the wrong song
I was listening to Norwegian Wood, as covered by Cornerstone, in (the original?!) Hindi, I gather.
It is very good. Really works.
But some songs are just done wrong. Like right now it is graduation time in many places, and a bunch of choirs will be belching out Gaudeamus Igitor like it were a hymn, whereas it should be sung like something from the Student Prince, except the way it is actually done in the iTunes version of the Student Prince...It is just wrong. Way too solemn.
Some covers do work, and some songs cross styles well.
eg Pretty Vacant done rockabilly style by Kingswood (aka Purty Vacant),
or Walk this Way done by Run DMC
or Rawhide done by Dead Kennedys
Route 66 by Billy Bragg (aka A13)
so what else works? what should work?
I know I'd like to hear:
Fortunate Son covered by Green Day
River done by Bob Marley (or any good reggae singer)
anything by Half-Man Half-Biscuit
Under a blood red sky done by a jazz quartet.
is there any song that can't be jazzed?
and, what songs should never be covered in which way?
like:
Tainted Love by Michael Jackson
Pretty Vacant by Britney Spears
Love will tear us apart by Mariah Carey
Teenage Kicks by any boy band
Anarchy in the UK done by the Mormon Choir
(james - if you're reading this, bill me for the keyboard, but get a coffee proof monitor!)
oh, and any song done by Rod Stewart or Andy Cameron accompanied by the Scottish Football Team...
we're on the march, wi' Ally's Army
we're going tae the Argentine...
It is very good. Really works.
But some songs are just done wrong. Like right now it is graduation time in many places, and a bunch of choirs will be belching out Gaudeamus Igitor like it were a hymn, whereas it should be sung like something from the Student Prince, except the way it is actually done in the iTunes version of the Student Prince...It is just wrong. Way too solemn.
Some covers do work, and some songs cross styles well.
eg Pretty Vacant done rockabilly style by Kingswood (aka Purty Vacant),
or Walk this Way done by Run DMC
or Rawhide done by Dead Kennedys
Route 66 by Billy Bragg (aka A13)
so what else works? what should work?
I know I'd like to hear:
Fortunate Son covered by Green Day
River done by Bob Marley (or any good reggae singer)
anything by Half-Man Half-Biscuit
Under a blood red sky done by a jazz quartet.
is there any song that can't be jazzed?
and, what songs should never be covered in which way?
like:
Tainted Love by Michael Jackson
Pretty Vacant by Britney Spears
Love will tear us apart by Mariah Carey
Teenage Kicks by any boy band
Anarchy in the UK done by the Mormon Choir
(james - if you're reading this, bill me for the keyboard, but get a coffee proof monitor!)
oh, and any song done by Rod Stewart or Andy Cameron accompanied by the Scottish Football Team...
we're on the march, wi' Ally's Army
we're going tae the Argentine...
posted by Steinn at 11:41 PM
4 Comments:
And pulleeze- no 'Favorites from the 50s' by the New Adelaide Police Pipe Band.
the serial catowner
That last bit is priceless. Takes me all the way back to that 1978 world cup when I was a kid. We would sing that song because England didn't make it to the finals that year and so we supported Scotland.
England cannae dae it,
'Cos they didnae qualify!
One of the more interesting things in life is that English will support Scotland or Wales if they are not in the competition; but the Scots and Welsh will always support anyone but England (and preferably a major opponent, like France or Brazil).
Part of the reason they sing Gaudeamus Igitur wrong is that they're only singing the boring verses. It's hard not to belt it out when you get to:
Rapiamus puellas, seducamus matronas!
Rapiamus puellas, seducamus matronas!
Ludamus pueris modis Graecis
Libido pro nobis!
Libido pro nobis!
It's been twenty-five years since Latin class, and I've still got it memorized (though I won't vouch for all of the spelling.)
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