In My Forty-Plus Years As A Music Writer ...

[andy-hughes]

… I have seen more than my fair share of classic songs butchered beyond redemption - but I wonder if anything is going to eclipse this!

[andy-hughes]

fender - Re. your referral of the Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb,. I love that, and I as big a Floyd fan as you can find.

I wonder if it may be something to do with the circumstances in which you hear something.

I heard that for the first time in the early hours, driving back from a gig, and I loved it. The band were completely unknown here, and were really an underground band in the U.S.

[Peter Pedant]

sons of anarchy in a particularly blood drenched episode towards the end - you know where so many bikers and greasers are dead that one in two motor cycles on the road dont have riders - played a cover of
"to sir wiv love" the hit by Lulu
altho er in this take it should have been by Zulu or someone

oh and in the film by Jerzy Rotblatt which is played in the ruined synagogues of Krakow on continuous loop
and ends with the ruins of Warsaw ( all walls 3 1/2 inches high remember in 1945) and the played over music is
the Hallejuah Chorus in german translation

The messiah was first performed in april 1745 in Dublin and is an english piece of music - the curator did the old - " I no spik da english" bit when I pointed this out

[Mamyalynne]

[andy-hughes]

windywillow - // Marianne Faithfull claims the Mars Bar story was made up and it didn't happen. But she would say that, wouldn't she? //

Then - quite probably, now - I seriously doubt it.

Ms Faithful has done enough, and seen enough in her eventful life to make it completely obvious to her listening audience in concert, and to me when we met earlier in the day, that she really does not care a hoot about what anyone thinks of her, or what she has done in her life, and that goes double for the press.

She would admit it, and have a laugh about it, but as I said earlier, she remains irritated that it follows her around more than fifty years on.

[Mamyalynne]

Excellent cover by Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers I thought.

[andy-hughes]

Sam1960 - The jury is out on the Paul Shane performance, was he doing it in the club style because he is a comedian, or was he serious, in which case it was fascinating as a slow-motion car crash.

Take your pick - it's memorable either way!!

[andy-hughes]

JimF - // The absolute massacring of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" springs to mind. That gies me the right bowk, so it does. //

I loved the video - with all the starched shirts trying to get their tonsils around a Lou Reed song and looking like they had brush handles up their bottoms.

I doubt if today, any of them know the song is about heroin!!!

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Re cover versions - Whitney Houston singing "I will always love you" is like nails scratching down a blackboard to me. I can't stand it. Give me Dolly Parton's original anytime.

[tonyav]

Very good cover that, Mamya.

[Mamyalynne]

I thought so, thanks to Peter for reminding us of it.

[andy-hughes]

Mamya - Katie Sagal has the musical chops to do this - before being an actress, she was a singer, and has performed backing vocals for Bob Dylan, Tanya Tucker, and Etta James.

I think this version is great.

[andy-hughes]

BD - // Re cover versions - Whitney Houston singing "I will always love you" is like nails scratching down a blackboard to me. I can't stand it. Give me Dolly Parton's original anytime. //

Dolly's version is immensely moving because it is so personal - her own farewell to her mentor Porter Waggoner when she stepped out from his show to go it alone.

But for me, the definitive version is by Linda Ronstadt -



with Andrew Gold's piano and backing vocals, with Emmylou Harris and Dolly backing as well.

It just bleeds out of the speaker - another artist who has the emotional depth to put her feelings into her voice.

Whitney Houston was someone who never understood that technique is not the same as soul, and volume is not the same as feeling.

[Peter Pedant]

// Excellent cover by Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers I thought.//
yes as it comes out

but in an episode where the bikers have lost have their complement (and I dont mean by failing the 11+) and havent learned diddly squat from their adventures,
I thought a little - - - out of place. z( empty, riderless)

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Will listen to Linda Ronstadt once the snooker is over. Dolly has certainly made her money with this one over the years.

[JimF]

"I doubt if today, any of them know the song is about heroin!!!"

You love regaling AB with tales of what people have actually said, so here's what Lou Reed said about that (from 5:27):

[andy-hughes]

If anyone wonders how good a singer Katie Sagal actually is - check this out -



It's a song she wrote after her daughter was stillborn.

[andy-hughes]

JimF - // "I doubt if today, any of them know the song is about heroin!!!"

You love regaling AB with tales of what people have actually said, so here's what Lou Reed said about that (from 5:27): //

Thank you for the clip.

If I am quoting something said to me, I say so, obviously, but if I am referring to something someone else has said, I genuinely believe it to be true.

I can't remember where I read the comment Lou was supposed to have made about the inspiration for Perfect Day, however, as I know from personal experience, things said in the press or on the Net are not necessarily the truth, and in this instance I am delighted to stand corrected.

Thanks again.

[Ellipsis]

No words required ...

[andy-hughes]

Ellipsis - Not surprisingly, I also love that version as well!

There is a story behind it - there was a comedy show on Australian television called The Money Or The Gun, and someone hit on the bright idea of having a musical guest each week, to perform a version of 'Stairway To Heaven' - and a load of people did - Rolf was just one of them.

Details here -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Money_or_the_Gun

[brainiac]

How about this version of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds: