bohemian rhapsody (i pray to god it wont be...)
and what was that christmas one about the trenches that went
pom pom diddle pom pom pom diddle pom
can you stop the cavalreeeeeee ...
I've heard other artists versions of Yellow Submarine. Television shows mostly. Now, for a Beatles song I haven't heard covered...
You Know My Name from Let it Be.
Other songs that wouldn't be covered might include ones where the lyrics constantly namecheck the band/singer.
For example, it's going to seem a bit daft for anyone else to sing "I'm Slim Shady I'm the Real Slim Shady, all those other Slim Shady's are just imitators" or "This Beat is Technotronic"
This?
The Horst Wessel Song
Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
march in spirit with us in our ranks.
The street free for the brown battalions,
The street free for the Storm Troopers.
Millions, full of hope, look up at the swastika;
The day breaks for freedom and for bread.
For the last time the call will now be blown;
For the struggle now we all stand ready.
Soon will fly Hitler-flags over every street;
Slavery will last only a short time longer.
Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
march in spirit with us in our ranks.
(Though I hear on the grapevine that Timmy Mallett was spotted recently in the Abbey Road Studios sporting a brown uniform and a Swastimallet)
[%sig%]
'The Deck Of Cards' was a big hit for US disc jockey, Wink Martindale, but was in fact a British narrative going back some hundreds of years.
It has been covered many times by the likes of Tex Ritter and Ernest Tubb and others (mainly country singers).
Just to revive fish' memories.
Deck Of Cards
As performed by Wink Martindale
NARRATIVE:
During the North African campaign, a bunch of soldier boys had
been on a long hike and they arrived in a little town called Casino. The
next morning being Sunday, several of the boys went to Church. A sergeant
commanded the boys in Church and after the Chaplain had read the prayer,
the text was taken up next. Those of the boys who had a prayer book took
them out, but this one boy had only a deck of cards, and so he spread
them out. The Sergeant saw the cards and said, "Soldier, put away those
cards." After the services was over, the soldier was taken prisoner and
brought before the Provost Marshall.
The Marshall said, "Sergeant, why have you brought this man
here?" "For playing cards in church, Sir." "And what have you to say for
yourself, son?" "Much, Sir," replied the soldier. The Marshall said, "I
hope so, for if not I shall punish you more than any man was ever
punished." The soldier said, "Sir, I have been on the march for about six
days. I have neither a Bible nor a prayer book, but I hope to satisfy
you, Sir, with the purity of my intentions." And with that, the boy
started his story:
"You see Sir, when I look at the Ace, it reminds me that there
is but one God. And the Deuce reminds me that the Bible is divided into
two parts, the Old and the New Testaments. When I see the Trey, I think
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And when I see the Four, I
think of the four Evangelists who preached the Gospel; there was Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. And when I see the Five, it reminds me of the five
wise virgins who trimmed their lamps; there were ten of them: five were
wise and were saved, five were foolish and were shut out. When I see the
Six, it reminds me that in six days, God made this great heaven and
earth. When I see the Seven, it reminds me that on the seventh day, God
rested from His great work. And when I see the Eight, I think of the
eight righteous persons God saved when He destroyed this earth; there was
Noah, his wife, their sons and their wives. And when I see the Nine, I
think of the lepers our Savior cleansed, and nine out of the ten didn't
even thank Him. When I see the Ten, I think of the Ten Commandments God
handed down to Moses on a table of stone. When I see the King, it
reminds me that there is but one King of Heaven, God Almighty. And when I
see the Queen, I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is Queen of
Heaven. And the Jack or Knave is the Devil. When I count the number
of spots on a deck of cards, I find 365, the number of days in a year.
There are 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year. There are 4 suits, the
number of weeks in a month. There are 12 picture cards, the number of
months in a year. There are 13 tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter.
So you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a Bible, an Almanac and a
Prayer Book."
"And friends, the story is true. I know, I was that soldier."
And for those interested in the history of the 'song';
From The History of Playing Cards with Anecdotes of their use in Conjuring, Fortune-telling and Card-sharping edited by the late Rev. Ed. S. Taylor, B.A., published by John Camden Hotten, London, 1865.
No history of card playing would be complete without the well known fragment of popular ingenuity called "Cards Spiritualized; or, the Soldier's Almanac, Bible and Prayer Book," which, in the form of a half-penny broad-sheet, is still circulated by the poorer classes of our population.
Richard Middleton, a soldier, attending divine service, with the rest of the regiment at a church in Glasgow, instead of pulling out a Bible, like his brother soldiers, to find the parson's text, spread a pack of cards before him. This singular behaviour did not long pass unnoticed, both by the clergyman and the sarjeant of the company to which he belonged; the latter in particular requested him to put up the cards, and on his refusal, conducted him after church before the Mayor, to whom he preferred a formal complaint of Richard's indecent behaviour during divine service. 'Well soldier!' (said the Mayor) 'what excuse have you for this strange scandalous behaviour? If you can make any apology, or assign any reason for it, it's well; if you cannot, assure yourself that I will cause you, without delay, to be severely punished for it.' 'Since your honour is so good,' replied Richard, 'I will inform you, I have been eight days on march, with a bare allowance of sixpence a day, which your honour will allow is hardly sufficient to maintain a man in meat, drink, washing, and other necessaries that consequently he may want, without a Bible, Prayer Book, or any other good book.' On saying this, Richard drew out his pack of cards, and presenting one of the aces to the Mayor, continued his address to the magistrate as follows:
"'When I see an Ace, may it please your honour, it reminds me that there is only one God; and when I look upon a Two or a Three, the former puts me in mind of the Father and Son, and the latter of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. A Four calls for remembrance the Four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A Five, the five wise Virgins who were ordered to trim their lamps; there were ten, indeed, but five, your worship may remember, were wise, and five were foolish. A Six, that in six days God created heaven and earth. A Seven, that on the seventh day he rested from all that he had made. An Eight, of the eight righteous persons preserved from the deluge; viz., Noah, and his wife, with his three sons and their wives. A Nine, of the Nine lepers cleansed by our Saviour; there were ten, but only one returned to offer his tribute of thanks. And a Ten, of the ten commandments that God gave Moses, on Mount Sinai, on the two tablets of stone.' He took the Knave and put it aside. 'When I see the Queen, it puts me in mind of the Queen of Sheba, who came from the furthermost parts of the world to hear the wisdom of Solomon, for she was as wise a woman as he a man, for she brought fifty boys and fifty girls, all clothed in girls' apparel to shew before King Solomon, for him to test which were boys and which were girls,--but he could not until he called for water to wash themselves; the girls washed up to their elbows, and the boys only up to the wrists of their hands, so King Solomon told by that. And when I see the King, it puts me in mind of the great King of Heaven and Earth, which is God Almighty, and likewise his Majesty King George the Fourth, to pray for him.' 'Well,' said the Mayor, 'you have given a good description of all the cards except one, which is lacking.' 'Which is that?' said the soldier. 'The Knave,' said the Mayor.
"'If your honour will not be angry with me,' returned Richard, 'I can give you the same satisfaction on that as any in the pack?' 'No,' said the Mayor. 'Well,' returned the soldier, 'the greatest knave that I know is the sarjeant who brought me before you.' 'I don't know,' replied the Mayor, 'whether he be the greatest knave or no; but I am sure that he is the greatest fool.'
"The soldier then continued as follows; 'When I count the number of dots in a pack of cards, there are 365, --so many days as there are in a year. When I count how many cards are in a pack, I find there are 52, --so many weeks are there in a year. When I reckon how many tricks are won by a pack, I find there are 13, --so many months are there in a year. So that this pack of cards is both Bible, Almanack, and Prayer Book to me.'
"The Mayor called his servants, ordered them to entertain the soldier well, gave him a piece of money, and said he was the cleverest fellow he ever heard in his life."
This amusing sketch, in the copy from which it is transcribed, is surrounded by rude cuts of a suit of cards, in black, and was printed in Newcastle.
The Chevalier de Chatelaine, well known for his humorous French versions of English poets, some two years since, privately printed a versified account of this story; but he was perhaps unaware that he had been preceded in his own language many years before in an Anecdote curieuse et interessante, sous le nom de Louis Bras-de-fer, printed in Brussels in 1778; and also at Paris, in 1809, a similar flying sheet appeared. Mlle. Lenormand also published it in her Souvenirs Prophétiques.
>> ...Has anyone done a cover of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"? It seems like a song that would be impossible to cover appropriately; some, I suppose, would consider it sacreligious... <<
Why would anyone want to cover THAT? It was crap when they released it and it's still crap now. About as embarrasiing as Presley singing 'Wooden Heart'
In which case the orthodontic surgeon should be burned at the stake. I could have put those in better with my club hammer!
Liana you are a quirky lady.
Well, it's a time-frozen piece of art. Which is why it wouldn't work now; the context is all gone. But god, it's fun to sing after a few too many Heffeweisens.
Nice one, Hitch - could have got Elvis to record it, singing alternate verses in German and English just like on "Wooden Heart".
It also explains the perception that 1930s Germany was being humiliated and thrust into poverty by European imperialists and Jewish financiers, and were they all that wrong?
Anyone got a suggestion that isn't a novelty record? Perhaps lyrics that sounded innocent then but would just be outrageous now? Or the reverse.
I can't see Busted or McFly fans ever being satisfied with "I wanna Hold your hand" for example - although with modern hip-hop and R&B lovers pledging that they think about their girl 24-7, any cover version of "Eight Days a Week - I lov-ov-ove you" would outstrip the competition.
Or sacrosant songs. (Bohemian Rhapsody was done very recently by G4) but there must be other songs which are so well-liked that covering them would create a backlash rather than an easy hit. You'd have to be very very brave to try to cover Smells like Teen Spirit or Love will Tear Us Apart because of the suicide implications.
I'm not sure any modern band would dare to cover "I will Survive" - sure it must have been covered in the past, but it's such a torch-song there would be too much resistance.
Michael Jackson covering the Who's "The Kids are Alright"?
What about a Jeff Buckley song covered by DJ Sammy?
I remember when Cathy Dennis covered Waterloo Sunset.
I can't imagine anyone ever ever covering Paul Simon's Call me Al.... I mean... how the hell would they manage it?
(I could imagine Rolf Harris doing this, perhaps).
I love it when R&B stars in America cover Phil Collins songs. Ha.
I don't think anyone's going to cover anything by Godspeed You Black Emporer but then, they don't really play songs as such. Same with Kid Koala, Delerium, Thievery Corporation, Throbbing Gristle, or any number of others.
I can't imagine anyone else but Henry Rollins doing Henry Rollins songs.
Or Fun Lovin Criminal songs because what would be the point, they're about the Fun Lovin Criminals.
Apparently Einsturzende Neubauten can't even work out how to play their own song Feurio anymore (they lost the DATs), and I doubt anyone else is going to bother.
Ernie Groat - Come-to-Piddle's octagenarian spoon-playing virtuoso - often includes Yellow Submarine in his repertoire when asked to do a turn in the snug of The Saracen's Head on a Saturday evening. He also plays a rather mean version of Led Zep's Kashmir...
George,
Wink Martindale went on to become a big-time television game-show host and ultimately a total joke. I doubt that anybody in the general public here knew his background.
In some 3:2 club in Denver back in 1987 I heard a song (I guess you could call it that: I think it was a sample loop) that went:
"Heineken! Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon! Pabst Blue Ribbon!" over and over.
I hope whoever 'invented' that song has had to have a case of each unwedged from their nether orifice. AND that no-one gets clever and tries to re-sample it. Absolutely ghastly.
'Has anyone done a cover of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"? It seems like a song that would be impossible to cover appropriately; some, I suppose, would consider it sacreligious...'
Funny you should say that, there was a programme about infamous torturers last night and in it,it showed a Uruguayan torturer describing how he would play the spanish version of the song... whilst drowning victims in a bath.
Hell no. Moi? In the military? Pacifistic left-wing socialist me? I'd prefer the Heineken treatment...
I lived there for six months, just for the hell of it. Attended the Art Institute for exactly two hours before dropping out. Delivered two Denver Post routes every morning. Nicked people's canteloupes out of their gardens as they ripened, left a paper as comp. Hope they weren't yours!
And it had to be a 3:2 club 'cos I was slightly underage still.
;-)
*wonders if her reputation will be tarnished by admitting she delivered the Post*
Reputation is safe. I'm good friends with many at the post. Seems they had a story about some drunk underage socialist delivering their papers though...lemme think...
Were'd ya live?
Some slummy dive on 11th and Sherman, if I recollect. Lots of 'interesting' people to watch from the window. Car alarms going off for hours on end, and all that.
It's still slummy there, you didn't help the neighborhood at all. Mostly homeless people mixed amongst the "city yuppies." That's not too far from the City Jail. (don't ask), there's a lovely place.
Ooooh, That's the Capital Hill area. There's a grocery over there called King Soopers, but the local's call it "Queen Soopers" if you get my drift. There's plenty of good bars in that part of town. I'd never guess.
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