A Night at the Grovers

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.

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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.



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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.



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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.



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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]

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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.

Canadian Cover Content #11: Hard Core Logo, Cover Podcasts & Crash Test Dummies

Some belated Canadian cover happenings...

On August 14th in Toronto, there's a whole tribute night devoted to Canadian cult rock film Hard Core Logo with a screening of the film, a Q&A with director Bruce McDonald, punk bands covering the fictional band, lots of prizes, and "unannounceable but very special SPECIAL GUESTS". Hmmmm... Joe Dick himself perhaps? Mr. Hugh Dillon is currently enjoying success on Flashpoint, a big hit both in Canada and the US, which is cool because it's clearly filmed in Toronto and Canadianisms have a way of sneaking into the episodes (a Timmy's run anyone?). How surreal would a reunion of the original Hard Core Logo line-up be with Joe Dick, Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie), John Oxenberger, and Pipefitter performing? Uh, technically impossible if you've seen the movie and actually kinda strange considering the 1996 film was about a very reluctant reunion tour, but I'd pay to see that anyway. For Torontonians or hardcore Hard Core Logo fans, details on the Tribute Night are here. Only $12!

Hard Core Logo - Rock 'n' Roll is Fat and Ugly
54•40 - Rock 'n' Roll is Fat and Ugly [originally by Hard Core Logo]


Last week CBC Radio 3's Grant Lawrence devoted an entire podcast to Canadian artists covering Canadian artists. It can be downloaded here in various formats. What's cool is that for several covers he chats with both the coverer and the coveree (as put by Danny Michel & Emm Gryner in a similar themed episode of Under the Covers). We get The Be Good Tanyas covering Geoff Berner, Kathleen Edwards covering Jim Bryson, Cuff the Duke covering the Rheostatics, and much more.
**UPDATE: Also check out this week's Part II - The Originals of the songs featured last week.

Speaking of Danny & Emm's Under the Covers, last week's episode was about "Covers You Didn't Know Were Covers". One that greatly surprised me was finding out Kim Carnes' eighties hit Bette Davis Eyes was not the original... it was co-written and recorded in 1974 by Jackie DeShannon. It has a radically different tone-- almost country & western with chorus girls. Sounds like a weird cover, but it's the original! Between this, Tainted Love, and There's Always Something There to Remind Me, how many more 80's one-hit wonders are actually cover songs?? There's no doubt that all covers of Bette Davis Eyes are of Kim Carnes' version. My favourite is an acoustic cover featuring the deep baritone vocals of Crash Test Dummies' frontman Brad Roberts, from his solo live disc Crash Test Dude. A couple years ago I was slow in ordering the Crash Test Dude CD/video combo from Maple Music then it went out of stock forever. I always kinda regretted that, though eventually it ended up on iTunes and eMusic. The album also contains a handful of unlikely covers: La Grange, Da Do Ron Ron, Trident Gum Theme(?), Unbreak My Heart and Baby One More Time.

Brad Roberts - Bette Davis Eyes [originally by Jackie DeShannon]
Ever wonder what Brad Roberts is up to these days? He's a guitar/songwriting instructor at the Paul Green School of Rock Music (!), which likely was the inspiration for the film School of Rock and was featured in the documentary Rock School. Incidentally, a School of Rock 2 was announced a couple weeks ago with Jack Black, writer Mike White, and director Richard Linklater all returning.

Brad Roberts - Superman's Song
I'm of the mind that one can't technically cover oneself, so here's Brad Roberts revisiting the Crash Test Dummies' first hit, Superman's Song, a plaintive ode to Superman released a year before the big S actually "died".

Brad Roberts - One of Us [originally released by Joan Osborne]
Here's something curious I just learned while writing up this post. Direct from the Crash Test Dummies FAQ: "the song's writer, Eric Bazilian, had written the song with Brad Roberts' bass baritone in mind. When the two met, Brad recorded the song just by himself with an acoustic guitar. When news of the song first broke, it was expected to appear on the Armageddon soundtrack. It did not, and so far, the song has only been made available to the public in a leaked MP3 that found its way onto file-sharing networks." Wow, so could this be considered almost the original One of Us...?

Crash Test Dummies - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead [originally by XTC]
I remember buying the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack specifically for this song, finding out it was a cover many years later. This is the first Crash Test Dummies single to feature the band's only female member Ellen Reid taking over lead vocal duties from Brad Roberts who sings back-up. The Dummies also recorded another XTC cover All You Pretty Girls for the XTC tribute album A Testimonial Dinner.

Jaymz Bee & The Royal Jelly Orchestra - Superman's Song (feat. Melleny Melody) [originally by Crash Test Dummies]
An unlikely lounge cover from Jaymz Bee & the RJO's Cocktail: Shakin' and Stirred album of Canadian covers.

Weird Al Yankovic - Headline News [parody of Crash Test Dummies' Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm]
I remember reading an interview years ago with the Crash Test Dummies and they were asked how they felt about Weird Al parodying their song. Of course, they were excited and honoured, going so far as to be Weird Al's back-up band on a MuchMusic Video Awards performance of the parody. The parody makes now dated references to headlines at the time (Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobbitt, and that guy who got caned in Singapore), though Weird Al changes it up in live shows with current headlines. When I caught his show last summer he sung about Britney's shaved head incident and Paris Hilton. The original has the very dubious distinction of being one of Blender's 50 Worst Songs Ever (#31), VH1's 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever (#15), and called by the Rolling Stone's blog as one of the 20 Most Annoying Songs Ever (#15). Yikes, I don't think it's that bad.

Covers of a different sort:

Bacchus and Ariadne [originally by Titian] ;)



(note: I only made one of these...)

!!! Jack White & Alicia Keys: NEW BOND THEME !!!

You may have heard by now, but I just found out about this and I am crazy excited. After all these Winehouse/Ronson and Adele rumours and "official" announcements, this is the real deal. The theme for the upcoming Quantum of Solace will be called Another Way To Die, written and produced by Jack White who also played drums. So I guess it's already been recorded. Somewhat surprising but true, it'll be the first duet in Bond theme song history. Alicia Keys made it known a couple years ago that she was interested in collaborating with Jack White, but who knew it would end up being a Bond theme?! So awesome, can't think.

I tried to imagine what this will sound like... mix these ingredients together and shake, don't stir:
The White Stripes - Shelter of Your Arms [originally by the Greenhornes]
The White Stripes - In the Cold Cold Night
The Raconteurs - Blue Veins
Alicia Keys & Adam Levine - Wild Horses [originally by the Rolling Stones]
Shirley Bassey with Propellerheads - History Repeating

Let the inevitable White Keys jokes begin. What do you think?

Fong Songs News Flash!

This is a Fong Songs News Flash! We interrupt Muppet Covers Week to bring you some burning news (ow, hot! hot!):

Serial kisser on the loose!
Max Vernon now has a hilarious music video to accompany his great cover of Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl. Check it out!

Are Gnarls Barkley Crazy covers making a comeback?
Wakey!Wakey! has a free NY concert available for download here including a pretty sweet cover of Crazy.

Who Watches the Watchmen?
Watchmen trailer imminent, supposedly of the mind-blowing variety. The Dark Knight is going to be so awesome, even the previews rock.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog!
OK, this is awesome. Act I went live yesterday, Act II hits tomorrow, Act III on Saturday, then gone after Sunday night. The free bit at least, it'll stay on iTunes and eventually make its way to DVD. So what is it? Joss Whedon's latest creation, a musical internet mini-series about a Evil Super Genius in the guise of Neil Patrick Harris. Watch Dr. Horrible as he eagerly awaits the result of his application to join the Evil League of Evil (fingers crossed!), faces off with his nemesis Captain Hammer, and tries to talk to that cute girl at the laundromat-- with musical numbers! With Neil Patrick Harris in a lab coat talking to his computer, it's impossible to NOT think of Doogie Howser, M.D. all grown up to be an evil doctor. Incidentally, I just happened to pick up the Serenity: Those Left Behind comic at the library yesterday and alarm bells went off as I read its forward with its conspicuous mentions of "Whyte Ave", "Albert's Family Restaurant (now burned down)" and "Wee Book Inn". Of course, the forward was written by Edmonton native Nathan Fillion, better known as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the short-lived Whedon series Firefly and its follow-up feature film Serenity. E-Town pride! Strange now that you can wear Nathan Fillion's grinning mug on your chest! That's right, Fillion plays Dr. Horrible's asshole superhero nemesis, Captain Hammer! Go watch now and soon you too can sing along to Dr. Horrible's freeze ray love song. In related news, Neil Patrick Harris will be making a guest appearance on the upcoming new season of Sesame Street.

This has been a Fong Songs News Flash. Our regularly scheduled Muppet Covers Week will continue momentarily.