(I admit. I almost called this essay “Darwin!” and then I remembered that, no, it’s Wednesday.)
I love remix culture, sometimes. The idea of taking a long-finished, long-forgotten piece of art and tweaking it, bending it, folding it, and spindling it into a new work is one that usually gives me great joy. Sometimes (like this time!), I find that I enjoy going back through the various permutations of the art and finding the original and then going forward from there to see how we got to *HERE*.
In 1961, Harlan Howard wrote a song called “She Called Me Baby”. It’s a nice little song, I’m sure you’ve heard at least one version of it. The chorus goes:
she called me baby baby all night long
used to hold and kiss me ’till the dawn
one day I woke and she was gone
there’s no more baby baby
all night long
I couldn’t find a version of Harlan’s on youtube (sadly), but found a version that’s pretty close to Harlan’s sung by Ferlin Huskey here:
A sweet little song, right? Well, a couple of years after Harlan wrote it, Patsy Cline sang it as “He Called Me Baby” and it was, like, the last song she recorded before she died in that airplane crash. She just took it and made it her own and did a great job of breaking her heart all over everything the way that she did. It was her last appearance on the charts until songs from the soundtrack to “Coal Miner’s Daughter” started showing up on the Country charts.
Well, in 1968, Ella Washington sang the song and seamlessly turned it around into an R&B song, capturing everything Patsy did while also putting it into an entirely new genre (seriously, good country and good R&B are, like, THIS close together).
Well, a few years after *THAT*, Candi Staton took the song and turned a heartbreaker into a song that… well, I wouldn’t call it *FUN* to sing… but while Patsy Cline and Ella Washington had songs that you’d cry into your liquor while singing, Candi Staton turned it into something funky.
Now, a handful of others also did this song (check out Nancy Wilson’s disco version) but, in 2009, it was remixed into another song altogether by a little band called One eskimO.
Instead of this being about a song about a lover leaving, it became a song about a lover *CHEATING*. They took a well-trod song with well-trod pain and remixed it into something of their own and found a new way to pour themselves all over the vinyl. It happens to be on one of the best albums of 2009. Here’s their take on the song.
So… what are you listening to?
It might help that I’m one of those folks who can listen to the same song, like, 20 times in a row.
JB – This is a fantastic post. Love the concept, and love discovering One eskimO; I just purchased the album.
I am never a big fan of “covers” that essentially sound like karaoke of the original. But I admire artists who work to make a piece their own, even when the new version doesn’t measure up to the original. I have been listening to an all covers playlist this past weekend as my driving music. To say that I have been enjoying it would be an understatement: it has covers of Grease, a song you sang in kindergarten, and ELO. Plus one cover is by Jonathan Coultan, and Elvis Costello covers Elvis Costello.
And with an Heidegger-like degree of overkill I am deciding to post it.
This may well be seen as annoying.
This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wKW6l_VnR0
Baby Got Back – Jonathan Coultan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJeC99QO8A
Hey Ya – Obidiah Parker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ejeEBlDESc
You’re the One That I Want – Danielle Duvall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBq4Ta0Gn4
Do Ya – Neil Nathan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWG9m6yjfak
… Baby ne More Time – Fountains of Wayne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fyjK1gGhJw
God Only Knows – Claudine Longet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Rt1rn-4JU
Everyday I Write the Book – Elvis Costello – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-t8pm9Z6Ts
Gin & Juice – The Gourds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hGSR5njZE
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – The Eels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOXT-Naxyq4
Sea of Love – Cat Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbMeAOTPJzM
She Said She Said – The Black Keys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzYO-SdGY4
Another Brick In the Wall – Richard Cheese http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3OCjsU2emM
Dude. That’s awesome (and there ain’t no such thing as on-topic overkill… well, not *HERE*, anyway).
Took a sample from the list; you rock like a hurricane for posting it.
“Baby Got Back” was horrifyingly Caucasian. I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Hey Ya” is brilliant and I want to buy the album.
“…Baby One More Time” I’d heard before and enjoyed for its geeky unsexiness. Fountains of Wayne is a bit monotone, but then again, so is Britney Spears.
“God Only Knows” was uninspired by comparison, although the breathy Frenchness of the artist’s voice was pleasant.
“Gin and Juice” was over the top and I have trouble understanding how those guys didn’t break down laughing every time they tried to record it.
“Another Brick In The Wall” is the musical equivalent of salt and vinegar potato chips: absolutely putrid and you can’t make yourself stop.
Ha! Burt, I can’t believe anyone actually did that, but I’m glad that you did and that it amused you.
Ditto on pretty much all your comments.
So. Very. Cash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EJP5ugfYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJx9jBLdHus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
This is post-meta.
This is a tour de force, Jaybird. Awesome concept, awesome research, awesome demonstration of the power of a song and music and a whole mess of artists combining creativity and talent to their craft.
Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to offer proper kudos for how awesome this post actually is, and I can’t.
For a while, I’ve toyed with the idea of occasionally posting videos I liked for the hell of it. And the one video I knew I would post was for the One eskimO song. Kudos for highlighting one of my favorites.
Have you seen the videos that go along with the whole album? The one for “Hometime” is particularly lovely.
Go for it! Just include a paragraph or three about why you picked that one instead of a guy catching a football in the crotch.
I’m tickled with the praise for this post, or I would be, if I could think of another song that I could use to do this again!
What about Hallelujah? It feels like I can’t turn on the TV without hearing that song as the soundtrack to some sad movement in a TV show or movie.
Weird thing is that it is always from a different artist.
(Of course, the other weird thing about them always picking it AND always using a different artist is that they all sound kind of the same. Which might make it more a “Creationism!” post that a “Darwin!” post.)
Which might make it more a “Creationism!” post that a “Darwin!” post.
This made me laugh out loud (we should get an acronym).
The problem with Hallelujah, if you want to call it that, is that each artist is covering Lenny. This song is sooo cool because so many artists are coving so many artists. Nancy Wilson’s disco version isn’t covering Harlan Howard’s version of the song, she’s covering Tennessee Ernie Ford’s.
That’s just amazing.