"It's on, motherfuckers!"

December 5, 2021 4:56 PM

L’Chaim! With the last night of Hanukkah wrapping up, Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin also wrap up their second year of The Hanukkah Sessions with a song by two young Jewish men: Chaim Witz and Stanley Eisen.

The full week for your listening perusal...

Night 1: Stay by Lisa Loeb
Night 2: Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones
Night 3: Copacabana by Barry Manilow
Night 4: Jump by Van Halen
Night 5: Take the Box by Amy Winehouse (ft. Violet Grohl)
Night 6: Big Shot by Billy Joel
Night 7: Train in Vain by The Clash

posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock (19 comments total)

I'm kind of sad that I know who Chaim Witz and Stanley Eisen are without having to look. Also, I expected the video to not really be worth the price of admission, but Grohl's glasses and painted beard are funny.

Nobody should ever cover Copacabana though. Still too soon. If you didn't live through the period of that song's popularity, you joketh about that which you knoweth not.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 5:38 PM on December 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

1) Grohl definitely lived through the Copacabana era.
2) He went out of his way to do Manilow's original arrangement, which involves a lot of instruments and is not easy
3) Barry Manilow deserves any and all attention he deserves because he's one of the best songwriters our country has ever produced.
posted by hippybear at 5:43 PM on December 5, 2021 [15 favorites]

I lived through that era.

I loved his cover, mostly because it was so absolutely true to the original. Also the bit in the text underneath, which reveals the other half of Manilow’s genius, aka the Very Strange Medley.
posted by mephron at 5:58 PM on December 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

Nobody should ever cover Copacabana though. Still too soon. If you didn't live through the period of that song's popularity, you joketh about that which you knoweth not.

Live by Grohl's example. He's not a music chauvinist. He loves it all. His inspiration from '70s funk comes through in Nirvana. '90s grunge, the furthest thing from '70s funk but doesn't this sound familiar as hell? He had the guys do a Bee Gees cover album for fuck's sake.

Be like Dave. Enjoy music because it's motherfuckin' music!
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:32 PM on December 5, 2021 [12 favorites]

I'm nine days older than Grohl, and Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond were definitely the music the neighborhood "housewives" were listening to in the 70s.

Having started with the completely-straight Copacabana cover, I was not ready for the Lisa Loeb cover.
posted by Slothrup at 6:33 PM on December 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

Musical taste is obviously deeply subjective and I would never suggest that anybody should not enjoy what they enjoy. With that understood: Her name was Lola? She was a showgirl? Music and passion was always the fashion? We must agree to disagree.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 6:33 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Violet's really good.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 6:37 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Well, they were always the fashion AT the Copa....

I mean, if you weren't there...
posted by hippybear at 6:44 PM on December 5, 2021

I see your Copacabana earworm camp, and Witz/Eisen name changes, and raise you.
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, we are proud to present....
R̶u̶p̶e̶r̶t̶ ̶H̶o̶l̶m̶e̶s̶ David Goldstein!
posted by bartleby at 8:11 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Had to look up the Jewishness of the Clash (it’s Mick Jones)
posted by atoxyl at 9:49 PM on December 5, 2021

Now that they've finished the series, Greg Kurstin surely won't be needing all of those classic synths anymore, right? Asking for a friend. (dibs on the Oberheim)
posted by indexy at 8:12 AM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Not only does Greg Kurstin still need all those synths, he still needs them just to play a single song.
posted by mikeand1 at 10:17 AM on December 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm 57 and the first album I bought was Barry Manilow Live, which is fun and has a glorious cover.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:30 AM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

I believe that I would like to still be able to rock and roll all night and party every day, although I'd probably just use that spare energy to do some much-needed cleaning. Thus concludes my dishonorable discharge from the KISS Army.

(although every discharge that Gene Simmons has ever had should count as dishonorable, hey-yooooooo)
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:21 AM on December 6, 2021

Not only does Greg Kurstin still need all those synths, he still needs them just to play a single song

That was fun, thanks! Guess I'll (grudgingly) allow him to keep the collection.
posted by indexy at 11:49 AM on December 6, 2021

Wow, I don’t actually remember that Lisa Loeb song. I would probably recognize it if I listened to the original. I am in love with this version. Thanks, OP!
posted by Bella Donna at 12:21 PM on December 6, 2021

Heh. Grohl is repping Les Foufounes Électriques on Blitzkrieg Bop.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:39 PM on December 6, 2021

Bella Donna - that's the only Lisa Loeb song I ever heard - it was a pretty big hit at the time (at least where I live)
posted by stevil at 8:29 AM on December 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

!
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 3:17 PM on December 11, 2021