And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
November 2, 2020 5:25 AM Subscribe
Karen O and Willie Nelson cover Under Pressure (Spotify/Apple Music). O explained how the duet came about and how she was inspired by the song’s political message. “I never knew if it was actually going to happen but you must dare to dream. I hope the song brings as much light to the listener as it has to me in dark times.”
Nick Zinner is on guitar, with contributions from Imaad Wasif, Johnny Hanson, Micah Nelson, and Priscilla Ahn, and it’s produced by Dave Sitek. Texas Monthly’s piece.
Posts tagged with underpressure.
Nick Zinner is on guitar, with contributions from Imaad Wasif, Johnny Hanson, Micah Nelson, and Priscilla Ahn, and it’s produced by Dave Sitek. Texas Monthly’s piece.
Posts tagged with underpressure.
well this is what I needed this morning
posted by es_de_bah at 6:19 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by es_de_bah at 6:19 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Goddamn this is great. Thanks for this.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:28 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by soundguy99 at 6:28 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Willie only agreed to record this after he realized the song contains the word "higher".
posted by selfnoise at 6:31 AM on November 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by selfnoise at 6:31 AM on November 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
O explained how the duet came about
Did it involve stopping, collaborating, and listening?
I am so sorry
it's monday
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:08 AM on November 2, 2020 [23 favorites]
Did it involve stopping, collaborating, and listening?
I am so sorry
it's monday
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:08 AM on November 2, 2020 [23 favorites]
The original got me through some very dark days in early 2017. Thanks for sharing this.
posted by potrzebie at 7:42 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 7:42 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
love it.
It's a tall order to take on a duet made famous by two of the strongest, most distinctive voices to ever top a pop chart, but they pull it off because ... because they're both very, very good.
posted by philip-random at 8:33 AM on November 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's a tall order to take on a duet made famous by two of the strongest, most distinctive voices to ever top a pop chart, but they pull it off because ... because they're both very, very good.
posted by philip-random at 8:33 AM on November 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
The atmosphere of this version is so different I began to doubt that the lyrics were the same. They are! As Karen O says in the linked article "I’ve heard this song countless times without processing the gravity of what Bowie and Freddie were singing about, maybe because their performances are so exhilarating you get swept away in the high of that duet."
---Original lyrics:
Pressure, pushing down on me,
Pressing down on you, no man ask for.
Under pressure that burns a building down,
Splits a family in two, puts people on streets.
It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.
Watching some good friends screaming, "let me out".
Tomorrow gets me higher.
Pressure on people, people on streets.
Chippin' around, kick my brains around the floor.
These are the days, it never rains but it pours.
People on streets.
People on streets.
It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.
Watching some good friends screaming, "let me out".
Tomorrow takes me higher, higher, high!
Pressure on people, people on streets.
Turned away from it all like a blind man.
Sat on a fence, but it don't work.
Keep comin' up with love, but it's so slashed and torn.
Why, why, why?
Love (love, love, love, love).
Insanity laughs, under pressure we're cracking.
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love,
Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love.
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word,
And love dares you to care for the people on the
Edge of the night, and love dares you to
Change our way of caring about ourselves.
This is our last dance.
This is ourselves. This is ourselves.
Under pressure.
Under pressure.
Pressure.
posted by gregv at 10:37 AM on November 2, 2020 [21 favorites]
---Original lyrics:
Pressure, pushing down on me,
Pressing down on you, no man ask for.
Under pressure that burns a building down,
Splits a family in two, puts people on streets.
It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.
Watching some good friends screaming, "let me out".
Tomorrow gets me higher.
Pressure on people, people on streets.
Chippin' around, kick my brains around the floor.
These are the days, it never rains but it pours.
People on streets.
People on streets.
It's the terror of knowing what this world is about.
Watching some good friends screaming, "let me out".
Tomorrow takes me higher, higher, high!
Pressure on people, people on streets.
Turned away from it all like a blind man.
Sat on a fence, but it don't work.
Keep comin' up with love, but it's so slashed and torn.
Why, why, why?
Love (love, love, love, love).
Insanity laughs, under pressure we're cracking.
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love,
Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love.
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word,
And love dares you to care for the people on the
Edge of the night, and love dares you to
Change our way of caring about ourselves.
This is our last dance.
This is ourselves. This is ourselves.
Under pressure.
Under pressure.
Pressure.
posted by gregv at 10:37 AM on November 2, 2020 [21 favorites]
I like this a lot, but I'm also really fond of the Crooked Fingers cover from 2002.
posted by Mothlight at 10:56 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Mothlight at 10:56 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's a tall order to take on a duet made famous by two of the strongest, most distinctive voices to ever top a pop chart, but they pull it off because ... because they're both very, very good.
Indeed. I'd say it is the shoals that many an aspiring duet has broken its back. There are songs where the original has never yet been topped, and this, I think many would agree, is among them. Karen and Willie managed to draw close enough to see it above and ahead of them (this is better than most do), but I'd argue that even this one does not surpass the original.
And with all due respect to gregv, those are not quite the original lyrics. I am not a massive fan of either Bowie or Queen -- I like them both well enough, but I don't know that I have owned more than three albums out of their combined catalogues -- but I know this one song very well indeed. It is meticulously constructed and rewards careful study.
That said, I had a hankering a few weeks ago to listen to "Golden Years," and realized I did not own it. I went to iTunes and looked for it and decided I'd pick up a couple more Bowie songs as I enjoy several tracks by him enough to keep them. Rather than buy a bunch piecemeal, it seemed cheaper to pick up a collection (as I say, I am a bourgeois listener to Bowie). Thus I acquired The Best of Bowie, even though I can take or leave several songs on it. When I listened to "Under Pressure" I was thrown for a moment because part of the song is missing. For reasons that surpass understanding, one of the two repetitions of "This is our last dance" toward the end is snipped out, as in the lyrics above.
I am used to this in movie trailers and such, where you might get three lines of verse and transition to the chorus then a jump to the guitar solo because they want to get All The Recognizable Bits into the thirty seconds allotted, but I am totally at a loss to figure out why (seemingly) an official release from the artist would lose a few seconds out of an iconic song. Not an early fade -- just two bars excised.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:05 AM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
Indeed. I'd say it is the shoals that many an aspiring duet has broken its back. There are songs where the original has never yet been topped, and this, I think many would agree, is among them. Karen and Willie managed to draw close enough to see it above and ahead of them (this is better than most do), but I'd argue that even this one does not surpass the original.
And with all due respect to gregv, those are not quite the original lyrics. I am not a massive fan of either Bowie or Queen -- I like them both well enough, but I don't know that I have owned more than three albums out of their combined catalogues -- but I know this one song very well indeed. It is meticulously constructed and rewards careful study.
That said, I had a hankering a few weeks ago to listen to "Golden Years," and realized I did not own it. I went to iTunes and looked for it and decided I'd pick up a couple more Bowie songs as I enjoy several tracks by him enough to keep them. Rather than buy a bunch piecemeal, it seemed cheaper to pick up a collection (as I say, I am a bourgeois listener to Bowie). Thus I acquired The Best of Bowie, even though I can take or leave several songs on it. When I listened to "Under Pressure" I was thrown for a moment because part of the song is missing. For reasons that surpass understanding, one of the two repetitions of "This is our last dance" toward the end is snipped out, as in the lyrics above.
I am used to this in movie trailers and such, where you might get three lines of verse and transition to the chorus then a jump to the guitar solo because they want to get All The Recognizable Bits into the thirty seconds allotted, but I am totally at a loss to figure out why (seemingly) an official release from the artist would lose a few seconds out of an iconic song. Not an early fade -- just two bars excised.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:05 AM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
Conan O'Brien and Lin-Manuel Miranda analyze Under Pressure (min. 25:26)
posted by Omon Ra at 11:17 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Omon Ra at 11:17 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's a really good cover. It is interesting how the lyrics are much more impactful in this version. Is that due to the spare style, or does the tempo have a lot to do with it?
It also fits the law that successful covers must have a slower tempo than the original. (Which I'm sure isn't an original observation, it's basically from The Unbearable Lightness of Being).
posted by Horselover Fat at 11:23 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
It also fits the law that successful covers must have a slower tempo than the original. (Which I'm sure isn't an original observation, it's basically from The Unbearable Lightness of Being).
posted by Horselover Fat at 11:23 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's not quite a cover, but the version with Bowie and Annie Lennox was very potent to me during a pivotal part of my life.
posted by Candleman at 11:55 AM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 11:55 AM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
the law that successful covers must have a slower tempo than the original.
Laws are made to be broken.
'Head On': Original/Cover
'Viva Las Vegas': Original/Cover
'Eight Miles High': Original/Cover
'A Hazy Shade of Winter':Original/Cover
posted by box at 12:29 PM on November 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
Laws are made to be broken.
'Head On': Original/Cover
'Viva Las Vegas': Original/Cover
'Eight Miles High': Original/Cover
'A Hazy Shade of Winter':Original/Cover
posted by box at 12:29 PM on November 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
Laws are made to be broken.
'(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me': Original/Popular Cover/REALLY Popular Cover
posted by hanov3r at 2:09 PM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
'(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me': Original/Popular Cover/REALLY Popular Cover
posted by hanov3r at 2:09 PM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
'(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me': Original yt /Popular Cover yt /REALLY Popular Cover yt
Er...
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:53 PM on November 2, 2020
Er...
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:53 PM on November 2, 2020
the law that successful covers must have a slower tempo than the original.
Laws are made to be broken.
You might be right.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:55 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Laws are made to be broken.
You might be right.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:55 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Er...
Yeah, I missed that one, and reversed the "Original" and "Popular Cover" links. C'est la vie.
posted by hanov3r at 4:04 PM on November 2, 2020
Yeah, I missed that one, and reversed the "Original" and "Popular Cover" links. C'est la vie.
posted by hanov3r at 4:04 PM on November 2, 2020
Obligatory if you're a genre TV fan link to The Magicians' version.
posted by bixfrankonis at 4:48 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bixfrankonis at 4:48 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Pressing down on you, no man ask for.
I believe the phrase is 'no metaphor'.
Although it is in fact a metaphor (at least, I don't think the song is about piling stone blocks on people).
posted by rochrobbb at 4:50 PM on November 2, 2020
I believe the phrase is 'no metaphor'.
Although it is in fact a metaphor (at least, I don't think the song is about piling stone blocks on people).
posted by rochrobbb at 4:50 PM on November 2, 2020
"I’ve heard this song countless times without processing the gravity of what Bowie and Freddie were singing about, maybe because their performances are so exhilarating you get swept away in the high of that duet."
For context, while the song was written in a jam session, the backdrop in Britan at the time was in some ways similar to the US today: following the apparent death of a black man while in police custody, the Brixton Riot of '81 saw many people injured, cars and buildings burn, with a conservative executive who gave absolutely zero fucks, but did seemingly result in the repeal of laws enabling discriminatory stop and frisk policing.
posted by pwnguin at 5:00 PM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
For context, while the song was written in a jam session, the backdrop in Britan at the time was in some ways similar to the US today: following the apparent death of a black man while in police custody, the Brixton Riot of '81 saw many people injured, cars and buildings burn, with a conservative executive who gave absolutely zero fucks, but did seemingly result in the repeal of laws enabling discriminatory stop and frisk policing.
posted by pwnguin at 5:00 PM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
the law that successful covers must have a slower tempo than the original.
Laws are made to be broken
As proven by the most successful cover of all time.
posted by runincircles at 5:10 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Laws are made to be broken
As proven by the most successful cover of all time.
posted by runincircles at 5:10 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
following the apparent death of a black man while in police custody, the Brixton Riot of '81 saw many people injured, cars and buildings burn, with a conservative executive who gave absolutely zero fucks,
also the dawning of the full reality of the AIDS epidemic. Soft Cell's take on Tainted Love was also in the charts at the time. Dark times.
posted by philip-random at 5:47 PM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
also the dawning of the full reality of the AIDS epidemic. Soft Cell's take on Tainted Love was also in the charts at the time. Dark times.
posted by philip-random at 5:47 PM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
this is where on a sort of sideways tangent, based solely on the "unexpected duets" theme, i get to talk about what has long been my dream split single, although it is now unfortunatelly no longer possible:
a side: kenny rogers and dolly parton singing major tom, with kenny as ground control and dolly as major tom
b side: david bowie singing both parts of islands in the stream
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 6:32 PM on November 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
a side: kenny rogers and dolly parton singing major tom, with kenny as ground control and dolly as major tom
b side: david bowie singing both parts of islands in the stream
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 6:32 PM on November 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
Learning that the original is particularly meaningful to Lin-Manuel Miranda makes me think that the repeated "give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love" was part of the inspiration for his "And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love" in his 2016 Tony acceptance sonnet.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:09 PM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:09 PM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
but I know this one song very well indeed. It is meticulously constructed and rewards careful study.
In that link, 12tone points out how unconventionally the duet is structured: 2 very different voices interwoven to take us from a quotidian pulse to an emotional peak and back again. Bowie's part represents a beaten down individual trying to survive; Mercury's represents hope.
2020 is a year where I have heard so many conversations that follow that pattern: Why, why, why? but also
Love (love, love, love, love). - then back to the the riff where we get on getting through things. So: definitely perfect timing for a cover that re-examines that.
posted by rongorongo at 10:16 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
In that link, 12tone points out how unconventionally the duet is structured: 2 very different voices interwoven to take us from a quotidian pulse to an emotional peak and back again. Bowie's part represents a beaten down individual trying to survive; Mercury's represents hope.
2020 is a year where I have heard so many conversations that follow that pattern: Why, why, why? but also
Love (love, love, love, love). - then back to the the riff where we get on getting through things. So: definitely perfect timing for a cover that re-examines that.
posted by rongorongo at 10:16 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
ok now nightcore it
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:15 AM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:15 AM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
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