Wild Sage - Original Cover!

I've got a little time on my hands lately, so I'm noodling around with more songs. Here is my faithful rendition of "Wild Sage" by the Mountain Goats, from their album Get Lonely.

Last blogged on November 23, 2011.



Artist: Sooze
Written by: John Darnielle
Year: 2014, (2006, original)
Rating: Hot!

Downtown Train - Original Cover!

Tom Waits's "Downtown Train" has been in my head for a few days, so I decided to figure it out on guitar. Then I sang it at karaoke last night, and it wasn't too shabby. I'm using something closer to the key Rod Stewart sang it in, 'cause Tom's range is a mite bit too low, as you can imagine. Hope you enjoy it!



Artist: Sooze
Written by: Tom Waits
Notable covers: Rod Stewart (1989); Everything But the Girl (1992)
Year: 2014; original 1985
Rating: Hot!

Got My Mind Set On You

I actually don't mind this song, but I fully expect some hate mail for getting what is arguably one of the most pernicious earworms of our time into many of your heads today.

A super special bonus of posting the official video here: do you recognize that guy in the arcade? He's none other than a 21 year-old Alexis Denisof of Buffy/Angel fame. When I realized this a few years ago, I nearly blew a gasket.

Also, I don't know about you, but I had NO IDEA this song was a cover! With actual lyrics! And, not surprisingly, a much more interesting orchestration and vocal performance than the far more popular 80s version. The original artist was an R&B singer named James Ray, who unfortunately died of an overdose shortly after recording the song. He was in his early 20s.



Artist (cover): George Harrison
Year: 1987
Rating: Warm

Artist (original): James Ray
Year: 1962
Rating: Warm

Workin' in the Coalmine/We Work the Black Seam

Straight-up random, as far as songs in my head go.

Artist: Devo
Year: 1981
Rating: Luke Hot

But then this song from Sting's first solo record came to me a couple days later, which seemed very much linked to "Workin' in the Coalmine."



It's less random to appear in my head, both because of the association with the previous song, and also because Dream of the Blue Turtles was one of the first albums I owned and listened to over and over again when I was a wee teen. Both songs' themes are timely, given the economic disparities they address. Virtual anthems for the current Occupy movement.

Artist: Sting
Year: 1985
Rating: Luke Hot

Popcorn

How many of you out there have ever come across this amazingly insidious little tune? I always thought it was a pure product of the early '80s; I had no idea it was a composition originally written on a Moog, going back to 1969! I came across the above version (the one in my head currently) when my friend Ramee introduced it, along with an infectiously awesome line dance, to our group at Jewish summer camp, probably in about 1982.

Here's the original by Gershon Kingsley:



Learn loads more about the song at the site dedicated to all things "Popcorn," Popcorn-Song.Com. Unfortunately, I can't find any info online about the choreography of the dance we learned in the '80s.

Artist (in my head): Hot Butter
Artist (original): Gershon Kingsley
Year: 1969, 1972
Rating: Luke Hot

Blue Bayou

Hit me suddenly after making a phone call on a job inquiry, sipping my second cuppa coffee.

Artist: Linda Ronstadt (original 1963, by Roy Orbison/Joe Melson)
Year: 1977
Rating: Luke Hot

Clocks

I don't usually mention songs that come into my head only because I've freshly heard them; that immediate mental link seems too obvious to me. But the version I heard of Coldplay's big hit "Clocks" the other day was a unique one: I heard it in a Chinese restaurant; it was a Musak version played on wood flute. There are several instrumental covers of the song on YouTube, but I can't find the precise one.

Artist: Coldplay (Musak version: unknown)
Year: 2002
Rating: warm

Hazy Shade of Winter

"Time, time, time, see what's become of me."

Artist: The Bangles
Year: 1987
Rating: Hot!

Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In

Whoa! When the lyric Let the sunshine in, face it with a grin... came to me this morning, I actually couldn't place it, though I knew the melody so well. I'm shocked and yet not at all shocked that I know this song from a Flintstones episode. And I'm also a little shocked that it's actually a song about not letting the devil in.

Artist: Pebbles Bamm-Bamm (voiced by Rebecca Page & Ricky Page)
Year: 1965
Rating: Warm

Note: John Waters used the original from 1954 in his recent movie, A Dirty Shame.

Every Time You Go Away

I love how the YouTuber who posted this video is fetishizing their sound system! But you have to admit, that's some awesome audio! Props!

Also, I had *no idea* that this was actually a cover of a Hall & Oates song from 1980!! Now that I hear it, totally, totally.

Artist: Paul Young
Year: 1985
Rating: Luke Hot

I Say A Little Prayer

Gave myself a fright waking up with this song this morning, and quickly looked for any new news of Aretha Franklin's pancreatic cancer. I don't exactly think that I have psychic abilities, but it's hard to explain how any of us can tap into the cultural zeitgeist at any moment. I hoped beyond hope that my earworm hadn't portended a turn south for Aretha's condition.

A quick web search yielded results that she's now denying that she had cancer and that the health problem is resolved. I'll say a little prayer for her anyway.

Artist: Aretha Franklin
Year: 1968
Rating: Luke Hot

Note: I wasn't sure at first whether it was Dionne Warwick's original that matched my mental image of the song, or if it was Aretha's. My first impulse was that it was Aretha's, and that's indeed what it turned out to be. Unless you've studied the neuropsychology of music and memory, or unless you're an earworm nerd like me, you might be suspicious about the idea that I had any one particular version of a song in my head, but this phenomenon is very real. Check out the McGill University Laboratory for Music, Perception, Cognition, and Expertise.

A Groovy Kind of Love

Here's another situation in which a song came into my head in cover versions of the exact opposite chronology of original release. This also happened recently with Tom Waits's Downtown Train. Similarly to my experience with that song, it's likely that my memory lines default to the version I heard first or I'm most familiar with.

This trifecta of covers featured prominently at a Jewish youth group dance my junior year of high school, when Phil Collins's super-schmaltzy 1988 version was topping the charts.

 

My good pals Kama and Barry planned Beau-Sweetheart Ball: "A Groovy Kind of Love," and attempted to make brilliant use of the song. They carefully instructed the DJ to play music from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, in roughly chronological order, kicking off each era with its version of "A Groovy Kind of Love." Unfortunately, the DJ wasn't compliant (creative differences, perhaps?*) The song was written by genius pop songstress Carole Bayer Sager ("Don't Cry Out Loud," "Nobody Does It Better," "Arthur's Theme," "That's What Friends Are For"...should I go on??) and Toni Wine, one of the real humans behind the cartoon band The Archies. Artist: Phil Collins Year: 1988 Rating: Cold Artist: Sonny & Cher Year: 1967 Rating: Warm Note: Okay, this version didn't represent the '70s, per se, but Sonny & Cher sure as hell did.) Also: I found this version of the song courtesy of Romanian video site Trilulilu. It wasn't on YouTube. Artist: The Mindbenders Year: 1965 Rating: Warm *A tip of the hat to Kama and Barry.

Downtown Train x3

Sometimes multiple versions of songs flash through my head almost simultaneously. In this case, three versions of the song "Downtown Train," written and performed originally by Mr. Tom Waits, appeared in my head in reverse-chronological order.



I owned the 1992 Acoustic album from Everything But The Girl, so that's the version of the song I've heard most. If you were a college kid in the 90s (like me!) you probably heard this simply lovely collection of covers at some point.

Another recommend from this album is Tracey & Ben's rendition of Springsteen's Tougher Than The Rest. Both the original and this version are quietly, painfully beautiful. 

Artist: Everything but the Girl
Year: 1992
Rating: Luke Hot



Then Rod Stewart's radio-hit version wormed its way in for a few minutes. The studio rendition is not bad, though his live performances of the song can be cheese-tastic, to be sure. Still, I do have a soft spot for this guy.

Artist: Rod Stewart
Year: 1989
Rating: Warm



Then I was left with the original, and man, that's exactly where I needed to be.

Artist: Tom Waits
Year: 1985
Rating: Hawt!

Lotta Love

You know I need relating, not solitude. Yep.

...and one of the rockinest flute solos to the light side of Jethro Tull.

Artist: Nicolette Larson
Year: 1978
Rating: Warm

Note: I didn't realize this was a Neil Young song! Wow! Now that I'm hearing it, the phrasing and octave change on the verses are distinctively so.

Another note: Sadly, Nicolette Larson died in 1997, at age 45, from liver failure. Rest in peace, NL.

Head On

The chorus is so damn post-punk catchy. I've always thought this song sounded like a cross between the Ramones and the Pixies, and in looking into the song for this blog entry, I realize that the Pixies covered it just a couple years after The Jesus & Mary Chain's original release.

Artist: The Jesus & Mary Chain
Year: 1989
Rating: Hot!



I think I'd heard the Pixie's version before, but I've never owned Trompe Le Monde, so I don't know how much their version of the song sank into my memory of it.

Artist: Pixies
Year: 1991
Rating: Luke Hot

Too Darn Hot

Awesome cover of Cole Porter's song from the 1990 Red, Hot, and Blue AIDS benefit album.

Artist: Erasure
Year: 1990
Rating: Sizzlin'

Can't Get Used to Losing You

The first in a recent series of songs in my head reflecting intimacy angst, and the specter of the loss of love. Not that tons of pop songs aren't about this very subject, but the next few posts seem to go together in a sort of trifecta.

Artist: The (English) Beat
Year: 1980
Rating: Warm

Note 1: I'm several songs behind at the moment, so I'll be playing catch-up the next few days.
Note 2: This song was originally recorded by Andy Williams in 1963.

Singin' In the Rain

Yes, my unconscious soundtrack can sometimes be rather predictable and dependent upon obvious environmental factors. This clip from the 1952 movie is so sweet though; it's hard to resist. And here's a link to one of the early recordings of the song from 1929.

Artist: Gene Kelly
Year: 1952
Year: (original) c. 1927, written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown
Rating: Warm

Take a Chance on Me

As I alluded to the other day when blogging about "Bette Davis Eyes," I've had some Alvin and the Chipmunks covers in my head recently. (The 'Munks covered Bette Davis Eyes too, though it was the original in my head on Monday.) When I woke up with "Take a Chance on Me," it was actually the hopped up Alvin and the Chipmunks version, which then slipped into the original ABBA.

I think the 'Munks fare better on "Take a Chance on Me" than on "Bette Davis Eyes." Turns out Alvin does earnest better than femme fatale. Artist: Alvin & the Chipmunks Year: 1982 Rating: Luke Hot
Artist: ABBA
Year: 1978
Rating: Luke Hot

Bette Davis Eyes

Woke from a nap yesterday afternoon with this song in my head. Napping is very unusual for me, so this song came through in a very drowsy, disoriented state.

I have a vivid memory of being nine years old, watching the Solid Gold countdown for 1981 and my visceral disappointment that "Bette Davis Eyes" beat Olivia Newton-John's Physical for the number one song of the year. In retrospect, and with my adult mind, it's clear that "Bette Davis Eyes" is a way better song, but I remember thinking at the time something like, That Kim Carnes is just standing up there behind the mike stand, boring, and Olivia is rocking out all over the stage. This is so unfair!

The other association I have with this song is that it appeared on the cover album Chipmunk Rock that I owned and played obsessively at this time in my life. I'm blogging out of order here, but another song featured on Chipmunk Rock popped into my head a few days ago, and it will hit the blog soon as well. In the case of "Bette Davis Eyes," it was the original, not the Chipmunks' version, that entered my nap-addled brain.

Artist: Kim Carnes
Year: 1981
Rating: Warm

Note: For a song so obviously about sex, "Physical" is so euphemistic "Let's get animal?" that while I knew it was about, you know, doing it, the song really eluded my scandal radar when I was nine. "Bette Davis Eyes" is lyrically all the more sophisticated, and it's a wonder Alvin pulled off singing a line like, She'll take a tumble on you/Roll you like you were dice/Until you come up blue/She's got Bette Davis Eyes.