“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
by Tori Amos (originally by Nirvana)
from the album Crucify
1992
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I had something else totally in mind and was working through what to write, and then I got busy and forgot to post until Lance just reminded me. I’m late for EST and probably Central, but I’m going to make it in Mountain Time. Even though I had already thought through my other choice, this pick just came to me in a flash and seemed like the better choice.
“Jackson”
by Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash
from the album The Essential Johnny Cash
1967
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I can’t remember how or why Lance and I first did this as a duet. I feel like maybe our group was having a Johnny Cash-off/medley, but I’m not sure. Also, this had to have been sometime just after the movie Walk the Line came out, because I admittedly didn’t know a thing about Johnny Cash or really know his music until the movie Walk the Line. Up to that point, the only reference point I had for him was that one of the characters in Swingers had a father who was a big fan.
Continue reading Karaoke Tuesday: “Jackson”
“Song 2”
by Blur
from the album Blur
1997
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Oh man, “Song 2.” How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I tossed this one into the mix one night after I had gone through all my regular songs and the house was practically empty. So. Much. Fun.
For me, anyway.
“Add It Up”
by Violent Femmes
from the album Violent Femmes
1983
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I wasn’t sure what to post today, and then, no lie, all three versions that I have of this song came up in a row on shuffle on the way home, so I’d better post it or the universe is going to have me get hit by a bus tomorrow or something. How have I not posted any Femmes yet? I love #KaraokeTuesday and #CoverFriday, but Lance is right that we need some other day for everything else (and yes, next month I will try to post another monthly theme, though even that may not be open-ended enough).
“Undone (The Sweater Song)”
by Weezer
from the album Weezer
1994
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I started to write a post about “The Middle” when I had the suspicion I already had. I was correct. Oh well, time to pick another artist. Out of curiosity, I decided to see how many times we had written about Weezer, particularly the blue album since that’s one of the geeky loves Chris and I share.
Once. We’ve written about Weezer, exactly once. What the fuck is wrong with us? Let’s correct this travesty right now. I’ll go for the long-hanging fruit and pick the song that Chrance is best known for performing (with “Summer of ’69” and “ITEOTWAIKI” coming in close behind). Ladies and gentlemen, I present the perfect karaoke song: Continue reading Karaoke Tuesday: “Undone (The Sweater Song)”
“The Chauffeur”
by Deftones (originally by Duran Duran)
from the album The Duran Duran Tribute Album
1997
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It’s completely rare to have one of my favorite bands covering one of my other favorite bands, particularly in this case when the genres they occupy are so far apart. The Deftones could probably best be described as alternative metal whereas Duran Duran best epitomize the 80s dance pop/new wave sound. That kind of sounds like mixing bacon and ice cream. But you know what? I’ve had bacon ice cream and it’s delicious.
“Talk About the Passion”
by Samson & The Philistines (originally by R.E.M.)
from the album Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M.
1992
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Continuing with the R.E.M. week, here’s one from a tribute album from way back (pre-Out of Time). I was a big R.E.M. fan for quite a while (I started waning with Automatic for the People), so when this came out I had to have it. As I’ve mentioned before, like with most albums of this sort, the results are very hit or miss, and mostly miss, but I liked a couple of them. The album is comprised of generally obscure bands (at least to me), but I did appreciate that most of the bands gave a unique spin to their versions. I probably still have a copy of the album somewhere, but this song is for some reason the only one currently in my iTunes library. This particular cover isn’t amazing, but it does become interesting to hear it in a different language (errr..spanish?). It certainly doesn’t trump the original, but is worth a listen.
“Losing My Religion”
by R.E.M.
from the album Out of Time
1991
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Sure, this was a big hit off of a big album that really brought R.E.M. into the mainstream, but the only really important thing is that this is the song that represents Brenda losing her virginity to Dylan. I’m pretty positive they played parts of this song somewhere around 87 times during that episode of 90210.
“Of a Broken Heart”
by Zwan
from the album Mary Star of the Sea
2003
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Zwan was a shitty band (I feel so much better having typed that). Mary Star of the Sea served as both the debut release and the final gasp of a band that never should have existed in the first place. It’s a complete train-wreck. Although, there is one redeeming factor in this monstrosity and it’s located on track six.
“Pictures of Matchstick Men”
by Camper Van Beethoven (originally by Status Quo)
from the album Key Lime Pie
1989
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I was totally scratching my bean this week trying to think of a cover song I wanted to blather about for a couple of graphs. I keep a little notepad of cover songs going so I can write down ideas as they pop into my head or come up on shuffle, but nothing on there was really speaking to me. So I started looking through recent posts to see if anything would spark a thought. I saw the post about Cracker’s “Teen Angst” and started wondering if they had done some cover songs as B-Sides or something and then I suddenly remembered this CVB song. I had always known it was a cover, but I thought it was by Strawberry Alarm Clock, however I was nowhere near being correct. But before we get to the original, let’s take a few minutes to watch the amazing, obviously late-80s music video for CVB’s version. It’s about 120 Minutes-worthy as you can get.