Ay ay ay, ay ay ay...

April 17, 2009 4:33 PM

Everybody's hugging up the big monkey man. Seriously, everybody.
posted by LSK (37 comments total)

Keep Brit/Aussie pop divas away from rocksteady, please.
posted by Burhanistan at 4:41 PM on April 17

I really don't think anyone is hugging the monkey man.
posted by Science! at 4:50 PM on April 17

I can't get those minutes of my life back, can I?
posted by Chuffy at 4:54 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

There's a Winehouse Ska EP that doesn't sound too bad (probably because it's studio work, and not one of her tragic live shows).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:56 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Looked to me like Amy Winehouse was reading the lyrics off a monitor or one of the folders open in front of her...

What a mess that girl is. To be so good at something and then bust your arse to make yourself look bad while doing it is an odd way to be.
posted by Brockles at 5:07 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]

Goddamn but she can sing.
posted by gwint at 5:11 PM on April 17

Brockles: "To be so good at something and then bust your arse to make yourself look bad while doing it is an odd way to be."

It's not even just her singing. She's an outstanding songwriter. "Love Is A Losing Game" is up there in Bacharach territory, if you ask me.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:13 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]

Eh, so can Celine Dion but that doesn't mean that it's pleasant to be within earshot of it.
posted by Burhanistan at 5:13 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]

Im a fleabit peanut monkey
All my friends are junkies
Thats not really true

Im a cold italian pizza
I could use a lemon squeezer
What you do?
posted by Sailormom at 5:14 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Toots!
posted by shoesfullofdust at 5:28 PM on April 17

To be so good at something a soulless facsimile of a Motown singer or maybe an extremely poor man's Dusty Springfield and then bust your arse to make yourself look bad while doing it is an odd way to be.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:09 PM on April 17

I like Ore Ska Band's live version.
posted by tommasz at 6:19 PM on April 17

Your favorite white female soul singer sucks.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:19 PM on April 17

I was horrified by the Winehouse versions... to each their own I suppose.
posted by pompomtom at 6:23 PM on April 17

Is it time for a ska revival? We're due for one. The last one a couple of years ago kinda failed because they tried to incorporate bubblegum-punk, Blink-182 style vocals and nu-metal guitar into it.

If the next one is based around insane women who have a serious set of pipes fronting a band with retro-R&B roots, I'm into it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:34 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Your favorite white female soul singer sucks.

I think that one sort of goes without saying.
posted by The World Famous at 6:43 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Yeah, as horrific as her live performances are, Back To Black is one helluva record. It's shockingly good, even with a casual listen. Her current state is, to me, immeasurably sad and truly, classically tragic.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:45 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

Is it time for a ska revival? We're due for one.

I'd rather listen to old ska records and have new people invent new kinds of music, personally. Each wave of ska is a little weaker than the one before.

Also, I saw Toots and the Maytalls about four years ago. Toots still has it.
posted by Bookhouse at 7:12 PM on April 17

That Melt Banana version is hilariously awesome.

Oh, and Toots' official site. Least we should do.
posted by mediareport at 8:34 PM on April 17

here's a live Melt-Banana version... no her voice isn't pitch shifted.
posted by geos at 9:28 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]

I prefer the Rolling Stones.
posted by neuron at 9:58 PM on April 17

The Ore Ska Band version is the most creatively arranged of the covers, with the horns taking up that fabulous, fabulous bassline from the original.

Really "Monkeyman" is just a great bassline with an OK song on top.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:04 PM on April 17

this is a shrill digital rip of a primitive recording so ,,,wince,
But Toots is really the King of Reggae.

.

you reall need to hear Time Tough.

Toots is SKa Toots is Reggae, Toots is Rock & Roll
posted by celerystick at 11:28 PM on April 17

Back to Black is one hell of an album but Amy Winehouse dances like she has to go potty.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:31 PM on April 17

Dont mess with Amy W. She will destroy you. Theres also the more "authentic" Sharon Jones in the retro-soul thing, also Duffy .. but my money is still on Amy. But Back to Toots.. he admits that Desmond Deckker Came First. shrug
posted by celerystick at 11:41 PM on April 17

sorry

http://www.selective-service.net/?p=156
posted by celerystick at 11:43 PM on April 17

I love The Specials. And I also love the Monkey Man
posted by jfrancis at 1:07 AM on April 18

Keep Brit/Aussie pop divas away from rocksteady, please.

You have to be kidding. Rhubarb to your pretentious notions of authenticity and relevence. I wanted to be the monkeyman just so Kylie would give me a big, smiley hug. Best version ever.
posted by Sparx at 2:39 AM on April 18

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

In the case of Alanis Morrissette and Amy Winehouse, it flipped the order.

Just watch: if Winehouse does ever release a third second album, it'll make Supposed Former Something Whatever look like Pet Sounds.
posted by sixswitch at 7:01 AM on April 18

It is not easy to fuck up a ska rythym - something which has been played musicians under the influence of drugs for decades, mind you - but somehow Winehouse manages to make it completely undanceable. And the she promptly undances to it.
posted by zaelic at 7:32 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]

Toots is a god. His voice and songwriting are every bit the equal of Otis Redding or Al Green or Marvin Gaye or James Brown or anybody else you can name. It's only a matter of luck that Bob Marley became the international face of reggae.

Well, luck and incredible talent.
posted by vibrotronica at 9:16 AM on April 18

It's only a matter of luck that Bob Marley became the international face of reggae.

Actually, it was less luck and more that Chris Blackwell was shrewd enough to see that it would be easy to market The Wailers to dope smoking hippies, rather than the one-off, single-buying skinheads who had been the only real market for reggae and ska outside Jamaica prior to Catch a Fire's release.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:20 PM on April 18

Also, I much prefer Pressure Drop or 54-46 to Monkey Man
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:26 PM on April 18

You certainly have a point, bt I think if someone like Atlantic had made an effort to market Toots to the soul crowd, it would have been successful.
posted by vibrotronica at 1:05 PM on April 18

Funky Kingston, with bonus inexplicable Superman and Spider-Woman action!
posted by vibrotronica at 1:10 PM on April 18

I can tell that a lot of people in this thread weren't aware of
Frank.

Also, this song was on some deluxe edition of Back to Black.
posted by cmoj at 5:27 PM on April 18

This is my 4 yr old son's very favorite song, and has been for months....he knows all the ay ya ya's by heart.
Gotta luv Toots
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:04 PM on April 18