vintage

So I’m 20 today (yeah, I’m a bit of a baby when it comes to the blogosphere), and so I thought I’d make a post about me. That is, I’m passing along links to some of my favourite funny videos so you can experience them too. Warning: may cause spit-takes. Protect your monitor.

Robin Williams – Bush & Obama is a hilarious video from just after the American election. He did some comedy in England for Charles & Camilla, or as he calls them, “Chuck and Cam”. It is stupid how many times I’ve watched this, but it’s amazing.

Paul McCartney making mashed potatoes. I never thought I would enjoy watching an old rock star talk to his oven mitts and slice onions.

Bob & Doug MacKenzie’s 24 Anniversary — self-explanatory. Hosers represent.

Star Wars retold by someone who hasn’t seen it is probably funniest for people who have seen the movies — sextilogy? Is there a word for a series of six? — but either way, someone trying to inform us about the finer points of a series they’ve never seen is already comedy gold.

How to write a fugue, on a theme by Britney Spears. This is especially great for musicians, but I think that anyone can appreciate the hilarity of a remarkably adept treatment of “Oops, I Did It Again” in fugal style (and the excellent editing).

Bach a cappella features one guy singing all four parts of a Bach piece — soprano too — and comically straining his voice to both extremes. His theatrically exaggerated facial expressions make this one of the funniest performances of ol’ Johann Sebastian on the internet. (He has more Bach, as well as Mahler, Puccini, and Gounod on his channel page … I recommend them all.)

Sloan loses a guitarist on tour … Jay gets lost in the woods and the rest of the band go to find him. A ridiculous video featuring such quotes as “It’s getting dark, it must be like, five-thirty or something!” or “It’s a leg. A human leg” (identified by Chris Murphy after a smell test).

And of course, Hugh Jackman on Japanese television (just after the Oscars). This is the biggest trip ever — I don’t even know what’s going on most of the time, but the exchange about balls is HILARIOUS. More clips here, if you’re still interested after that.

Real posts on their way!

Tags: bach, barack obama, britney spears, hugh jackman, mackenzie brothers, paul mccartney, robin williams, sloan, star wars, videos, youtube

Wikipedia defines cover thus: “In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song.”

Cover songs are a subject of great debate among music fans. Are they good? bad? unthinkable? terrific? For my part, I am firmly on the “awesome” side of the fence – if, of course, the cover is done well. True to form or re-worked, it doesn’t matter, as long as the new version does justice to the original tune. In some cases they are even better, which is a great little surprise.

Here, in no particular order, is a list of some covers I can’t get enough of:

1. Marshall Crenshaw, Rave On
   (Marshall Crenshaw, 1982; remastered edition from 2000)

   I can’t get enough of Marshall Crenshaw, and I listen to this song over and over and over. It’s true that it’s a pretty form-fitting cover of the Buddy Holly (which is also really good, of course), but there’s something about it that I particularly love. Crenshaw’s voice is terrific. Even his countoff is endearing.

2. Jully Black, Seven Day Fool
   (Revival, 2007)

   A lot of people seem to have no idea that this is actually a cover; Etta James first did it on her album The Second Time Around in 1961, and now Black has brought it back to the forefront with her excellent version. Quite similar to James’ song, Black has still managed to infuse it with her fantastic sense of soul. Beware of earworms.

3. Sloan, Waterfalls
   (Listen to What the Man Said: A Tribute to Paul McCartney, 2001)

   An uptempo version of the somewhat ponderous tune from 1980’s McCartney II. This is one of those cases of “cover is better than the original”, and I’m not saying that lightly (I love Sir Paul); however, Sloan’s interpretation just seems to suit the song so much better, and Ferguson’s crooning of “polarbears” is the cherry on top.

4. The Bad Plus, Tom Sawyer
   (Prog, 2007)

   Yeah, a jazz cover of Rush. No big deal. I had the pleasure of seeing this ridiculously cool cover performed live, and it was just as great, and perhaps even better, than the Bad Plus’ recording. (Some argued it was better than Rush, but I wouldn’t go quite so far.) This trio fragments, reworks, and solos all over the Geddy Lee & Co. standard, but it is still completely recognizable. A pretty fun romp around jazzland, especially if you like the original.

5. The Golden Dogs, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
   (Big Eye Little Eye, 2006)

   I know, two Paul McCartney covers in the same post? Really, though, the Golden Dogs’ take on the Wings tune is a super good one, and I didn’t want to leave it out. It’s taken a little faster than the original, but otherwise is quite true to it; barring the little “Band on the Run” reprise at the end, it is pretty close.

* I’m having some trouble uploading “Seven Day Fool,” so check back in a little while to see if it’s back. Sorry about that.

Tags: buddy holly, covers, etta james, golden dogs, jully black, marshall crenshaw, paul mccartney, rush, sloan, the bad plus, wings