Yo! Oy! Motown meets Anatevka
October 22, 2013 12:50 AM   Subscribe

The Temptations sing Fiddler On the Roof

From the 1969 NBC TV show "Diana Ross And The Supremes & Temptations - G.I.T. (Gettin' It Together) On Broadway". Bonus link, opening medley.
posted by nickyskye (27 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yay!
posted by pracowity at 1:18 AM on October 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


What's the going metaphor for unsuccessfully recasting one thing as another? All I can think of is the procrustean bed, but that only involves shortening, though the part about it resulting in death fits.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 1:25 AM on October 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh, my goodness. <3
posted by Stewriffic at 3:29 AM on October 22, 2013


Lovely.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:58 AM on October 22, 2013


Bonus link, opening medley.

Oh, I love the music on variety shows of the late 1960s and early 1970s, especially where a famous act does a medley with the host, like Cher and Bowie, Cher and Tina Turner, or even (holy shit) Cher, Tina Turner & Kate Smith.
posted by pracowity at 4:08 AM on October 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Fiddler is best enjoyed in the original Japanese.
posted by jquinby at 4:44 AM on October 22, 2013 [9 favorites]


Like basically everything, this just makes me want to see a full-length version of Fiddler Please.

Bagels and lox and diamond shops, it's hard to be Jewish in Russia.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:22 AM on October 22, 2013 [5 favorites]


I think my whole life has been leading up until the day that I saw this on youtube. And now it is this day. It all makes sense now...
posted by pazazygeek at 5:27 AM on October 22, 2013 [5 favorites]


There's a great album put together by the Idelsohn society entitled: Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations. It's got this, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt, Jimmy Scott, Cannonball Adderely (who shortly after it opened made an album of just the music from "Fiddler on the Roof"), And the First Lady of Soul doing Swanee. The mastering's well done, and the liner notes are fantastic (you can download them as a .pdf for free from the idelsohn website), it's well worth getting.
posted by Gygesringtone at 6:20 AM on October 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


Those outfits make me wish there was an episode of the original Star Trek that guest starred the Temptations. Not in a 'Scooby Doo' guest star way, but more in the vein of the 'space hippies' in "The Way to Eden." Maybe have them appear to be down-on-their luck entertainers stuck in a bad contract with their new agent/manager Harcout Fenton Mudd who 'rescued' them when their ship broke down (read: sabotaged by Mudd) in between gigs, but these wandering entertainers are actually scientist-monks on a mission who have mastered the art of telepathic influence through the power of mellow, groovy, stone-cold harmonics and have a higher purpose in mind and plans of their own, and things are not what they seem...
posted by chambers at 6:26 AM on October 22, 2013 [12 favorites]


What's the going metaphor for unsuccessfully recasting one thing as another?

Square peg in round hole?
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:58 AM on October 22, 2013


As Jewish as fuckin' Tevye!

(I note I'm not the only person who thought the costumes and sets were pure Trek...)
posted by edheil at 6:59 AM on October 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Bring over some of your old Hebrew records.
We'll put the speakers in the windows and we'll go

On the rooftops to listen Tevye
Echo from the rooftops up above.

(Let the Temptations sing it one time!)
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 7:00 AM on October 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Absolutely gorgeous.

Though why do they sing Sunrise, Sunset with an air of creepy dread?

(Yes - it's definitely a wistful tune...but that arrangement is wonderfully perverse).
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:06 AM on October 22, 2013


That was so evocative of a classic Star Trek episode in set and costume that I kept waiting for Shatner to come on screen and try to seduce them all, as the Temptations sang about someone making them the perfect man.
posted by DrMew at 7:14 AM on October 22, 2013


They are missing the star fleet logo patch.
posted by bukvich at 7:26 AM on October 22, 2013


From the comments to the opening medley, it's noted that Bob Mackie designed all the costumes for this special.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:37 AM on October 22, 2013


"Lullaby of Broadway"?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:39 AM on October 22, 2013


100% more convincing than my niece's children's theater production of The Wiz, which, despite having almost one hundred kids, was an all white & asian cast. It was Not Funky. Not even briefly.
posted by mosk at 8:17 AM on October 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Tevye was a rolling stone
wherever he laid his yarmulke was his home
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:18 AM on October 22, 2013 [4 favorites]


despite having almost one hundred kids, was an all white & asian cast. It was Not Funky. Not even briefly.

In less than 90 seconds, Professor Bootsy Collins explains the One Commandment of Funk, which should be required part of any early music or theatrical curriculum, and is the first step on the road to being able to answer 'Yes' to the question "Can my child be Funky?"
posted by chambers at 8:35 AM on October 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


So, who did it best? The Temptations? Or The Osmonds?
posted by Ranucci at 10:03 AM on October 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ranucci: So, who did it best? The Temptations? Or The Osmonds?


Yo! Oy!...Ow!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 10:24 AM on October 22, 2013


That is more enjoyment than I have ever gotten out of the songs in Fiddler.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 10:52 AM on October 22, 2013


Omg, thanks everybody for making this such a fun thread! pracowity, that David Bowie and Cher medley thing was surprisingly interesting. jquinby, hadn't see the Fiddler in Japanese in a decade or so and it just got better over time. Gygesringtone, Nina Simone singing Yiddish was so moving, as everything Nina sings.
posted by nickyskye at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2013


Um, I'm not quite sure about this lyric change (at 6:08 in the video):
For Mama, make her a maid (?!)
For Papa, make her rich and renowned
For me, well, I wouldn't holler
If she were the grooviest girl in town
Also, the version of "The Rhythm of Life" that the Temptations do with Diana Ross from this same TV special has long been one of my favorite covers ever. So superior to the original usually-bland Broadway version. You can get the audio in the iTunes store.
posted by Asparagirl at 2:53 PM on October 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I came into the thread to say the way the Temptations used the "Lord, who made the lion and the lamb" verse in the slow intro was absolutely incredible, but that Rhythm of Life number just blew me away. It's my favorite number from Sweet Charity, and this is terrific. Damn.
posted by Spatch at 7:16 PM on October 22, 2013


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