I disagree. Mortal Kombat is a very good videogame, but Donkey Kong is the best Beatles Cover ever.
(And the Breeders' version of Happiness Is A Warm Gun, as well as Sonic Youth's version of Within You Without You.) posted by The World Famous at 7:34 PM on April 29, 2008 [2 favorites]
Oh, and don't even get me started about the Laibach version of One After 909. posted by The World Famous at 7:35 PM on April 29, 2008
Wait a minute... That kid can't play guitar!
(super cute, though, in all seriousness) posted by Navelgazer at 7:41 PM on April 29, 2008
I'm actually sort of stunned that this hasn't been posted here yet. posted by DoctorFedora at 7:41 PM on April 29, 2008
I disagree.
I beg to differ with your disagreeing!
But on your recommendation, I checked out Laibach's One After 909. Too obvious for me man. And the Smoke On The Water quote in the guitar solo? Uh-uh. Not smart, not even close. The wah-wah guitar toward the end sorta kinda almost redeemed it, but, too little too late. posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:42 PM on April 29, 2008
Cute!
I can't stop staring at the couch. I think it's trying to hypnotize me. posted by amyms at 7:44 PM on April 29, 2008
I wouldn't want to be there when the audience starts throwing their diapers onstage. posted by doctor_negative at 7:44 PM on April 29, 2008
He even slurs his "t"s to "r"s like a Scouser! posted by Abiezer at 7:45 PM on April 29, 2008
I wouldn't want to be there when the audience starts throwing their diapers onstage.
The GG Allin thread was a couple days ago, man. Try to keep up. posted by jonmc at 7:46 PM on April 29, 2008 [6 favorites]
That was racist. posted by ND¢ at 7:47 PM on April 29, 2008
meh. Was this an audition tape for Baby American Idol or something? He was off key, didn't play the guitar, and I found it too cloying by half. I've heard better child performers in the Russian Circus. I watched about 10 seconds, and then watched this instead. posted by ornate insect at 7:48 PM on April 29, 2008
Excellent sense of timing. posted by binturong at 7:52 PM on April 29, 2008
Yeah Sean Lennon, he was always more talented than Julian. posted by mattoxic at 7:55 PM on April 29, 2008
Between this and the Chinese MC Hammer, maybe we should look to Asia for all our Sweding outsourcing needs. posted by Challahtronix at 7:58 PM on April 29, 2008
Actually best Beatles covers ever are either Laibach's Across the Universe or Jaco Pastorius' Blackbird posted by mattoxic at 7:59 PM on April 29, 2008
Actually best Beatles covers ever are either Laibach's Across the Universe or Jaco Pastorius' Blackbird
I'll assume you've never heard Otis Redding's 'Day Tripper,' Fats Domino's 'Lady Madonna,' Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out,' Rufus Wainright's "Across The Universe,' Soundgarden's 'Come Together" Eddie hazel's "I Want You (She's So heavy)" Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My friends" Booker T & the MG's McLemore Avenue (an album of Beatles covers) or Bill Cosby's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band." posted by jonmc at 8:16 PM on April 29, 2008
How did I not know that Sergio Mendes looked exactly like Abe Lincoln? posted by Rock Steady at 8:19 PM on April 29, 2008
and Johnny Cash's 'In My Life.' posted by jonmc at 8:19 PM on April 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
I'll assume you've never heard Otis Redding's 'Day Tripper,' Fats Domino's 'Lady Madonna,' Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out,' Rufus Wainright's "Across The Universe,' Soundgarden's 'Come Together" Eddie hazel's "I Want You (She's So heavy)" Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My friends" Booker T & the MG's McLemore Avenue (an album of Beatles covers) or Bill Cosby's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band."
Siouxsie did "Dear Prudence" but I was never fond of it. Thanks flapjax: I just watched a whole lot of bad Beatles covers on youtube b/c of this thread (the "Jazz Beatles" seemed especially bad to me: good way to ruin perfectly good pop tunes), and this was especially bad, at least in my estimation--although people on youtube seemed to like it? posted by ornate insect at 8:27 PM on April 29, 2008
They Shrunk and shaved him, then (actually I realized right after I hit 'post' that i should have said 'Honey, I Shrunk Sean Lennon!" Damn.)
Also, Paul Westerberg's cover of 'Nowhere Man' is pretty good, too, but he does a live version of Sham 69's 'Borstal Breakout' that's kicakss. posted by jonmc at 8:27 PM on April 29, 2008
Not the Beatles proper, but a Lennon cover: Donny Hathaway's Jealous Guy. posted by emelenjr at 8:28 PM on April 29, 2008
Not the best Beatles cover ever, by any means, but...Bobby McFerrin, anyone? posted by t2urner at 8:28 PM on April 29, 2008
This was actually totally annoying. Cloying by half indeed. posted by xmutex at 8:29 PM on April 29, 2008
This is precisely how I intend to raise my children. That kid contains 50% more of the US RDA of Vitamin Awesome than the average kid. posted by middleclasstool at 8:30 PM on April 29, 2008 [2 favorites]
I once taught two toddlers I was baby-sitting to sing "Beat On the Brat." Do you respect me? (They thought it was funny. The same evening there was a commercial for a sixties comp featuring 'Magic Buss' the commercial showed Daltrey going 'I want it I want it I want it' which they found incredibly hilarious.) posted by jonmc at 8:38 PM on April 29, 2008
I nominate Jeff Beck's cover of A Day In The Life -- though not necessarily this performance. I prefer the one on the George Martin In My Life album. Beck gets a vox humana quality out of a guitar that for me perfectly captures the emotional tone of the piece without uttering a single word. posted by Herodios at 8:41 PM on April 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
I know Paul McCartney has a babyface, but I'm not sure what you all are going on about. This version was at least as good as the trainwreck at the end of Live 8. posted by Ynoxas at 8:42 PM on April 29, 2008
...Bobby McFerrin, anyone?
Oh yes, please! The Voice is one of my desert island disks. posted by Herodios at 8:44 PM on April 29, 2008
Just in case there's anyone out there who hasn't yet heard the infamous Linda McCartney Hey Jude tape... feast your ears. posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:48 PM on April 29, 2008
That is weird ornate insect! I watched that Gong Show clip last night (stumbled upon it looking for something else) and was going to post it in flapjax's avant-garde thread, but then got distracted.
Couldn't find a tube of my fave cover -- Gonzalo Rubalcaba doing "Here, There, and Everywhere" -- but here he is with John Patitucci and Jack DeJohnette playing Imagine. posted by vronsky at 9:11 PM on April 29, 2008
Oldest video ever. I kinda feel like once a video passes the 2million mark we can call it viral and just watch it on the homepage of youtube. posted by kristinahoge at 9:16 PM on April 29, 2008
Some of the covers mentioned so far in this thread appear in this list from the execrable-but nonetheless-in-this-instance-handy New York Magazine:
I'll assume you've never heard Otis Redding's 'Day Tripper,' Fats Domino's 'Lady Madonna,' Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out,' Rufus Wainright's "Across The Universe,' Soundgarden's 'Come Together" Eddie hazel's "I Want You (She's So heavy)" Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My friends" Booker T & the MG's McLemore Avenue (an album of Beatles covers) or Bill Cosby's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band."
And I assume YOU have yet to hear Laibach's Across the Universe or Jaco Pastorius' Blackbird posted by mattoxic at 10:05 PM on April 29, 2008
Man alive does Metafilter love babies, lately. posted by buriedpaul at 10:09 PM on April 29, 2008
THIS is the best beatles cover of all time - in fact, it's a better job than the beatles did of it posted by pyramid termite at 12:28 AM on April 30, 2008 [4 favorites]
I assume YOU have yet to hear Laibach's Across the Universe
Hooray mattoxic! That's my favourite Beatles cover ever. posted by Shepherd at 2:15 AM on April 30, 2008
As long as we're talking Beatles covers, "Yesterday" is (was?) the most covered song of all time. So do the Beatles own the definitive, last word, version--or, if not, who does? posted by maxwelton at 2:24 AM on April 30, 2008
maxwelton: without doing any research, I'm pretty sure it's Michael Jackson, these days. posted by greasepig at 5:55 AM on April 30, 2008
I nominate this this as the best this ever. Wasn't that a great this? No wait -- not that this, this this. Actually, this this is the one true best this ever. And weren't you surprised when you clicked on that this and saw just how entertaining a this can be?
I, on the other hand, will not be clicking on your this, because it might be a righteous this, but it might be mr. goatse's mtv video for all we know.
/cranky /collicky
As you were. This is a great thread. posted by Herodios at 6:31 AM on April 30, 2008
THIS this is the this-est this, so y'all better get with this this or this this is gonna be THAT. And brother, you do NOT want that. posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:40 AM on April 30, 2008
I dunno if that this is really all that. posted by Herodios at 6:43 AM on April 30, 2008
Flap, now you got me thinking a Beatles Mondegreen thread is in order. . . posted by Herodios at 6:49 AM on April 30, 2008
Like: the girl with colitis goes by. . . posted by Herodios at 6:52 AM on April 30, 2008
...a Beatles Mondegreen thread is in order. . .
When my daughter was about 4, I taught her "When I'm 64". We listened to it a lot and we used to sing it together quite a bit. Anyway, her mondegreen for that song was:
will you still be sending me a valentine,
birthday greetings, buffalo wine... posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:57 AM on April 30, 2008
Excellent. (lol)
Perhaps too much buffalo wine contributed to the colitis. posted by Herodios at 7:07 AM on April 30, 2008
I don't know about Beatles covers, but the kid about 40 seconds into this video is going to be a death-metal god one day. posted by quin at 7:57 AM on April 30, 2008
The Fall's take on A Day In The Life deserves an honourable mention, not least because it's a remarkably straight take rather than the train wreck you'd imagine. posted by anagrama at 11:20 AM on April 30, 2008
The kid? "America's best home videos," which are the worst. posted by cogneuro at 4:24 PM on April 30, 2008
I've heard Jaco's cover. It's Ok and I like Weather Report. I haven't heard laibach's cover but what I'veheard from them has been interesting but not my bag. The covers I mentioned are all excellent. posted by jonmc at 4:27 PM on April 30, 2008
misanthropicsarah: Didn't you get the memo? A single "meh" is the laziest and lowest form of MetaFilter comment. This has been clearly established. But, as psmealey pointed out above, you are, after all, living up to your username, so it's all good. posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:26 PM on April 30, 2008
Ha, that little sucker kicks ass. I knew I should have started my kids earlier! posted by snsranch at 5:28 PM on April 30, 2008
Hey, Flap, I just realized I'd made a half dozen or so posts to your thread including a couple of derails and hadn't got around to actually watching the video. I just rectified that oversight.
It's interesting how the kid sort of counts out time between vocal lines to avoid rushing the rhythm. (I wish I could get my brother to do that.) OK, the kid's timing is off, but he seems to have the concept and what is he, three? Maybe he'll be a singing drummer one day. posted by Herodios at 6:24 PM on April 30, 2008
Yay! Herodios for the win! You know, the knee jerk reaction to any toddler/little kid video like this is generally to, well, if not to dismiss it outright, is almost always to immediately just sort of file it under "cute" or "funny", and leave it at that. Only rarely do people look at something like this and actually think about it. Like Herodios, the kid's sense of timing is something that struck me immediately about this clip. It's actually pretty unusual and noteworthy. Far more normal is the tendency for tots his age to sing any song they know straight through, ignoring the pauses between lines. This kid, aside from having an above-average sense of melody, articulation and phrasing, has that sense of structure.
So, yeah, anyway, it's a wee tot, and the clip is cute and funny, but I posted it here for reasons of musicality as well.
And concerning all that, I was, therefore, somewhat surprised that one MeFite in particular (cough*ornateinsect*cough) dissed it straightaway. posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:47 PM on April 30, 2008
but he seems to have the concept and what is he, three?
No, more like two, which is a huge difference developmentally and makes the performance all the more impressive. posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:49 PM on April 30, 2008
OK, so I know music performance, but kids are a mystery.
Thing is, I work with (adult) singers all the time who don't have the song down in their belly, and I have to coach 'em to count it out. Still working on how to get 'em to put eyebrows on.
Anyway, if this kid's got timing and eyebrows at, as you say, two. . .
BTW, I think Hey Jude is probably the third most boring Beatles song, which is why I didn't follow the first this until after some discussion ensued. posted by Herodios at 7:16 PM on April 30, 2008
OK, so I know music performance, but kids are a mystery.
Thing is, I work with (adult) singers all the time who don't have the song down in their belly, and I have to coach 'em to count it out. Still working on how to get 'em to put eyebrows on.
Anyway, if this kid's got timing and eyebrows at, as you say, two. . .
BTW, I think Hey Jude is probably the third most boring Beatles song, which is why I didn't follow the first this until after some discussion ensued. posted by Herodios at 7:28 PM on April 30, 2008
somewhat surprised that one MeFite in particular (cough*ornateinsect*cough) dissed it straightaway.
I'm no scrooge, but there's a point where cute turns to saccharine. Sorry. But I ended up enjoying what the thread became, so there's the silver lining. posted by ornate insect at 7:31 PM on April 30, 2008
Oops -- how did that happen?
One and two being?
Anyway, Scrambled Eggs probably goes in the #2 slot,
and #1 is:
The long And boring song, (dunt dah)
That Paul wrote,
This morning (da da da daaaaaaaa)
. . . posted by Herodios at 7:35 PM on April 30, 2008
Baroque Bug: It has turned out to be a particularly rewarding thread overall. posted by Herodios at 7:38 PM on April 30, 2008
Oh, and don't go blaming Phil Spectre. It's not the arrangement that makes it boring. posted by Herodios at 7:40 PM on April 30, 2008
Love your spelling of Phil's last name, very appropriate, actually. And, no, I certainly wouldn't blame Phil. I've read where Paul was angry over his string arrangement on The Wrong and Whining Toad, but I've heard the pre-Spectre version and I don't think it's any better. posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:44 PM on April 30, 2008
spelling of Phil's last name
An oblique obscure homage to In His Own Write. posted by Herodios at 7:47 PM on April 30, 2008
Aha! It was punster Lennon you nabbed that one from! posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:50 PM on April 30, 2008
No flies on Frank, inspectre. posted by Herodios at 8:12 PM on April 30, 2008
The kid looks like a talking Maria Elena Milagro "Helen" de Hoyos posted by dasheekeejones at 10:04 AM on May 1, 2008
I was really enjoying this thread until Kylie Minogue...AAAGGH!!!... showed up. Even turning that off as quickly as possible left true psychic damage, I'm sure. Meanwhile, that little kid way back at the beginning of all this really does have excellent, even surprising timing. And also has the good sense to keep the nah-nah-nahs at 15 seconds or so, to bring the song in at 1:42.
The original is at least twice as long as it should be (which actually makes it more like an Oasis tune), and indeed, because of that, is one of the most boring Beatles songs ever. (Along with, yes, Herodios is right again, "The Long and Boring Road.")
As for classic Beatles covers, other people may have done one, but Joe Cocker did a whole bunch. Also, I'm surprised no one seems to have mentioned the dogs...
p.s. That African version was pretty good too; thanks, item. And thanks too, ornate insect, for including Brasil '66. Reminds me that I really liked them, oh, 42 years ago. (And, diving further into youtube, I was surprised to find that at least once, Donovan sat in with them.) posted by lelilo at 11:28 PM on May 1, 2008
As for classic Beatles covers, other people may have done one, but Joe Cocker did a whole bunch.
Now there's a cat who puts eyebrows on a project. Joe Cocker's cover of With A Little Help From My Friends is a very different tune from the original. He even goes so far as to shift it from shuffle-y 4/4 to a heavy 3/4 -- an acid waltz, perhaps?
If you've ever seen the film of Joe Cocker singing this tune with Mad Dogs and Englishment and Leon Russell on guitar (I'm sure it's on youtube, you can tube it yourself if you're interested) you'll notice a couple things:
1) That cat is totally fried, sunny side up.
B) But he's totally in control of his own performance and that of the band (a big one).
We'd been given the impression over the years that Leon Russell was some sort of svengali who stole the show (and briefly, the career) from Cocker, but it doesn't show in that performance.
And as this tune is arguably the last true collaboration between Lennon and McCartney, I wonder what each thought of this cover at the time.
- posted by Herodios at 6:09 AM on May 2, 2008
you'll notice a couple things: 1) That cat is totally fried, sunny side up.
Off-topic: over the years I grew to think of Cocker's singing style as 'normal,' but the other day, following up a reference in a book I was reading, I saw David Thomas of Pere Ubu for the first time. "Now that guy is weird," I said to myself. posted by lelilo at 2:02 PM on May 2, 2008
As for classic Beatles covers, other people may have done one, but Joe Cocker did a whole bunch.
That particular one is a gem. Since it was a Ringo song, I had assumed that, for the Beatles it was a throw-away tune (it was a B-side to Sgt. Pepper single), but Cocker totally fucking owns it. I think his studio version is only pretty good, but the live version from Scorsese's Woodstock documentary blows doors off of cars and melts paint. It rocks.
It's kind of funny to me that such a famous singer would cover a tune by an even more famous band, when the song had only been out for a handful of years. Ray Charles, Wes Montgomery and countless other jazz guys covered tons of Lennon/McCartney songs in short order as well.
I guess it still occasionally happens today, but you almost seem to have to wait an artistically acceptable length of time to cover a song. I'm not sure if this is due to licensing issues being different (ASPCAP, BMI, etc.) or if it's an issue of taste.
In my bands, the rule about doing covers was that they always needed to be at least 10 years old, and even then, it had to be relatively obscure one (like "Glittering Girl" as opposed to "I Can't Explain", or "Dead Flowers" instead of "Jumping Jack Flash"). We did, however throw in "Blank Generation" just to confound the suburbanites, they always told us it was a great version of "Stray Cat Strut". posted by psmealey at 2:38 PM on May 2, 2008
It's kind of funny to me that such a famous singer would cover a tune by an even more famous band, when the song had only been out for a handful of years.
Jimi Hendrix played Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band live (with Paul McCartney and George Harrison in the audience) only three days after the Beatles had released the album. But thats Jimi Hendrix. posted by Sailormom at 8:41 PM on May 2, 2008
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