Kids Are Alright [originally by The Who] It may be hard to believe, but this ain't half-bad. This is from the second all-covers disc from The Boxmasters self-titled debut of last year, though Billy Bob has released several albums earlier. He's been nominated twice for acting Oscars, though his win is actually for writing Sling Blade. I just saw an earlier (and paunchier) Billy Bob in Tombstone a couple months ago and he was a hoot.
Finally, for your viewing entertainment: Grover's starring role in last year's hit monster flick, Groverfield.
Come on in, the party has just begun! DJ Frankenstein is spinnin' tunes tonight and he's definitely got some treats for you. Have a safe and happy Pooky Night everyone!
Zacherley - Zombie Zoo [originally by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers] Originally from Tom Petty's 1989 Full Moon Fever, this odd cover gives it the novelty horror treatment courtesy of Mr. John Zacherle,
Vincent Price - Monster Mash [originally by Bobby "Boris" Pickett] The funk of forty thousand years reached a pinnacle with this awesome recording by the horror icon. In a fittingly creepy tribute, Monster Mash creator Bobby "Boris" Pickett's remains were recently immortalized as a certified diamond.
Groovie Ghoulies - Time Warp [originally from the Rocky Horror Picture Show] From the Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show, an all-punk tribute album to the cult musical.
Bonerama - Frankenstein [originally by The Edgar Winter Group] Couldn't stop DJ Frankenstein from playing this one... Beware, this live cover clocks in at a frightening 13 minutes! Recommended if you like LONG trombone solos.
Shock of Pleasure - Spooky [originally by Classics IV] This spooky cover ended up in my inbox several months ago from Dallas electro-lounge act Shock of Pleasure whose album It's About Time also features a cover of the Delaney & Bonnie song Superstar (a huge hit for The Carpenters).
Argies - Psycho Killer [originally by Talking Heads] A sweet foreign language cover from Argentinean rockers, the Argies.
Helloween - Hocus Pocus [originally by Focus] The best rock yodel song!
The Rowdymen - Clap for the Wolfman [originally by The Guess Who] This lifeless (undead?) cover of The Guess Who comes from a tribute album Guess Who's Home by local Winnipeg artists. I'm still curious to check out the rest since it includes several unlikely cover candidates of classic Guess Who material. The original was a tribute to American DJ Wolfman Jack whose own voice (palely imitated here) features prominently throughout the track.
Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers - Transylvania Twist [originally by Count Dracula??] So that's what happened to the Transylvanian Twist! Recorded by the Monster Mash man himself.
Rasputina - Bad Moon Rising [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival] A gothic cello dirge of a cover.
Dev Large for Devastator Enterprises - Fantasia [Dirty Raw Bobo James Mix] [originally by Mussorgsky] An awesome remix of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, famously used in a sequence from Disney's Fantasia. It's from a Japanese album Disney Breaks & Beats, which again proves the Japanese take their Disney cover songs seriously and that's why I love 'em. I've posted this before, but I think it's essential to any Halloween party mix.
Bing Crosby - The Headless Horseman (alternate version) One of my favourite Halloween-themed songs from Disney's animated version of the legend of Sleepy Hollow. This was sung and written (I think) by Bing Crosby who also provided the narration for the short film, which made up half of the Disney feature The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. This version of the song is different than the one found in the film and I presume it was recorded for radio play... I found it on the eMusic album Klassic Kiddies' Sing a Long Songs.
Halloween came early last week in the form of a Blogger takedown notice and threats regarding the DMCA. By far I'm not the only house on the block being paid a visit. Blogger has been a-knocking on lots of doors and they're clearly not here for tricks or treats, though I'd love to dump a handful of peanuts and unwrapped apples in their bag. Also, those nasty orange and black things in wax paper, ugh. To this point, I haven't really gotten too upset since I've knowingly not been overly vigilant about what I post-- I mean, my blog tagline states as much-- but the most frightening and disturbing aspect of this whole affair is hearing the accounts of fellow bloggers.
Our pal Boyhowdy at Cover Lay Down had a post taken down for a file he recorded live AND received written permission from the artist in question. Chad at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands is considering packing it in after a tribute to Elliot Smith with perfectly legit public domain mp3s was unceremoniously removed. Ekko at Berkeley Place is having posts deleted left and right. The list goes on and on... This one was particularly ridiculous: Ed at 17 Seconds had a year-old post featuring an entire interview with Glasvegas deleted even though the post contained no valid MP3 links, which were links to free demo songs anyway. Apparently I was lucky I even got a notice. Some bloggers' posts have just gone AWOL with no explanation whatsoever, which makes me wonder if that's already happened to me since I don't often peruse my own archives...
I seriously doubt there's some malicious reader going around submitting complaints about all the posts in question. Last year, Viacom spammed YouTube with 100,000 DMCA takedown notices based on an indiscriminate blanket search of the site's videos. I think something similar is happening here on behalf of some big wig record company.
The future is decidedly unfriendly right now, but don't expect me to quit blogging over it. I'm still a little leery right now about even posting legit mp3s so for now I've got words, just words.
An MP3-less Playlist:
1. Randy Newman - Strange Things When from out of the sky like a bomb comes some little punk in a rocket, now all of a sudden some strange things are happening to me. From the Toy Story soundtrack, this song accompanies a montage of Woody realizing that the times they are a-changin' as Buzz Lightyear comes on the scene. That had a happy ending, right?
2. The Crickets - I Fought the Law I remember some time in high school when I found out The Clash's I Fought the Law was a cover, proudly sharing the fact that the original was by the Bobby Fuller Four. Turns out that was a cover too! The original was by The Crickets, post-Buddy Holly.
3. The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes [originally by The Postal Service] I'm not coming out until this is all over. One of my favourite covers.
4. The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want) [originally performed by Barrett Strong]
5. Brie Larson - Unbelievable [originally by EMF] Crumbelievable OH!
6. OK Go & Bonerama - Rock & Roll Suicide [originally by David Bowie] Here's my endorsement for favourite cover song of the year. **Update: I was reminded by a reader that this comes from an OK Go & Bonerama benefit EP for New Orleans musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The 5-song EP is only $3.49 on iTunes and includes a rousing Bonerama horn section on some OK Go songs like A Million Ways in addition to the Bowie cover. Definitely worth a purchase.
7. Hard Attack - Land of Confusion [originally by Genesis]
8. Sertab Erener - Music [originally by Madonna] Music makes the people come together.
9. The Raconteurs - Keep It Clean (live) [originally by Charlie Jordan]
10. Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts - Words That We Couldn't Say
11. Robert Plant - For What It's Worth [originally by Buffalo Springfield]
12. GrimSkunk - Rockin' in the Free World [originally by Neil Young]
Not a member of Amie Street yet? Boyhowdy's latest post has a code for $3 free when you sign up for Amie Street. I'm a big fan of the site: DRM-free downloads and sliding scale pricing (all songs start free and increase as they become popular to a max of 98¢). Lots of great indie bands, though there's a frustrating US Only restriction for certain record labels.
So you just got your first $3 or you're already a loyal user looking for new music, what to buy? Lucky for you cover lovers, I've been keeping tabs on the Amie Street cover song offerings... take a listen and load up!
Shortstack: a covers EP with songs by The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, and The Pupils. An early purchase for me was their cover of Commotion, my favourite CCR song.
Jake Shimabukuro: 7 albums from ukulele virtuoso jake Shimabukuro. Lots of covers including his great version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Zeppelin's Going to California, and Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time.
Lee Press-On & The Nails: a handful of good covers from this big band swing group. Pink Elephants on Parade from Disney's Dumbo, Van Halen's Hot for Teacher, Stones' Jumping Jack Flash, and more.
Mates of State: Bowie's Starman is covered on their All Day EP.
Jacqui Naylor: Probably one of the best deals on here, two albums for about $2 each. Naylor calls it "smashing" but essentially she and her band perform live band mash-ups. Some work, some not so much, but they're all in good fun. Particularly great is her cover of Santa Baby intermixed with Zeppelin's D'yer Mak'er from the Christmas album Smashed for the Hoildays. She must be a Zeppelin fan since we also have What Child is This? vs. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You and We Three Kings vs. When the Levee Breaks. I won't spoil some of the other bizarre clashes, but I will give props to her covers of Lola and Hot Legs.
Sugarman Three: covers of James Brown's Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and Susie Q (apparently NOT originally by CCR as I thought, but Dale Hawkins).
Indie Translations of the White Stripes: White Stripes purists tend to bash this album, but I found at least a few keepers when I bought the physical CD in San Francisco a few months back. Unfortunately, Amie Street doesn't actually list individual artists on this compilation and as an added kick in the crotch, the downloaded tracks are mis-credited to the wrong band. It's a shame because the two best tracks are folksy/country covers of Ball & Biscuit and My Doorbell by an L.A. band called the Long Goners.
Rasputina: From their live album A Radical Recital, gothic cello covers of Heart's Barracuda and Led Zeppelin's Rock & Roll, both under 40¢ each. I love their version of Rock & Roll from their covers EP The Lost & Found, but unfortunately it's not available.
Leave comments with other good covers you found on Amie Street!
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:
Just over a week ago I went to see Danny Michel twice at The Railway Club, a small club in downtown Vancouver that used to be exclusively for railway workers in the 1930's. One of the songs Danny played from his new album is called Motorcade, about "a couple in Guatemala who get robbed". What's interesting about this particular track is that it was inspired by, as stated in the liner notes, "the slow movement of Schubert's Second Piano Trio". Remember last week I mentioned The Art of Time Ensemble? Well, last year Danny was one of several artists commissioned to write and perform original songs inspired by the Schubert piece. The other artists were Sarah Slean, Andy Maize (The Skydiggers), Martin Tielli (The Rheostatics), and John Southworth. The whole show used to be online at CBC, but now seems to have been taken down unfortunately. The album version of Motorcade features special guest Mike Garson on piano. Garson was David Bowie's piano guy, appearing on Aladdin Sane and onwards, so clearly this was a thrill for Danny who, of course, did a whole album of Bowie covers.
Danny Michel - Motorcade
Danny Michel - Young Americans [originally by David Bowie] OK, I know I just posted this a couple weeks ago, but it is one of my all-time favourite covers and I'm really gunning for it to make the 2008 Coverville Countdown. And you know who played piano on the original? That's right, Mike Garson. Plus, on Danny's site I just noticed for the first time a quote from David Bowie regarding the Danny's Young Americans cover: "he's a great little mover. never seen anyone move quite like that. are his arms double jointed? the maracas are a beautiful thing, out of nowhere they come and the backup voices are really moving and intimate. this is a good, good cover. db" There you go... "a good, good cover" so says the Man himself.
This reminded me that I meant to do a whole post of classical covers a while back... A topic suggested but not ultimately used for the Coverville Round Table discussion was whether classical music can be considered cover songs. Clearly for many pieces written a few hundred years ago, there is no "original" recording, but would recordings of the same piece by, say, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or the Czech National Symphony Orchestra all be covers? My gut instinct is "no", though part of me also thinks "why not?". In this case, I feel as if the genre almost has to be changed or something dramatically different has to occur to count as a legitimate cover. Classical music lives in its own distinct world where the term cover version doesn't really make sense for the same reason that there are movie remakes, yet the umpteenth performance Shakespeare production is hardly considered a remake. Or am I wrong?
Dolce de Musica - Aria Sulla Quarta Corda [originally by J.S. Bach] The funny thing about a lot of the famous classical pieces is that even though you might not recognize the title (or the composer for that matter), there is a good chance you'll recognize the song simply based on usage in film, commercials, and television. This one, for example, is popularly known as "Air on the G String", yet I really can't pinpoint one specific instance where I'd know it from. This version starts off as a fairly normal piano/string arrangement, then D.d.M unexpectedly throws in a reggae twist. It changes gears a couple times to a swing beat and even a marching beat while never seeming haphazard. I picked up this CD while I was in China, admittedly only because there were some Disney covers on there, but I quickly became a fan of this Bach cover.
Bond - Carmina [originally by Carl Orff] Opera Babes - O Fortuna [originally by Carl Orff] These are two versions of the same piece O Fortuna from German composer Carl Orff, who in the mid-1930's set music to Carmina Burana, a medieval collection of poetry. This song has been used so often in pop culture it's basically a cliché for Epic Gothic Showdown. Both groups attempt to bridge the classical/pop music divide, though Bond was actually banned from the UK Classical charts. Their version is a bit more radical with a heavy dance beat and distinct overuse of orchestral hits.
Toy Dolls - Toccata in D Minor [originally by J.S. Bach] Toy Dolls - Eine Kleine Nacht Musik [originally by Mozart] Two classical covers by British punk rock band the Toy Dolls. It sounds like they're just goofing off in the studio on Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, but it quickly turns into an acoustic guitar jam reminiscent of Dueling Banjos. That's two posts in a row with Toy Dolls covers, though I've never posted their great punk cover of The Devil Went Down to Georgia. They also do an awesome cover of Any Dream Will Do from Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen - Rondo [originally by Mozart] A dixieland jazz cover of Mozart's Piano Sonata #11, better known as the Turkish Rondo. For me, this will be permanently associated with the computer game Lemmings.
Angélique Kidjo - Lonlon (Ravel's Bolero) [originally by... Ravel] The last track on Angélique Kidjo's Grammy award-winning Djin Djin is a cover of Ravel's Bolero sung not-quite a cappella (there's some sparse instrumentation in there).
Dakesh York - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata [originally by Beethoven] From an album of remixed classical songs called Masterworks Reworked: Remixes for a New Generation.
Dev Large for Devastator Enterprises - Fantasia [Dirty Raw Bobo James Mix] [originally by Mussorgsky] From a Japanese album Disney Breaks & Beats, this is a remix of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Of course, this is from a particularly memorable sequence of Walt Disney's Fantasia where a Satan-like demon (named Chernabog, so I'm told) awakes on Bald Mountain and summons all the ghosts, goblins, demons, and other such creatures to party all night on the mountaintop. I think one of Walt Disney's goals was to bring a greater appreciation of classical music to younger generations and you know what, I think it may have worked at least a little bit. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, The Nutcracker Suite, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Rite of Spring... I'm sure my first exposure to these classical pieces was through Fantasia, though my mom tells a popular story of her looking over and seeing my dad, my sister, and I with our heads back and mouths open, sleeping in the theatre. Subconsciously though, I absorbed all these songs.
Be sure to also check out this old WFMU post which features a whole album of surf rock covers of classical numbers by Japanese band Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys.
Hello cover fans! I am Kurtis and I run a Disney cover blog called Covering the Mouse and I am happy to be a part of the holiday festivities here at Fong Songs!
I'm not just a Disney fan. I love cartoons of all sorts! Many great songs have come from the cartoon world and many people have covered them. Christmastime is Here from A Charlie Brown Christmas and You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas are two of the more popular songs to cover [Note: look for covers of the latter in an upcoming post...].
But what about the other way around? Since cartoons and Christmas specials seem to go hand in hand, it only makes sense that there would be a whole bunch of Christmas covers by famous cartoon characters.
Blue Christmas - Porky Pig (Most people don't know that this is not actually Porky Pig, but Denny Brownlee A.K.A "Seymour Swine".)
O Holy Night - South Park (This version of Eric Cartman singing O Holy Night has become a holiday standard on the radio since it's debut.)
Deck the Halls/We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Alvin and the Chipmunks (The Chipmunks' first hit single was a Christmas song and since then they have gone on to record three Christmas albums!)
Twelve Days of Christmas - Shrek (This one's new. I'm pretty sure it's authentic, although I haven't heard of Shrek releasing a Christmas album. I have no idea where you can find it, except right here!)
Twelve Days of Christmas - Disney (Disney, one of the biggest names in animation had their cast of characters record Christmas albums. These are all the real voice actors doing what they do best!)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Looney Tunes (Warner Bros, the other biggest name in animation, also had their cast record an album. Although the voices don't all sound exactly right since it was recorded after the death of Mel Blanc, the voice of almost all the Looney Tunes.)
There's yet another cover blog on the block (we're practically a neighbourhood!) simply called Cover Me. Cover Me blogger Ray has actually had his cover blog up for over a month now, but what's new to me may be new to you as well. By the way, he's over at Covering the Mouse today with a guest Disney post. On Cover Me, Ray posts thematically-linked covers with commentary and we all know there's plenty of cover songs to go around. If a thousand monkeys on a thousand keyboards wrote a thousand cover blogs, would we run out of cover songs? Probably not. And in that teeny-tiny profile photo, is that Jack & Meg I see hovering over the boy clawing at his own face? That's 10, 000 bonus points, good sir. Welcome to the club!
Steve Tyrell with Dr. John - You've Got a Friend in Me [originally by Randy Newman for Disney's Toy Story] As per unofficial Fong Songs welcome policy, new cover blogs are greeted by this modern classic from Toy Story. Important notice for any prospective cover bloggers: I've only got 7 more of these covers left. This is from jazz musician Steve Tyrell's album of Disney standards, unimaginatively named Steve Tyrell: The Disney Standards. Here, he's joined by Dr. John whose distinct voice and ivory ticklin' I'm a fan of.
Jamie Cullum - Seven Nation Army (live) [originally by The White Stripes] This is my cover find of the week. I've been a big fan of Jamie Cullum since he burst on the scene scaring jazz and cover purists everywhere. And to find him covering another of my favourite bands is exciting indeed. I knew Jamie covered Seven Nation Army at his concerts many times including some terrible quality youtube videos. Sometimes it's part of a medley of other covers, but this was the first time I got my grubby hands on a quality live recording of the whole song. Using one of those sample and looping machines, Jamie builds up the distinct riff with his voice then proceeds to jingle jangle on the keys while singing one of the better cover versions of this song that I've heard.
Hi everybody! Just had to share a photo of a shop I found in Macau:
Ha! What are the odds of that, eh? I guess anything can happen in Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia. We stayed at the Venetian, supposedly the biggest casino in the world, which I don't doubt-- it's massive. I didn't gamble much at all, in fact just a couple hands of Blackjack at the Wynn casino just to say I gambled in Macau. Minimum bets at the Venetian were $25 Canadian per hand of blackjack! The game of choice appears to be baccarat, which I don't really understand even after skimming a wiki article.
I've got some covers here for you that I uploaded pre-China for an anticipated blog-post on Macau. A few variations on Motörhead's Ace of Spades:
Dino Martinis - Ace of Spades Tarantulas - Ace of Spades J.B.O. - Ace of Spades Hayseed Dixie - Ace of Spades
I've been having a great time here in China. It's blown by so fast and I can't even begin to recount all that's happened. The most memorable adventure was visiting my dad's birthplace near the town of Heshan. The home village has barely changed in over 50 years (my dad lived here until he was 3 or 4 before moving to Guangzhou, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, and eventually Canada when he was 7). I got to see the house, in fact the very room where he was born. Incredible. There was even a large lychee tree that he supposedly planted as a toddler, which would be about as old as he is.
I feel like I'm guest-blogging on my own blog here, ha ha. Tomorrow it's off to Beijing for 5 days, then a few more days in Hong Kong before heading home! A big thanks to Kurtis from Covering the Mouse for covering my blog while I'm away. I had a blast visiting Hong Kong Disneyland, which would be the, um, 5th happiest place on Earth maybe? Probably not, but I'm a sucker for the ol' Disney magic. I loved their Halloween glow-in-the-dark parade which featured the catchiest theme music. It sounded like the Men in Black theme mixed with a remix of Mussorsky's Night on Bald Mountain-- I hope to come across an mp3 of it someday. Nightmare Before Christmas 3D is playing here in Hong Kong, which is awesome since it never came through Edmonton last year. Unfortunately, it's all sold out for the next few days and I'm not sure I'll get to see it before I leave. :(
Be sure to check out Kurtis's previous post on Fong Songs featuring Rainbow Connection, a definite favourite of mine from the classic Muppet Movie. He uncovered even more covers than I have of it... I'll have to check when I get home to see if I have any to add. The music from the Muppet Movie is fantastic with other classics like Moving Right Along (which has spawned its own share of cover versions), Can You Picture That? (by the inimitable Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem), and Hope That Something Better Comes Along. Be sure to check out the Dead Hensons, a muppet/Sesame Street cover band that I discovered a couple years ago when researching one of my earliest posts on the Pinball Number Count from Sesame Street.
Even after I get back, Kurtis is welcome to post anytime he feels like a Disney break. On his own site he's been posting some Halloween-themed Disney covers lately including a cover of the Headless Horseman, a favourite of mine which I used to google regularly years ago to track down the original and any potential covers (note: Joe Satriani did not cover this song...). Here's one he might not have:
Richard Strange - The Headless Horseman (live) Earlier this summer, Jarvis Cocker organized a night of Disney cover songs (oh my god!) in collaboration with Hal Willner called Forest of No Return. The guest list of performers included Pete Doherty, Bryan Ferry, Beth Orton, Nick Cave, Grace Jones, and many more. BOOM! That's my head exploding from the awesomeness potential of that night's affair. To my knowledge, there were no recordings released or even made of the show (prove me wrong please!!) except for numerous incomplete or poor quality youtube videos of Pete Doherty's Chim Chimeree. This recording of the Headless Horseman I found on Richard Strange's myspace video page before converting it to mp3.
Bing Crosby - The Headless Horseman The original. I love it.
If you'd like to Cease and Desist me, I'd prefer that you didn't. In any event, you can contact me at [e-mail removed, see below], if you'd like me to remove a link (or if you want to tell me charming stories about your cat). In any event, MP3 links are generally deactivated after a couple weeks.
**UPDATE: In light of my blog going into retirement, I have removed my e-mail because I am still being bombarded with promo e-mails. If you still would like to contact me, ask a question, or whatever, feel free to hit me up on Twitter or simply leave a comment on any post. Cheers!
