J.M.W. Turner, Burning of the Houses of Parliament (1834)
For next week’s edition of the multimedia incursion, I’m plundering the plethora of cover versions floating around here. In order to limit the selections to a manageable number, I employed the following proscriptions: the originals are all familiar rock-and-roll songs (not standards or classical pieces) and the cover versions are all markedly divergent (in style, instrumentation, and/or language, et al.) from those originals.
There will be two winners, so please choose one from Column A and one from Column B. The original artists are listed in the polls, but the artists and nature of the cover versions are going to be a surprise. Polls close at 10AM EST (GMT -5) on Monday, 10 November.
Vote Early, Vote Often!
Vote On Time, Vote Once!!
Bonus Factoid: Celine Dion is responsible for the world’s worst cover version, a poll of music experts has decided. See the article at BBC News.
06 Nov 2008 Thu at 1:27 pm
Did you know that “The Letter” by the Box Tops is my “birth song” according to Popstrology.com? Just sayin’
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 12:06 am
Yay. I get “Sugar Shack” by the Archies. Hmmm, I think we’ve talked about this elsewhere.
Note to readers: there’s a song to listen to in this post. It’s a whole 11 seconds long! Oh wait, I just went to the file’s location and it says it’s been downloaded 4 times. How is that possible when the WordPress statistics show the link hasn’t been clicked on? I’m all confused.
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 1:46 pm
i lurve the sugar shack!!!! i’ve gotta get back…to my sugar shack. my parents strongly believe that i was born (musically) to the wrong generation. my musical tastes are stuck somewhere between the 50s and 70s. now i’m off to listen to the mystery tune
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 1:47 pm
and 96 tears is the MOST annoying song of all time.
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 1:49 pm
AND i didn’t like any of the choices in poll A so i voted twice in poll B. (see, i really can’t follow directions.)
pann sz: Pleeease vote for something in Column A. Voter turnout is so paltry here that every one counts for so much. Besides, your second vote in Column B seems not to have registered.
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 1:53 pm
for the record, ‘hotel california’ is one of the most grating and overplayed songs ever. on the rare occasion that i turn on my car radio (instead of ipod or audio book), hotel california is ALWAYS playing. Q 104.3 should DESTROY their copy of the song. ugh.
i’m going back to bed now. i crawled out of my hovel just to be a peevish brat on your blog. i know you enjoyed it.
pnn sz: I hate “Hotel California” too, but the cover is really fun (even better than the Gipsy Kings version from The Big Lebowski). One of my favorite quotes abut The Eagles comes from Tom Waits: “They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.” True, he said it in 1976 after they had a hit with a cover of his song “Ol’ 55″ and he was still struggling to have a viable career in music, but I still repeat that quote often.
07 Nov 2008 Fri at 4:05 pm
my second vote was for norwegian wood. i dig the whistling in that song.
as for group a, i went with jimi…because the rest of the bands strike annoyance into my heart.
pnnsz: What whistling? The only Beatles song I can think of with whistling is “Two of Us.”
08 Nov 2008 Sat at 10:18 am
you know, the part i whistle to at the beginning. i thought everyone whistled to it also…
09 Nov 2008 Sun at 7:47 pm
I voted for the cover of Hotel California AND for 96 tears. Just FOR CURLY! xo
09 Nov 2008 Sun at 11:04 pm
Christy “The Enforcer” hee hee.