RIP Tony Curtis

"Some Like it Hot" is one for my favorite movies. About 5 years ago I also got to see the Broadway musical with Tony Curtis as the millionaire rascal.

TRIBUTE SONG OF THE DAY:
"I'm Through with Love" - sung by Marilyn Monroe (to Tony Curtis)

September: Month of the Cover Song playlist



 September:

Month of the Cover Song

To save me time I’m only listing original + highlighted cover. Please see individual postings for all other covers.

TITLE ORIGINAL ARTIST/ COVER ARTIST

1.“These Boots are Made for Walkin’” Nancy Sinatra / The Meteors

2. “Heart of Glass” Blondie / Puppini Sisters

3.“Helter Skelter” The Beatles/ Siouxie and the Banshees

4. “Get Your Kicks (on Route 66) Chuck Berry/ Depeche Mode

5. “Sweet Jane” The Velvet Underground/ Cowboy Junkies

6. “Always on My Mind” Brenda Lee/ Pet Shop Boys

7. “Burning Down the House” Talking Heads/ Tom Jones & The Cardigans

8. “Betty Davis Eyes” Kim Carnes/ Brandon Flowers (of the Killers)

9. “The Kids are Alright” The Who/Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs

10. “Bizarre Love Triangle” New Order/ Frente!

11. “Till There was You” The Music Man soundtrack / the Beatles

12. “Pale Blue Eyes” The Velvet Underground/ R.E.M.

13. “Tainted Love” Gloria Jones/ Soft Cell

14. “Enjoy the Silence” Depeche Mode/Tori Amos

15. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Joy Division/ Honeyroot

16. “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” The Smiths/ Muse

17. “Rebel Yell” Billy Idol/ ALL

18. “Funny Face” Frank Sinatra/ Ella Fitzgerald

19.. “Femme Fatale” The Velvet Underground/ Duran Duran

20. “Kids in America” Kim Wilde/ The Muffs

22. “Goody Two Shoes” Adam Ant/ Unwritten Law

21. “All the Young Dudes” Matt the Hoople/ David Bowie & Billy Corgan

23. “You Spin Me Round” Dead or Alive/ Indochine

24. “Son of a Gun” The Vaselines/Nirvana

26. “Happiness is a Warm Gun” The Beatles/ The Breeders

27. “War Pigs” Black Sabbath/Faith No More

28. “Video Killed the Radio Star” The Buggles/ Presidents of the USA

And all those Smiths Covers:

"Big Mouth Strikes Again" - The Smiths
"Big Mouth Strikes Again" - Treepeople (a favorite local band)
"Ask" - The Smiths
"Ask" - Reel Big Fish
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" - The Smiths
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" - J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)
"Girlfriend in a Coma" - The Smiths
"Girlfriend in a Coma" - Archive
"Girlfriend in a Coma" - Mojo Nixson (that's right "if you don't got Mojo
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" - The Smiths
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" - The Beautiful South
"How Soon is Now"- The Smiths
"How Soon is Now" - t.A.T.u.
"I Know it's Over" - The Smiths
"I Know it's Over" - The Trash Can Sinatras
"Panic" - The Smiths
"Panic" - The Cribs+ Johnny Marr
"Panic" - The Puppini Sisters
"The Queen is Dead"- The Smiths
"The Queen is Dead" - The Boo Radleys
"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" - The Smiths
"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" -The Ocean Blue
"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" - Nada Surf
"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" - Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
"Everyday is Like Sunday- The Smiths
"Everyday is Like Sunday"- 10,000 Maniacs
"Everyday is Like Sunday" - The Pretenders
"Everyday is Like Sunday" - KT Tunstall

SUNDAY SPECIALS:

1. "Till There was You" - The Music Man (written by Meredith Wilson, performed by Shirley Jones in the film version)
"Till There was You" - The Beatles

2. "Funny Face" - performed by Fred Astaire

"Funny Face" - Ella Fitzgerald

3. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.

video killed the radio star

Today's song was the beginning of the end of radio supremacy and MTV's evil reign began as it tried to single handedly monopolize what we saw and listened to (putting the megalomania into television). Then, they got into the reality TV business and pretty much forgot about music.

Oddly, the song has seldom been covered outside of crappy sidewalk musicians who really don't need to further exploit the fact that they are on the fray. So, to end our month of covers, and let my brain have a rest for a while as we move on to Halloween related songs for the month of October, here is our final original track with covers:

SONG OF THE DAY:
"Video Killed the Radio Star- The Buggles

HIGHLIGHTED COVER:
"Video Killed the Radio Star" - Presidents of the United States of America

ANOTHER NOTABLE COVER:
"Video Killed the Radio Star" - Erasure

war pigs

Let's just say that I am having issues with the Military this week and leave it at that.

SONG OF THE DAY:
"War Pigs" - Black Sabbath


HIGHLIGHTED COVER:
"War Pigs" - Faith No More

OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:


"War Pigs" - Cake


"War Pigs" - The Dresden Dolls (only a keyboard + drum kit with female vocalist, amazing remake)

happiness is a warm gun

I was uploading pictures from my trip to the Tate Modern in London, and while I was working on the pictures from the Andy Warhol room, I started to hum this song, and so came the inspiration for today's song of the day.

The Beatles are fantastic, they really are. But they are not untouchable. I think that this is a case where a cover of their song actually turned out better than the original. Heresy, I know. The song was fabulous for the time in which it was created, but the girls of The Breeders really stepped it up a notch.

SONG OF THE DAY: "Happiness is a Warm Gun" - The Beatles

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "Happiness is a Warm Gun" - The Breeders

OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:

"Happiness is a Warm Gun" - U2


"Happiness is a Warm Gun" - Tori Amos


"Happiness is a Warm Gun" - World Party

George Gershwin by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys

I heard about this cover project on NPR a few weeks ago and it completely fascinated me.

The album is called Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.


Not all of the songs are to my liking, but some are quite good.


"S Wonderful" has a cool bossa nova sound, "Rhapsody in Blue" definitely has that harmonizing Beach Boys sound, and "I Got Rhythm" has the Beach Boys surfer sound.


"I've Got a Crush on You" sounds like a perfectly authentic Beach Boys song.


Click HERE for some 30 second clips, or buy wherever you find music.

kids in america

HAPPY BANNED BOOKS WEEK! (Sept 25- Oct 2, 2010)

I know this is a music blog, but as you may have noticed I sort of delve into film, art and literature whenever it seems to fit. This is one of my favorite subjects to rant about however, so it gets a big fat mention.

There is a great bumper sticker quote: "Everything I need to know I learned in banned books". That holds pretty true for me. There are a lot of things I learned about teen & adult life, geography, culture, art, science, relationships, philosophy, history, from BOOKS that no one ever told me about. When I was in high school I was geeky enough to read all 100 of the books on the college entrance reading list. It helped out taking those pesky entrance exams and made up for my less than impressive math skills. Of course, between the years I spent in high school and college I also managed to rack up a good pile of the banned books list, just for spite.

Not to list them all but some of the highlights were:

1. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
2. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck (although not a Steinbeck fan)
3. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
4. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous (that was an eye opener- the best anti-drug tactic i ever encountered, scared the pants off me.)
5. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
8. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
9. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
10. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (of course you must ban/burn the book that tells young people that banning/burning books is wrong)

Since I graduated from college dozens more books, new and old, have been added to the lists: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the classic In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (my kids love that naked boy falling into the jar of milk), Draw Me A Star by Eric Carle, and the ridiculous list goes on. I'm sure The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson are soon to be added for scaring kids with ancient, heretical legends.

SONG OF THE DAY: "Kids in America" - Kim Wilde

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "Kids in America" - The Muffs (for the record: although I think this is a great cover, I HATE the video)

OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:

"Kids in America" - The Bouncing Souls

"Kids in America" - Bloodhound Gang

"Kids in America" - Fourth Grade Nothing

The Wynona Riders also cover this on their album J.D. Salinger.
(Lookout records)

well, "son of a gun", it's my 100th post already

Today we have another case of the cover being more popular than the original. I happen to think that although both Nirvana and The La's do great covers, The Vaselines still do it best, even without the fame.

SONG OF THE DAY: "Son of a Gun" - The Vaselines

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "Son of a Gun" - Nirvana

OTHER NOTABLE COVER:

"Son of a Gun" - The La's

"Son of a Gun" - The Leatherettes

UPDATE: The Vaselines have just put out their 1st new album in 20+ years.
http://www.billboard.com/new-releases#/new-releases/the-vaselines-sex-with-an-x-1004115383.story

ReVoLt ReVoLt

Got to hang out with some hometown boys last night, far from home in Champaign-Urbana,IL at Pygmalion Fest.

Here are some photos I took at the show. ReVoLt ReVoLt is currently on tour with Built to Spill.

Check back soon for a review of show & album.

Find them HERE on facebook for more tour info and photos or HERE on myspace to check out their music.

you spin me round

I had a really late night/ early morning at a show. I can't think. Luckily, I already rounded this up ahead of time. I'm headed to bed.

VIVA NEW WAVE!

A New Wave song with cover by French New Wave band Indochine.


SONG OF THE DAY: "You Spin Me Round" - Dead or Alive

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "You Spin Me Round" - Indochine


OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:

"You Spin Me Round" - Dope

so, what do you want from me?

This is the part when you get to tell me what you want next.

For October do you want:
A.) two halloween songs per day

B.) one halloween + one non-halloween

C.) no halloween with a list of halloween songs at the end of the month just in time for your party

I'm willing to do any of the above. I have about 120 halloween songs on my playlist but I don't want to give them all out at once, I'd set it at a 30 song max if it was just a playlist. I need something new for next year.

Please tell me in the comments section of the blog or facebook.

Thanks,
*j

all the young dudes

Are you ready for some clarity? I always thought this was a David Bowie song, and then one day I found out it was a Mott the Hoople song. But then, I discovered I was right the first time, but not in the way that I thought. David Bowie wrote the song for Mott the Hoople, but also did his own version of the song, so essentially he covered himself. Only a rock icon like David Bowie could pull off a move like that.

All of the covers today are outstanding. In fact they are so good that I couldn't narrow down to just one highlighted cover so I had to pick 2. You can't go wrong with any of them.


SONG OF THE DAY: "All the Young Dudes - Matt the Hoople"


HIGHLIGHTED COVER #1: "All the Young Dudes - David Bowie & Billy Corgan


HIGHLIGHTED COVER #2:"All the Young Dudes" - Travis (sorry,the sound + video doesn't seem to jive)


Other Notable Covers:

"All the Young Dudes - David Bowie


"All the Young Dudes - World Party (version on Clueless movie)

"All the Young Dudes" - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (yes I keep coming back to these two and their covers, but they are all so good)

"All the Young Dudes" - Billy Bragg & Jill Sobule (live)(click down playlist for song)

Iggy the Satyr

I just found this incredible Iggy & The Stooges video.

Not only does he look great, but he has a hot pair of leather pants and a fluffy tail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hPnZUMBwA&feature=related

don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?

For you daily readers who have been spoiled by me handing you cover after cover each day: I am going to give you just 1 today. But, i am making it up to by giving you 3 video links. So, watch the videos of the delicious Adam Ant over and over again; that should keep you occupied.

(Vince Noir takes all his fashion ques from adam, right down to the bare midriff).

SONG OF THE DAY: Goody Two Shoes- Adam Ant

(you also have to see THISvideo of him with the Solid Gold Dancers andTHIS one too)

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: Goody Two Shoes - Unwritten Law

femme fatale

I have decided not to apologize for yet another Velvet Underground song + cover.

With no further explanation, elucidation, justification or interpretation, here is Nico with "Femme Fatale".

SONG OF THE DAY: "Femme Fatale" - The Velvet Undergound with Nico

HIGHLIGHTED COVER:"Femme Fatale" - Duran Duran



OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:


"Femme Fatale" - R.E.M.


"Femme Fatale" -Dramarama


"Femme Fatale" - Elvis Costello

"Femme Fatale" - Ours

funny face

Katydid adores Audrey Hepburn movies. She started watching the black and white version of Sabrina on her own when she was 5. As a way to combine a bit of Audrey and musicals, we like to watch Funny Face. It's a spunky little movie with Kay Thompson (who also wrote the Eloise books) as a fashion editor, Fred Astaire as the old bachelor photographer, and Audrey as a beatnik intellectual,"Jo Stockton". She is convinced the best way to meet her philosopher hero in Paris is to give in and join the editor and photographer and be transformed from socially conscious bookstore clerk into high fashion model.

Not only does the film include the great songs "Think Pink" (a theme carried over into the Eloise movies) and "S wonderful", but the wonderful George and Ira Gershwin title song "Funny Face".

SONG OF THE DAY: "Funny Face" - performed by Fred Astaire

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "Funny Face" - Ella Fitzgerald (I discovered the Ella version about 10 years before I found the movie, so it's really the version I have in my memory)

OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:

"Funny Face" - Rosemary Clooney

rebel yell

Today my International Man of Mystery (Mr. IMo?) and I are having an anniversary. We are running away from home for the day, so I'm actually writing this ahead of time.

I think today's song and highlighted cover are perfect for two reasons.

Exhibit A: although he kind of looks like Billie Jo Armstrong in this pic too)

Exhibit B: Mr. IMo? got this tattoo when he was 18:

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY YOU REBEL!

COVER SONG OF THE DAY: "Rebel Yell" - Billy Idol

HIGHLIGHTED COVER: "Rebel Yell" - All

OTHER NOTABLE COVERS:

"Rebel Yell" - HIM

"Rebel Yell"- let's just call this one "various artists", you have to see it to believe it

*I FOUND ANOTHER AFTER INITIAL POST:

"Rebel Yell" - Dope

And a special treat for the kiddos "Rebel L" - Sesame Street