Turn up the Bassey
June 24, 2007 6:40 PM   Subscribe

I who have nothing.
posted by vronsky (60 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I did not watch all the way through, but is this just a youtube video of Bassey singing the song?

I was going to to something like this with a clip I found of Nina Simone, but I figured it would bore the hell out of everybody and irritate them.
posted by Slap Factory at 6:48 PM on June 24, 2007 [3 favorites]


Obligatory link to Goldfinger.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:52 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


And another.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:53 PM on June 24, 2007


I was going to to something like this with a clip I found of Nina Simone, but I figured it would bore the hell out of everybody and irritate them.

Speaking for myself, I am rarely bored or irritated by good music. And I wouldn't worry too much about those who are. So take a page outta vronsky's book, and get out there and link to what you wanna! And let the chips fall where they may!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:56 PM on June 24, 2007


Nothing to understand.
posted by priyatam at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


Don't let jessamyn find this post - also and for the record Dimmer is much, much better than either Glen Campbell or Shirley Bassey.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 6:59 PM on June 24, 2007


Everybody sing.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:04 PM on June 24, 2007


And I've done a one-link Nina post. It went over well, actually.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:08 PM on June 24, 2007


Turn up the Morris!
posted by caddis at 7:13 PM on June 24, 2007


Turn up the Hallelujah!
posted by vronsky at 7:19 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


oh, the drama of it all!
posted by brandz at 7:22 PM on June 24, 2007


Props to the Dame!
posted by maudlin at 7:36 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


Turn up the Zorn.
posted by caddis at 7:37 PM on June 24, 2007


OOh, Shirley Bassey crackles with vocal electricity. That I Who Have Nothing sounds like the theme tune of really scary Borderline Personality Disordered stalker. A Fatal Attraction of a song. The tiger in her poor Match Girl Lover camouflage, with her nose pressed up against the window pane as her idol gives his diamonds to someone else.

Her voice is so powerful! Precise, explosive and jagged at the same time. Her songs are heat-seeking missiles.

I remember being 12, listening to her marvelously dark Goldfinger and feeling shy that it was so sexually charged, like it should have been illegal to play on the radio and somehow snuck by. It's one of my favorites.

Had no idea she was so beautiful. Always thought of her and her giant voice as an over-blown person and there she is with her delicate features. Sublime at 60, in 1997 singing Patsy's Crazy.

Whoda thunk she's Welsh, along with Tom Jones? She's now Dame Shirley Bassey.

Scrolling down the YouTube relations, there is a sweetly pure, 17 year old girl version of the song by Jordin Sparks.

And then an unexpected combo of nightclub testosterone, Tom Jones, and Blues nitroglycerin mixed with Brillo, Janis Joplin. Hope they got their groove on after the show.
posted by nickyskye at 7:38 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


for beautiful nickyskye with love.
posted by vronsky at 7:39 PM on June 24, 2007 [2 favorites]


ah, Beautiful song, vronsky. Thank you. I love you too.
posted by nickyskye at 7:53 PM on June 24, 2007


Burly chassis?
posted by kcds at 8:08 PM on June 24, 2007



Making my entrance again with my usual flair,
Sure of my lines,
No one is there.

Don't you love farce?
My fault I fear.
posted by vronsky at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2007


then i painted your face
on a twenty dollar bill
but it isn't legal tender
and i think about you still
and all the comfort in words
provide no comfort
we can all go mad together
that's what friends are for

and at the sideshow by the seashore
the girls are dressed as mermaids
an electrical storm has caught us in a trap
maybe if i yell at you
you'll trust in what i'm sayin'
but i'm keepin' all the secrets
and i have nothing else to say
posted by vronsky at 8:14 PM on June 24, 2007


These Leonard Cohen videos are fantastic. Thanks.
posted by carmina at 8:16 PM on June 24, 2007




You learn from the past
Well I reminisce
You look to the future
I see maybe at best
A kiss for good luck
Save it for an honest Joe
It's too late to worry
I guess I'll just go

So forgive me
And maybe
We won't turn and rust
Only if we must
Only if we must

Saints never preach
And angels don't fly
Down by the beach
Where the seagulls die

I asked you not to breathe
You let out a sigh
I asked you not to breathe
That's for you to decide

So forgive me
If need be
Forget about us
Only if we must

Angels wait on the beach
For the time run
I let out a sigh
If I reminisce
And you're the past
Ah, maybe at best
Our epitaph

Forgive me
And if need be
I will turn to dust
Forget me if you must
Only if you must
If you must
posted by vronsky at 8:27 PM on June 24, 2007


I knew Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones were Welsh.

Samuel Farrow, if you are going to make an outrageous claim like that you need a youtube link to back it up.

Some awesome links, and I was afraid Miss Lynnster was going to post a Wing cover of I who have nothing.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:28 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wait, is this the same link as the comment about how you imagine The Divine Miss L?

Not clicking.

You have nothing. :)
posted by The Deej at 8:28 PM on June 24, 2007


I find it inexplicable how smoking hot she still is at 60 in this propellerheads collaboration. I want her plastic surgeon. Of course now that she's 70 she's just hot, not smoking hot.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:44 PM on June 24, 2007


Burly chassis is an excellent play on her name. Not quite an anagram but fun. Is there a name for that kind of wordplay?
posted by nickyskye at 8:48 PM on June 24, 2007


Wow.

Vronsky punted a one line Youtube link to the front page?

Didn't see that coming.
posted by genghis at 9:00 PM on June 24, 2007


awww genghis, you barbarian, just hurt me like that.
posted by vronsky at 9:27 PM on June 24, 2007


I, who have not one of those tiny microphones. I've got to get one of those. You know, the kind that Bob Barker used to use.
posted by redteam at 9:30 PM on June 24, 2007


A great example of something that would have seemed ugly and ridiculous to me when I was a kid, but which seems majestic and beatiful today. What an incredibly powerful voice she had.
posted by facetious at 9:38 PM on June 24, 2007


Bizarre coincidence -- on FX at 1 AM tonight (about ten minutes from now) there is a Married, With Children episode entitled "I Who Have Nothing". Weird. Irrelevant, of course, but highly weird.
posted by lumensimus at 9:51 PM on June 24, 2007


Nickyskye, you might be interested in Cockney Rhyming Slang.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:51 PM on June 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


∑I(0→∞) = Ø ≈ ☹
posted by rob511 at 10:54 PM on June 24, 2007


Talk about a great blast from the past. She is still has an explosive & powerful set of vocals. Jordan Sparks sang a toned down version of same song on American Idol. Thank you for reminding us of her great talent.....
posted by believe at 10:54 PM on June 24, 2007


...could she have done some Michael Jacksoning with the plastic surgery?

Thanks for the Cockney slang links BrotherCaine.
posted by nickyskye at 11:19 PM on June 24, 2007


I actually think Diamonds Are Forever is a bigger favorite of mine. Love Shirley Bassey. Love Shirley Horn too, may she rest in peace.

And oh, hey... wait... it seems BrotherCaine has made a heartfelt request for Wing! Well, here you go my friend.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:41 PM on June 24, 2007


Hey, if we're doing kitsch ballads
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:05 AM on June 25, 2007


In the FPP link as well as the Goldfinger link (especially the first one), note how the studio orchestra followed her lead so impeccably. When she stretches the time on the little accappella breaks, they're back in with her, spot on, every time. This kind of accompaniment is a dying (if not lost) art in the era of click tracks and locked tempos and all. Very refereshing to hear that sort of thing again.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:57 AM on June 25, 2007


Jedi Mind Tricks
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:21 AM on June 25, 2007 [1 favorite]


This kind of accompaniment is a dying (if not lost) art in the era of click tracks and locked tempos and all. Very refereshing to hear that sort of thing again.

...but, but, but... if I don't use a click, my cheesey-arsed theramin samples won't come in on time.
posted by chuckdarwin at 1:28 AM on June 25, 2007


nickyskye: They're called Spoonerisms.
posted by vbfg at 1:51 AM on June 25, 2007


btw, since everyone's posting random music... Shirley Bassey was on at Glasto' this weekend (and kicked ass by all accounts, so here's Chas n Dave from the last Glasto (I'm in the middle, somewhere). Yes, that was as tenuous a link as you thought. Possibly more so.
posted by vbfg at 1:59 AM on June 25, 2007


Spoonerisms are a strict transposition I thought?

Miss Lynnster, thanks, now I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying, oh wait that's blood from an aneurysm coming out my tear ducts.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:27 AM on June 25, 2007


OT, but a great song, Aguas de Março.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:29 AM on June 25, 2007


Or Waters of March in English.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:31 AM on June 25, 2007


You can definitely tell in venues like Glastonbury festival who has raw vocal talent vs. those with only studio magic. Shirley Bassey kicked ass at Glastonbury and made a lot of the young 'uns seem real weak. The Winehouse performance was way weaker than anticipated and she was not the only one. But Winehouse writes her own material so she has saving graces.

Another interesting instance is when you watch modern bands try to do the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper on the original equipment. This was a documentary for the BBC and only the geezers like Bryan Adams needed minimal takes while Kaiser Chiefs and others needed A LOT more.

BTW Bassey was still looking HOT at Glastonbury.
posted by jadepearl at 3:57 AM on June 25, 2007


I was totally freaked out by how hot she was looking at Glastonbury yesterday. Unbelievable that she's 70 years old.

And she even gave a shout out to the Arctic Monkeys, who covered Diamonds Are Forever on Friday.
posted by afx237vi at 6:16 AM on June 25, 2007


Another interesting instance is when you watch modern bands try to do the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper on the original equipment. This was a documentary for the BBC and only the geezers like Bryan Adams needed minimal takes while Kaiser Chiefs and others needed A LOT more.

I'd love to see that! Any ideas where an American can get hold of it?
posted by Rock Steady at 6:32 AM on June 25, 2007


OT, but the Elis & Tom version of Aguas de Março is my favourite track of all time, probably. When I first discovered it I just played it over and over for a day, and then went to find other versions. I always wondered what they looked like, so thank you for that. It's completely perfect.
posted by Grangousier at 6:44 AM on June 25, 2007


Rock Steady: It was a radio show on BBC Radio 2. Here's the info page, but it was a couple of weeks ago and I don't think the "listen again" feature goes back that far.
posted by afx237vi at 6:49 AM on June 25, 2007


They're called Spoonerisms

An exact Spoonerism version of Shirley Bassey would be Birley Shassey but now I see/hear Burly Chassis is the almost exact homonym version of the Spoonerism. Thanks for helping me figure that one out.
posted by nickyskye at 8:20 AM on June 25, 2007


In the FPP link as well as the Goldfinger link (especially the first one), note how the studio orchestra followed her lead so impeccably. When she stretches the time on the little accappella breaks, they're back in with her, spot on, every time. This kind of accompaniment is a dying (if not lost) art in the era of click tracks and locked tempos and all. Very refereshing to hear that sort of thing again.

Actually, it's just called rubato, a specific tempo callout. Rubato means "stolen" in Italian, probably because as you change the timing of the melody throughout the song it seems like you are almost "stealing time" from the other bars. Thing is that rubato takes some talent & musicians that know how to communicate with eachother, so some people never try it.

There are two things that make good rubato rare: 1) Inexperience (takes comfort & practice with a song & band); 2) Lack of talent (you have to deeply understand the meter of a song to be able to extend and shorten things without losing any rhythm); 3) Self absorption (some people only want to pay attention to themselves when they play).

It's not a great example, but to show you a sample of the difference, I start out No Two People rubato here, and then go into time. When I'm singing rubato, Barry's guitar is just supporting what I do. Then you can hear the difference when time starts & the rhythm takes over. His playing starts to drive the song forward. Then I go back into rubato for "Well certainly darling," and back into time.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:33 AM on June 25, 2007 [1 favorite]


Actually I need to correct myself on point #1. If someone has great musical experience & has a band filled with people who also have talent, they should be able to have that kind of connection with people they just met on the bandstand. There's an old rule "Don't shake hands on the bandstand." because so many people meet for the first time when they are onstage at a gig.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2007


Wow. All these excellent single-link YouTube posts we've seen lately! I can totally understand how my crappy one about something trivial like genocide in Darfur was flagged.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2007


shabada shazaaaz.... chick chick chik a dah...
posted by MapGuy at 10:11 AM on June 25, 2007


Gotta say... if I were you, I'd blame the melodic and whisping soft rock tones of Fleetwood Mac, ZenMasterThis. Clearly, the Darfur genocide was done an injustice in that video... the message being lost because it came across as yet another 1:21 peppy promo political commercial. Probably would've been far better served if it HAD been set to Leonard Cohen, Shirley Bassey or Nina Simone. Or hell, the Clash for that matter.

Definitely not Wing, though. Her singing inspires genocide, it does not fix it.

posted by miss lynnster at 10:33 AM on June 25, 2007


ZenMasterThis writes 'Wow. All these excellent single-link YouTube posts we've seen lately! I can totally understand how my crappy one about something trivial like genocide in Darfur was flagged.'

Metatalk is thataway ->
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:35 AM on June 25, 2007


Yeah, but I'm not looking for dialog.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:20 PM on June 25, 2007


Shirley was almost killed in a helicopter crash leaving the festival.
posted by hortense at 12:28 AM on June 26, 2007


Yeah, I just read about that. Not only did she survive & laugh off the crash, but she can pull of bedazzled wellies with a bright pink formal!!! Go Shirley!
posted by miss lynnster at 12:47 PM on June 26, 2007


Thank you priyatam. That was deeply fascinating and much appreciated.
posted by vronsky at 12:39 PM on June 27, 2007


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