A mad medley of The Andrew Sisters and The Supremes with Sammy Davis Jr.

February 11, 2016 7:15 AM

A month from today will be 50 years since Sammy Davis Jr. satisfied a whim and had The Andrew Sisters sing the hits of The Supremes, and vise-versa. The quality isn't great, and it's only a snippet of Sammy's short-lived show from 1966. If you want more, here's the full episode, full of singing, dancing and comedy: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6.
posted by filthy light thief (11 comments total)

That's so cool. Old-school mashup!
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:10 AM on February 11, 2016

I enjoy stuff like this so much. Seeing art through the lens of different talents is so interesting and fun. I'd love to see a show that was nothing but great musical artists trading covers of each other's songs back and forth.
posted by saladin at 8:39 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'd love to see a show that was nothing but great musical artists trading covers of each other's songs back and forth.

Behold: triple j's Like A Version YT playlist. It's a segment on Australian radio station triple j. Every Friday morning a musician or band comes into the studio to play one of their own songs and a cover of a song they love. There are currently 301 videos, and I expect this will grow.

I've been tempted to make a post on this, but I'd go too far and try to link to each and every one, so this will suffice.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:00 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like this. Twenty years ago, give or take, there was a benefit concert in Toronto at the Ontario Place Forum. (I want to say it was for HIV/AIDS funding, but I cannot recall with certainty.). Anyway, there were a mess of acts, each up for a short set, and the sets all overlapped so that as act A got to the final song, it was joined by act B on one of A's signature songs. Act A then departed, act B did a set, to be joined by act C for its final song, and so forth. I distinctly recall Kim Mitchell's "Patio Lanterns" being augmented by the Chipmunk harmonies of The Rankin Family.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:05 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Sammy Davis.

I still don't know how the world still spins without him.
posted by allthinky at 11:07 AM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

That was so great. They really seemed to enjoy it.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:23 AM on February 11, 2016

I'd love to see a show that was nothing but great musical artists trading covers of each other's songs back and forth.

Hell's yes. If that lip sync battle show can be a success, why not this?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:25 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sammy Davis.

I still don't know how the world still spins without him.

iknorite? Sammy does not get nearly the love he deserves. I blame Frank.
posted by briank at 1:23 PM on February 11, 2016

That was nice!

Thanks for the post, filthy light thief.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:49 PM on February 11, 2016

saladin, we have that in Norway, called Hver gang vi møtes (in English: Every time we meet) which I gather is originally from a Dutch show called De beste zangers van Nederland. It's great fun, if you know the artists...
posted by Harald74 at 12:33 AM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Like a Version sounds a lot like AV Undercover, which is also various artists covering each other. Mariachi El Bronx covered the Decemberists, who went on and covered Sugar for the show. Titus Andronicus has covered They Might Be Giants, who themselves have covered Chumbawumba and Destiny's Child. GWAR played Cindy Lauper and Billy Ocean (and a little bit more) in full costumes. And this Shake It Off cover, dang.
posted by sandswipe at 2:59 PM on February 13, 2016