Parody Music To Help Get You Through Pandemic Isolation

Chris Mann trapped indoors like the rest of us due to coronavirus

I certainly get it that the coronavirus pandemic is one of the greatest tragedies in modern history. Depressingly, it will only get worse before it gets better.

To stay sane through this, I think we all need some gallows humor to help us get through it.  Singer/Songwriter Chris Mann to the rescue.

He's had a serious and successful music career ever since he was a finalist on The Voice in 2012.

Lately, though, he's been putting out parody videos of how his stay at home is going. Spoiler alert: Not that great.

Mann is among millions of us going stir crazy at home, trying to maintain the social distancing we all hope will blunt the coronavirus impact.  I'm sure Mann's YouTube channel will have more in the coming days and weeks.

So let's enjoy what he's got so far.  in addition to "My Corona," a parody of the bad 1979 hit "My Sharona," we have two other even better ones.

First, we'll bring you "Hello (From The Inside)" a parody of the heartbreaking Adele song "Hello" from 2015.  Mann's version is heartbreaking in quite a different way. Click on the this sentence to watch it. Totally worth it.

Up next, we go back a little further to Madonna's "Vogue"

I especially like the sort of semi-wrap part in the middle starting at about 2:20 in:

Coronavirus: Bad People, Good People

This idiot bought up all kinds of Lysol disinfectant wipes and tried
to sell them at a wildly inflated prices on Amazon

In every crisis, as I said a few days ago, jerks emerge, and good natured people emerge.

So it is with the coronavirus situation.  Two incidents add clarity to what I mean.

I'll get the bad out of the way first.

Meet Manny Ranga and Violeta Perez, who captured the outrage of Canadians and now the world for their stunt to make money off the coronavirus.

They raided a Costco store in Vancouver, British Columbiaa and bought all the six packs of Lysol disinfecting wipes recently, which normally sell for $20 for each six pack, according to The Star.   They completed loaded the back of their F-150 truck with the wipes.

The Star reported that the wipes fetch four times the price from Costco online, and Ranga said that represented a "big opportunity" for them.

They spent $70,000 on the wipes at Costco and profited more than $100,000 in gouge-priced sales on Amazon.

Amazon finally suspended their account Friday, saying the couple violated their policy on pricing inflation.

Ranga whined to The Star that he objects to the way he has been portrayed in the media. Reaction to the story was jeopardizing their livelihoods, he said. Poor baby.   Ranga and his wife normally work as home developers and business had slowed.

Too bad, bubba. We're all in the same boat.

Ranga's scheme might not have been uncovered if not for The Star reported Douglas Quan, who was reporting on a story about panic buying at Costco. He stumbled upon Ranga and Perez loading their truck and asked questions.

Quan said the couple appeared to have no regrets and seemed actually proud of their venture.

The couple isn't so happy now. They're getting slammed on social media, 'natch.

This is one example.  There are also plenty of examples out there of people price gouging. 

CORONOVIRUS MUSIC

One of the potential songs for your virus quarantine playlist 

Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have the coronovirus, unfortunately and are on lockdown in Australia.  They're hanging in there, and I have to appreciate Wilson's gallows humor through this.

She went on Twitter and asked for crowdsourcing help to develop a playlist for her Spotify account.  She knew it was a fun way to confront the crisis with humor and lots of people picked up on that suggestion.  

Some of the suggested songs are by Wilson herself

A lot of the song ideas were great, and I'll share them with you, as we'll all need this sort of thing, even if we're not under quarantine.

"All By Myself" by Eric Carmen.
"Dancing With Myself," by Billy Idol
"Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu," By Johnny Rivers
"U Can't Touch This," by MC Hammer
"I Wanna Be Sedated," by The Ramones
"I Will Survive," by Gloria Gaynor
"I Want To Break Free," by Queen
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You" by Kelly Clarkson
"Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary.
"So Far Away," by Carole King
"Come Healing," by Leonard Cohen

Other people suggested:
"Splendid Isolation," by Warren Zevon
"I Think We're Alone Now," by Tiffany
"Stayin' Alive," by the Bee Gees
"Toxic," by Britney Spears
"If I Could Turn Back Time," by Cher
"In The Air Tonight," by Phil Collins

Is An Alabama Garbage Man America's Next Big Thing In Pop Music?

Inexperienced singer Doug Kiker impressed the judges on the episode
"American Idol" that aired last week. Let's hope this
underdog does well! 

As anyone who looks at this here blog thingy knows, I'm a sucker for those talent "reality" shows in which stars are allegedly made.

I just like those surprises when people really just surprise everyone.

I got hopelessly hooked way back in 2009 at the iconic moment when Susan Boyle, an awkward appearing middle aged woman, blew everybody away with her version of "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables

I don't watch "American Idol" as much as other shows of this genre, like "The Voice" and "America's Got Talent."  But one moment in the season premier of this year's "American Idol" got my attention, and that of a lot of other people. I guess I'm attracted to these "come from nowhere" stories.

Doug Kiker of Grand Bay, Alabama is a garbage man.  Apparently, he likes to sing on the back of the truck as he's working.

"I loved music all my life, but all I could ever do was just listen to the radio. I grew up, we had little to no means, you know," he told television station WEAR in Pensacola, Florida.

He auditioned last year for "American Idol" and by his telling, he failed miserably. “I couldn't even figure out what I was gonna do, I kept trying to remember the words to the song I was gonna sing, and when it came out, it came out horribly,” he explained.

But he wanted to teach his daughter, age 2, to not give up, so he tried again. "I'm trying to show her if you put your mind to it, there's nothing you can't do."

His efforts aired on "American Idol" Sunday evening. 

So there he was, echoes of Susan Boyle. In this case, Kiker appeared on TV, a little overweight, a few teeth missing, wearing a cheap baseball cap on backwards. Star struck at judges Lionel Ritchie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan, mumbled something about the three judges being beautiful. 

Kiker confessed to having no performing experience, though Bryan was impressed with the calluses on Kiker's hands.

Ritchie was horrified, in a friendly way, that Kiker didn't even know to warm up his voice before performing for the judges. So American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, he of the perfect hair and perfect teeth, led him out to show him how to warm up. 

Fifteen minutes later, Kiker was in front of the judges again.  This time, he sang briefly. It was good.  Perry was unconvinced just yet.  "Show us your range," she said. 

"I don't know what that is," Kiker said. 

So, Bryan ran over to the piano to help.  Trouble is, Bryan tried to set Kiker up with the proper key to a song.  Kiker didn't know what that was, either. 

Which made the ever-helpful Bryan start singing a line in different ranges and getting Kiker to try to do the same.  Let's just say Kiker might not have had any training as a singer, but he's apparently a quick learner. 

Bryan said, "There's so much in there," and the other two judges seemed impressed.  Ritchie told Kiker he's a hell of a man, and I can't argue that.  Perry was in tears as they passed him on to Hollywood, the next stage of the competition 

"You just stay who you are and you're going to go so far," Perry told him.

Of course, it's too soon to know what will happen to Kiker.  He's in for a wild ride. Will be continue to learn and grow?  Will the pressure crush him or energize him?  I guess we'll have to find out.

These rags to riches stories are always more complicated than the reality shows make them out to be. But like almost all viewers, I wish him the best of luck.  

Meanwhile, The Voice in the United States has its season premier next week.  Like I said, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I'll be watching. 

Here's the video:

"Bad" Songs Actually Being Great In Right Hands. Examples Abound

This uniquely styled French woman named Nathalia performed
the campy song "YMCA" the France's version of "The Voice"
and turned the song into a sexy tour de force. 

Sometimes, over the years, a song becomes a big radio hit and I wonder why.

The tune in question often seems, at least to me,  lame, annoying, unoriginal.  The song gets inexplicably stuck in my head, and my mood sours for the entire day.

I've learned, though, that some of these "awful" hit records are hits because they are actually well-crafted songs. It's just that the rock or pop star that recorded the song didn't get it quite right. At least in my opinion.

That could be why these songs get stuck in my head - the classic earworm.  At some level, the public gets that these songs are somehow good, and they latch on. These songs become big hits. And earworms. For a reason.

I'm a big fan of those talent shows like "The Voice" that's broadcast all over the world and "(Insert Nation Here)'s Got Talent." Contestants often play around with these popular songs. They change the tempo, or the pitch or they strip the tune down to the bare essentials.

That's when I understand these "terrible" pop songs are actually quite good. Which is why I encourage people to give these music reality shows, and these different versions of "bad" songs a chance.  I've got a few examples that you should watch and listen to.

In 2016, Jasmine Elcock, then 14, went on Britain's Got Talent and performed the Cher song "Believe."

Elcock was smart enough to slow the song way down, strip away the Auto-Tune. the dance track and all the bells and whistles and reveal "Believe" for what it is: A beautiful, introspective and heartbreaking song. Elcock even had the judges and stage hands in tears. Watch and listen:



Then we have that Britney Spears song, "Oops, I Did It Again," another lightweight, fluffy song

In Germany's version of "The Voice," back in 2016, Vera Tevares turns what felt to me in Spears' version like a cold, manufactured pop song into something truly sexy. She also ditched the Auto-Tune in Spears' rendition. What is it with this awful Auto-Tune anyway?  It doesn't improve things. Watch and listen to this much better version.



Speaking of sexing things up, we should turn to a woman named Nathalia, who appeared on the French version of The Voice back in 2017.

She sang, of all things, the Village People classic, "YMCA."

Yeah, the Village People song is fun and campy, a staple of every bad wedding reception you've ever attended.

Nathalie combined a jazzy vibe, that sexiness and a wonderful vocal range to wow the judges and the audience with this song. This is my favorite video in this post. By far.  Watch and listen:



I kind of like, but don't love this next song, "Highway To Hell," originally done by AC DC.  The song has become kind of a cliche, frankly. And the performer who sang this on 2018's Britain's Got Talent didn't really change it up all that much, as in the performances above.

But considering it came from Jennie Darren, a nice, demure 68-year old Britsh retiree, it makes it totally fun and new and refreshing. Be patient at the beginning of the video, and you will be rewareded. It turns into proof that as I advance into old age, there's hope for a rock and roll life yet:



I'll conclude with a song I actually truly, really, love, pretty much whoever performs it.  "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen has been done many, many times by contestents on talent shows around the world.

Most of the contestants use the song to showcase their range, their pipes, their belting out songs, like this stunning performance by Emmanuel Smith on Britain's The Voice 2019.

In 2018, Mennel Ibtisse took a completely different tack with the song.  She remained seated, and did a subdued, but absolutely gorgeous version of "Hallelujah." It will move you to tears:



So yeah, go on line and look for versions of songs you don't really like.  You'll be surprised and rewarded.

"New" Freddie Mercury Song Is Out; Song Discovered From 1985

Freddie Mercury belts out "Time Waits For No One" in a
previously unreleased song and video. Proves why he
was such a vocal powerhouse. 

The great Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991 but I, along with millions of other people, can't get enough of him.

Believe it or not, there's a "new" tune out there by Freddie Mercury called "Time Waits For No One." and it is a gem.  According to USA Today, singer and producer Dave Cark recorded Mercury performing a version of the song called "Time" for a sci-fi rock musical.

The song had all kinds of production, some would save over production, with big percussions ad all kinds of backup vocals. That song was released and peaked at number 32 on the UK music charts in 1985.

However, Clark had Mercury record a different version of the song accompanied only by piano. That's what's being released now as "Time Waits For No One."

Clark re-discovered "Time Waits For No One" last year, but decided to wait to release it.  He'd been looking for the master and video for more than a decade, but searches of recording studio failed to turn the up, says NPR.  Then, miraculously they were found in 2017.

By then, the Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" was coming out, and Clark didn't want to compete with that, reports USA Today. 

So he waited to release it

As you can see and hear in the video below, you don't need any big production values when it comes to Mercury. Just let him sing. You can also see is familiar, unique mannerisms as he performs.

And what a performance!

Here's the song and video:

Tanya Tucker Teams Up With Brandi Carlile; Results Are Magical

The awesome Tanya Tucker will drop her first album in 17 years
 coming August 23. The first single from the album is out, and
it really bodes well for the rest of the album

The great Tanya Tucker made a big splash at the recent CMT awards show when she and Brandi Carlile teamed up to perform the iconic Tucker song "Delta Dawn."

It's terrific seeing Tanya Tucker on stage again. And she rocks that pink hair look!

There had to be an ulterior motive for her appearance at the CMT's. And there was. Tucker is promoting her first album since 2002.

The new album is produced by Carlile and Shooter Jennings.

Carlile is the best songwriter in the world today, at least in my opinion and that of so many other people, so that bodes well for the rest of the new Tucker album.

Shooter Jennings is also a top-rate songwriter with a great pedigree - he's the son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter.

The new Tucker album, "While I'm Livin'" is due to drop on August 23. The first single from the album, called "The Wheels of Laredo" is out now.

The song was written by Carlile and Tim and Phil Hanseroth. (The Hanseroth twin brothers are the two tall, talented bald guys you see in Carlile's band.)

The video, which is a work of art on its own, was directed by Myriam Santos.

Here's the song and video of Tanya Tucker's "The Wheels of Laredo". You're going to love it.

Throwback To 1971: Elton John Explains How "Tiny Dancer" Came To Be

A still from the music video for "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. The song
was released in 1971, but didn't get an official music video until 2017.

One of my very favorite Elton John songs is among his very first hits: "Tiny Dancer."

The blog Laughing Squid found a YouTube video in which Elton John, in 1971, then roughly 23 years old, explains the musical mechanics of the song,and why he chose the music the way he did for the lyrics, penned by his longtime co-writer Bernie Taupin.

The song is about Taupin's girlfriend and eventual wife Maxine Feibelman.  The tune has a rather gentle musical score. Elton John said that decision was based on the lyric, "Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand."

Hard, driving rock does not fit well with ballerinas, John explained.

"Tiny Dancer" was never a huge hit on the Billboard charts, but man, has it had staying power! It has become a classic in every sense of the word.

This song never had an official music video until 2017, when Elton John participated in "The Cut" a video contest for up and coming videographers.  Filmmakers made music videos for three of Elton John's early classics, including Tiny Dancer.  I do think the California breeziness of the song is captured well in that 2017 video.

But you be the judge. First video is the throwback to 1971, when Elton John explains the song's construction, and the second video by Max Weiland, which uses a wide range of Los Angeles characters to demonstrate how much this song has kind of united us.

"Jumper Cable Jam" Is Delightful Result Of Chance Neighborhood Meeting; You Will Smile

A random woman named Cleopatra walked by some musicians
jamming on an Oakland, California stoop.
The result was glorious. 

I love it when random, inconsequential moments turn into an alchemy that puts us all in a good mood.

Such was the case this month in Oakland, California. The ingredients to what happened are no big deal.

A couple members of a musical group called Milk For The Angry were on a front stoop, just jamming with their instruments.

A car on the street broke down, and somebody went to get jumper cables to get the vehicle running again. A woman named Cleopatra walked by.  From what I can gather, she was bringing popcorn and ice cream to her brother. Those jumper cables were also on her mind. Then she took notice of the musicians on the stoop.

Cleopatra joined in, and the rest is glorious history. I just LOVE Cleopatra. Watch, and you will, too:

"Star Spangled Banner" Sounds Suspiciously Russian When Played In Minor Key

Comedian and musician Bill Bailey gives us an unsettling
take on "The Star Spangled Banner"

A comedian and musician named Bill Bailey has given us a rather startling musical oddity.

He likes to play around with musical scores, playing tunes intended to be played in a minor key in a major key instead. And he plays songs in major keys in minor keys.

There's a viral video floating about in which Bailey gives examples. The video is at the bottom of this post. At first he plays around with different snippets of songs, then gets to "The Star Spangled Banner," the United States National Anthem.

Like most national anthems, "The Star Spangled Banner" is meant to be played in a major key. As Bailey says, that makes them feel celebratory and uplifting.

He then tries "The Star Spangled Banner" in a minor key. The result is pretty unsettling, given the alleged deep ties between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and the allegations Trump colluded with Russia to get elected.

Yep, in a minor key, the "Star Spangled Banner" sounds like, well, Russian!

Listen for yourself:

How To Combine Mismatched Passions Into Something Awesome

Some of the mood captured in the Pecos Hank song/video
"Drive Under The Moon."

The other day, in my sister blog, "Matt's Weather Rapport," I featured a guy named Pecos Hank.

Pecos Hank is a storm chaser, the kind of guy weather geeks like me love. He spends days, weeks, maybe months out in the Great Plains, chasing after tornadoes and other severe weather.

Unlike many storm chasers, Pecos Hank emphasizes creativity and art over the usual yelling and screaming and shaky images of tornadoes that most storm chasers embrace.  Pecos Hank's storm videos, which he narrates, are moody, beautiful, beguiling.

I think his creativity with the storm videos comes from his other job, his other passion. Pecos Hank is a musician.

Pecos Hank last year was wise enough to combine one passion, storm chasing, with the other, music, to create a haunting music video that I just can't resist.

OK, I'm a fanboy of this guy. So sue me.

The song is called "Drive Under The Moon." It liberally uses outtakes of his storm footage to create a dark, mysterious, almost morbid music video. I like songs that have a darkness, so this appeals to me wonderfully. Pecos Hank's deep voice, combined with his sort of Tex-Mex sound, is just perfect. And the 1950s styles in the video add to the retro, brooding mood.

Is the creepy guy driving the car the Grim Reaper? Is the glamorous woman adventurous and oblivious to her fate, or is she a willing participant in this tornadic, deadly story? You decide.

You have to see this. Watch:

Our Yearly Tradition: Darlene Love Gives Us "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

Darlene Love (left)  performs "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
with Fantasia in this year's installment of a Christmas tradition.

We have to do our yearly Christmas Eve tradition today: Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home.)"

It's my favorite Christmas season song, mostly because it's not sticky sweet saccharine like most holiday songs, which are awful.

Most of them are so sentimental and icky that you go into a diabetic coma if you hear just 10 seconds of them. ("I'll Be Home For Christmas.") Or they're so deliriously happy that you wonder what kind of drug they're taking ("Santa Claus Is Coming To Town") Or they're so stupid and odious they make you want to throw up. ("Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer")

Not "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," popularized by Darlene Love. Musically it's an uplifting, take me to church melody. The lyrics are bittersweet. The emotional complexity of the song, at least compared to almost all other holiday songs, makes this one work

For 29 years, Darlene Love made it a tradition to sing this tune on David Letterman's show. Click on this mashup of her years on David Letterman for proof that Darlene Love sure isn't losing any of her glorious power as the hears go bh.

However, Letterman went off the air. So "The View" took it over, and now they're in their third year. Of course, as always, you will see and hear this year's video of her performance at the bottom of this post.

This year, Darlene Love got some help from Fantasia, the awesome R&B singer.

Love and her song have become such a national Christmas tradition that she's turned up elsewhere, too. Click on this link for a fun video of Darlene Love performing the song on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" in which Love, Fallon, The Roots and Anna Kendrick perform the song accompanied by child classroom instruments, which is a regular feature on this show. It's a bit tinny but surprisingly good.

Without further delay, here's this year's Darlene Love's Christmas performance, with the fantastic Fantasia from this year. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Debbie Harry And Joan Jett REALLY Let Us Have It With New Tune/Video

Joan Jett and Debbie Harry deliver an apocalyptic newcast
in a dark and funny video for the new Blondie tune "Doom or Destiny"

Blondie, with Debbie Harry of course, and Joan Jett have teamed up in a startling, but darkly funny video for Blondie's song "Doom or Destiny" and it's totally worth the watch. Especially since Harry and Jett have lost none of their considerable mojo over the decades.

In the video, Harry and Jett are off-kilter news anchors. The pair, as Rolling Stone puts it, "tease a series of foreboding headlines, referencing global warming, Russian election meddling, nuclear war and President Trump's 'grab 'em by the pussy comment from the leaked Access Hollywood tape."

Rolling Stone continues: "Harry said she wanted the video to comment on 'the bizarre state of media and news in the current 'idocracy' by addressing issues like 'environmental collapse, fossil fuels, bee population decline, global warming, sexism, patriarchy, Trump and Russia, feminishm, consumerism, the marketing of war and more.'"

Yes, that's a dark vision. And the video has that dark vision. It's not for bright and cheery Pollyannas. But those Pollyannas would be missing out if they didn't watch the "Doom or Destiny" video.

Harry, age 72, and Jett, 59, are still the no-holds-barred women they've alway been, thank goodness. In the video, they are disgusted, world weary and fuming as these two "news co-anchors" deal with dinasour men rejoicing amid money,  a Trumpesque orange sock puppet screaming "Fake News!" vapid fragrance commercials, a weather segment that forecasts, among other things, seven plagues and thermonuclear winter, and a report by Harry regarding global warming, "Hot as fxxxing hell"

You have to watch the video several times to catch all the very quick jokes and dark humor throughout the piece.

The song "Doom or Destiny" itself is at once catchy, dark, cynical, driving and some of the best work I've heard from Blondie, Harry and Jett I've heard in years.

Here's the video, which is not really NSFW, if you dare. It's so worth it.

OK Go, Kings Of Wild Music Videos, Are At It Again

The band OK Go in front of a wall of 567 printers and lots
of paper for their latest complicated but fun music video. 

Every time the band OK Go releases a new music video, it ends up in this here blog thingy, because I always marvel at the creativity and how much work had to go into them. And I mean work.

OK Go first causes a sensation in 2010 with the video for their song "This Too Shall Pass," which involved an incredibly complicated Rube Goldberg setup.

They actually had an earlier song and music video, "Here It Goes Again" in  which they got incredibly creative with treadmills.

The band has also followed that up with a variety of other wild videos, including one that involves zero gravity, the video for "Upside Down And Inside Out.  Since I'm a dog lover, I really enjoyed "White Knuckles" which involved a lot of wonderful and talented trained dogs.

And they've teamed up with Pilobolus in the song. "All Is Not Lost."

Their latest video involves 567 printers and lots and LOTS of wasted paper. (which, we're told was all recycled.)

The song and music video is called "Obsession." OK Go's music videos are better than their music, in general, but this particular song is pretty catchy. The video itself, though, must have taken incredible organization skills on the part of the band and the crew. I'd also would have hated to be the person who had to create all those stacks of paper at around 2:25 or 2:30 into the video.

Here's the video. I hope it doesn't remind you too much of office clerical work:

Watch This Amazing 12 Year Old Blues Guitarist

Blues guitarist Toby Lee, age 12. Wow! 

It's always fun to listen to really good blues guitarists.

Most blues guitarists seem to be grizzled old veterans, with lots of experience under their belts.

Not this guy. I stumbled across a blues guitarist named Toby Lee, who is now at the ripe old age of 12.

Looks like he has a bright long future. Great stage presense, too.

Here's a couple videos of performances by this guy. First one is great, second one is wonderful rendition of the Prince classic "Purple Rain." It's all awesome:



Here's his "Purple Rain"

Saturday Night Live Hits Perfect Note With Aldean Cold Opening

Jason Aldean captured just the right tone during his
cold opening appearance on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live very often seems to know how to strike the right tone when the news gets tough.

SNL did it again last night.

Last week, we had the massacre in Las Vegas.  Jason Aldean was on stage at the country music festival in Las Vegas when the gunman opened fire, killing 58 people. Aldean wasn't physically hurt, but certainly shaken.  

There was the prerequisite snarky comments on gun control during the Weekend Update segment, but the cold opening of SNL last night got it just right.

Saturday, Aldean did the cold opening for Saturday Night Live, honoring the massacre victims and nodding to Tom Petty, the rock great who died last week.

He then performed Petty's defiant classic, "I Won't Back Down."

Perfect.

Watch:

Neil Young's Call For Resistance

Just in time for the Fourth of July, Neil Young has brought us an anthem for the times.

It's called "Children of Destiny" and gives us a timely reminder about patriotism, freedom and resisting those who would take it all away.

Cool song

Watch and listen:

Here's A Completely NEW Take On The 1980s Classic "Sledgehammer"

Postmodern Jukebox, with Noah Guthrie singing lead
here, dramatically rework the 1980s classic "Sledgehammer"

A lot of you remember that big hit in the 1980s, "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.

It was the catchy song with the innovative, trippy dippy stop motion music video with coordinated singing fruit and dancing chicken meat.

OK, it was different, but the song and the music video was fun, you have to admit.  

I always like it, though, when somebody comes up with a completely different way to do a song, and the group Postmodern Jukebox rose to the occasion. (Postmodern Jukebox is really a musical collective that brings in different singers and performers to work with them, and then release videos as often as weekly. )

They give "Sledgehammer" a great 1950s rhythm and blues take which is just awesome. The video of the song is below.

Postmodern Jukebox got Noah Guthrie, who you might remember from "Glee," to do lead vocals.

H/T BoingBoing

Here's the video:

Pentatonix's Version Of "Imagine" Heals A News-Wounded Soul

Pentatonix performs a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine"
that soothes a soul made raw by watching too much news.

Cooped up by a large 30-inch deep snowstorm that buried my town here in Vermont, I've been watching even more news shows than I usually do - which is a lot to begin with.

The news these days can be soul-sucking: All the cruelty, scandals, nastiness, pettiness that seems to be a big growth industry can get to you.

Makes you want to dive into one of the giant snow banks outside and abandon this world.

So, I was pleased to find the new song and video by Pentatonix, the famed (mostly) a cappella group.

They do a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" which feels totally needed right now.

I'm being all Kumbaya by liking this song, and Pentatnonix is probably being all Kumbaya by performing it, and exchanging warm "humanity" placards in their music video.

Still, I can't resist.

So here it is. Hope it helps:

A Moment With The Nation's Most Patriotic Chicken

This patriotic chicken knows how to play "America
The Beautiful" on a keyboard

Because we all love America, despite some of the politics going on in the nation these days, we all need a patriotic song or two to get us into our Love of Nation spirit.

With that, I bring you Jokgu, a 19-month old chicken from Germantown, Maryland who plays "America The Beautiful" on a keyboard.

Yep, you got that. A chicken knows the song. You can watch the video at the bottom of this post.

Normally, a chicken would just pluck and peck on things at random, but they can be trained to do things a certain way through clicker training.

The method uses positive reinforcement to shape behavior. When the chicken pecks at the right key,she gets a reward. The wrong key, no reward.

Pretty soon, the system of rewards can get the chicken to peck at the keyboard in a certain order, and Voila! A song is born.

Plus, "America The Beautiful," while aa wonderful song, is also pretty simple, so a chicken can handle it.

Watch the video, stand up and be proud!

 

When Times Are Scary, Let's Retreat Into Old Songs That Make Us Happy

The great Ronettes in the big-haired 1960s

I went on a 1960s female singer binge listen yesterday.

The news is scary for everyone, and it's always comforting to go back to nostalgia land and dredge up the music you heard when you were a kid, before you were aware of how awful the world can be.

Anybody can do this, and it's therapeutic. Try it.   

It doesn't matter which era of music you had when you were five or 10 years old. Could be 1950s rock and roll, 1990s grunge, 1940s Big Band, 1970s disco or pop hits of the 2000s.

I retreated down memory lane with nice, strong female singers in the 1960s.

You really should check out the several videos below, because I think anybody of any age would like this music. And it's fun checking out the, uh, intersting big hair styles, and the kitschy productions and sketches in the videos.

First, let's go "Downtown" wth Petula Clark: 




Here's the VERY great Dusty Springfield. Hard to choose which song of hers is best, but this tie I went with "I Only Wanna Be With You"



Next, let's bring in the Ronettes in these conservative looking business dresses, but oh! that teased hair! It's just perfect. How'd you like to carry that weight on your shoulders.

Still, "Be My Baby" is a wonderful classic:


This next one might be my favorite of the bunch. This is early feminism, it's Lesley Gore asserting herself, being her own person. This song was a total breakthrough. They're still using the song
in car ads today, of all things. But I still adore the son.  Here is "You Don't Own Me."



We can't ignore country music, either, no siree! And there's a lot of great feminism here, too.

This next one is classic, and that intentional tackiness of the video, and the intentional tackiness of the small mindedness of some of small town America circa the late 60s is just perfect.

Here's Jeannie C. Riley with "Harper Valley PTA"



Then we have our cry in your beer country song from the great Tammy Wynette:



Finally, Lynn Anderson never promised us a rose garden, but she did give us some great songs like this one: