M-I-C-K-E- Why does this sound different?

November 21, 2007 9:15 PM

Covering The Mouse. An MP3 blog dedicated to cover versions of Disney songs. My favorite so far is Gene Simmons' cover of "When You Wish Upon A Star."
posted by amyms (17 comments total)

Oh wow, I love Disney covers. I also really love listening to international versions of the songs from their movies. Definitely bookmarking this.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:30 PM on November 21, 2007

I'd like to cover the Mouse. With a shroud. Mind-numbingly banal little cartoon rodent.

That said, there are some good songs in the canon, and I think it's a fine thing if people wanna take a stab at 'em. I enjoyed a lot of that Hal Willner-produced Disney covers record from years back, Stay Awake.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:41 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Konishi Yasuharu and Pizzacato 5: Readymade Digs Disney = totes awesomes
posted by cytherea at 9:42 PM on November 21, 2007

I've had the Willner on a bit lately, and as the flapper says, most of it's really quite good. My favourite number is the Arkestra banging out "Pink Elephants on Parade"; they are an absolutely great straight-ahead swing band à la Fletcher Henderson, in a way the casual listener might not expect from their more familiar interstellar weirdnesses.
posted by Wolof at 9:54 PM on November 21, 2007

The Vandals' cover of Supercalifrajulisticexialidocious is killer.
posted by HotPatatta at 11:30 PM on November 21, 2007

I enjoyed Stay Awake nearly twenty years ago because of Sun Ra.

Now "The Mouse" must be covered with dirt. Hard and Packed. Fuck Disney.
posted by sourwookie at 12:32 AM on November 22, 2007

Oh. Dear God. I listened. Gene Simmons needs to die. Right after I skull-fuck the one he loves the most*.

*Though I am now convinced he loves no one.
posted by sourwookie at 12:38 AM on November 22, 2007

Nice link amyms.

The Gene Simmons track was the last song on his first solo album. Unfortunately apart from the first song, it's the best one on the album.
posted by Foaf at 1:20 AM on November 22, 2007

Gene Simmons needs to die.

His intonation was at best approximate, and he made a bit of a meal of the song.

The death penalty for that does seem a little harsh, though.
posted by Wolof at 4:10 AM on November 22, 2007

The only Disney cover you'll ever need:
Tom Waits, "Heigh Ho."

It ain't no trick, to get rich quick
If you dig, dig, dig, with a shovel and a pick
In a mine, in a mine
Where a million diamonds shine
posted by EarBucket at 4:51 AM on November 22, 2007

Spoke too soon--he's already got it.
posted by EarBucket at 4:52 AM on November 22, 2007

Wow, I'm with HotPattata, the vandals cover of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is absurdly good. That's what I call punk rock.

\m/ \m/
posted by jourman2 at 6:31 AM on November 22, 2007

The Tom Waits cover is on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, which also features Bonnie Raitt's excellent "Baby Mine," Los Lobos' "I Wanna Be Like You," and The Replacements cover of "Cruella de Ville." Simply Mad About the Mouse is a little more mainstream.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:03 AM on November 22, 2007

Stay Awake also includes a wonderfully goofy Buster Poindexter cover of "Castle In Spain" from Babes In Toyland.
posted by EarBucket at 9:48 AM on November 22, 2007

Only problem with Stay Awake is a number of the songs are tracked in groups so it is difficult to pick out just the song you want to hear. Otherwise it is excellent. The previously mentioned Waits cover of Heigh ho is just bizzare.
posted by Gungho at 6:48 AM on November 23, 2007

Another for Stay Awake, and echoing Gungho's comment. I would love a reworking of it that would allow you to go through the tracks one at a time.

Example:

Garth Hudson - Feed the Birds, NRBQ - Whistle While You Work, Betty Carter- I'm Wishing, The Replacements - Cruella DeVille, and a glorious version of 'Dumbo and Timothy' on guitar by Bill Frisell. Sounds like a winner across the board, right?

Except you go from a synth-and-harmonica kind of melancholy piece to NRBQ's bouncy zydeco flavored Whistle While You Work, to a kind of cool jazz version of I'm Wishing, and then to Cruella DeVille done as, I kid you not, a honkey-tonk bar stripper song (complete with members of the Replacements in the background wolf-whistling and catcalling). I would LOVE to be able to listen to them separately without doing a bunch of cutting and clipping.

It's one of the few bits of audio I've ever heard Ringo Starr sing on without briefly praying for sweet sweet death to take me away. And Aaron Neville and Dr. John's rendition of the Mickey Mouse Club March is magical. Plus Harry Nilsson doing a cover of one of the least-available-on-film songs from a Disney movie, 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah'?

It took me a while to warm to Suzanne Vega's version of the title track, and I still skip past Sinéad O'Connor's cover of 'Someday My Prince Will Come' because I just cannot appreciate it at all.

But a version of 'Second Star To The Right' with lead by James Taylor, backup by the Roches, sax by Branford Marsalis and guitars by John Scofield? That's something worth keeping.
posted by mephron at 7:19 AM on November 23, 2007

I've tried to make myself click on the link, but even if they were covered by Siousxie and the Banshees, Laurie Anderson, Oingo Boingo, Annie Benjamin, and Earth Wind and Fire all at the same time, I can't imagine versions of Disney songs that wouldn't cause cavities.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:47 AM on November 24, 2007