I stumbled on an article in Glide Magazine, “Cover Wars: Moonage Daydream Edition“. It listed some covers and then let readers choose the best.  Only problem I have is the list is quite limited and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  Then oddly enough, in the meat of the article, they quote James E. Perone who likens Bowie’s Moonage Daydream to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer?  What the hell is that about?  So anyways, their list is:

• Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, who manage to make an elevator version.  I like interpretations, but Edie just doesn’t get it.
• The Killers, it’s awful.  They don’t even try to do the solo.  Probably smart.
• LA Guns, fairly accurate, but forgot the echo chamber.
• Of Montreal, does one of my favorite covers.  Worthy of the list.
• Oh! You Pretty Things.  Now, this one shouldn’t be on the list.  No one is sure if they are even a band.  From the description it sounds like they just got together on a cruise.  But, imagine Percy Sledge doing a slightly Caribbean version of Moonage Daydream and you get the picture.  It’s cool.
• Rose Hill Drive.  Solid, but misses the guitar nuances and totally forgets the echo chamber.  People, it’s the echo chamber that MAKES this solo.
• The White Stripes.  This copy has been around for YEARS.  I’ve never liked it.  Still don’t.

So, a couple are good, a couple ok, and a few suck.  But, there are plenty of other versions they totally missed.  If you’re going to count Edie Brickell, then you HAVE to count New England Ukulele Orchestra. Once you’ve stopped laughing hysterically, check it out:

I truly like this a lot more than Edie’s. Then you get to more traditional versions. Some stand out over the others I think. Check out Aladdinsane’s:

OK, we’ve had ukelele, Caribbean, traditional rock, now for some screamo:

If that’s not enough translations, try mixing David Lee Roth’s Van Halen with David Bowie:

Then of course, there’s the schoolhouse version:

Another band that totally got it was The Alarmists:

Can’t forget some more famous covers, like basically Def Leppard:

I’m not sure anyone on the other list nail it quite this way. Now, the Cybernaut shows were in Japan, so it’s only proper we have an Asian interpretation from Hong Kong, here’s Last Orders:

Starting to get the idea? If you do a search on Youtube, you’ll get an almost endless list of covers. God forbid you Google it. I get the feeling these guys just grabbed about the first five or so they stumbled on. I’ve been checking these out for years. Trust me, their list sells the covers short by a mile. I hate it when people hack at something holy.

Misunderstood lyrics are often misinterpreted to mean a lot more than the original intent.  One of my absolute favoritest Bowie songs ever was most likely a toss-off song that ended Diamond Dogs on a slightly peppier note than Big Brother, which was kind of a downer.  Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Familyhas one of the catchiest rythyms of all time by anyone.  Disco, funk, r&b, hip hop, it don’t matter. This song’s beat blows them all away.  However, since 1974, the lyrics have been rather hard to decipher.  Now, I had my version:

Rah Rah

Root Root

Cheer Cheer

Boolah Boolah

Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..Bro..

Now, this dude who calls himself futurelegendfilms on youtube has his own interpretation. You have GOT to watch this full screen!

So his is:

Brother
Ooh Ooh
Shake it up Shake it op
Move it up move it up
RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..

Now, combining our two misinterpretations give you what I think is a very cool lyric:

Rah, Rah
Root, Root
Cheer, Cheer
Boolah Boolah
RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..RIOT..

Cool huh? Everyone loves a pep rally before they riot.

Well, that’s not how it goes apparently. Take away the best of both our misinterpretations and you get:

Brother
Ooh Ooh
Shake it up shake it up
Move it up move it up
BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..BRO..

I think I’m just gonna stick with me and futurelegendfilms‘ versions.

Boy, this is a blast from the past:

As best I can recall, my first purchase of anything Bowie was an 8-track of Ziggy Stardust.  I had been looking for a particular song, notably Time.  However, living in a small rural town in 1976 or so meant you had almost no way to research anything at that time.  Being as I was probably the only 14 year old looking for that song meant I was on a quest totally blind.  So, I did what any rational teen would do in search of one song, I bought all of his earliest stuff.  Only problem was, I didn’t buy the right album.  Later he would appear on another show that actually noted the name of the song.  I had bought three of his earliest RCA albums, Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, and Ziggy Stardust.  Timewas on Aladdin Sane.  By the time I figured that out, I figured I may as well like the guy, since I had most all of his stuff.  Right about that time, he released Young Americans, which was actually pretty well liked even in rural America.  When my friends found out he had done a whole bunch of stuff before that, and I had it all, I became the Bowie expert in south-central rural Kentucky.  Probably a title I still hold today.

That 8-track is for sale on Ebay.  It’s listed for $2.99 and so far has received no bids at all.  Now, as much as I fondly remember my copy of Ziggy on 8-track, I have no 8-track player at this time.  And, I don’t want one.  The sound quality was atrocious on those players.  I wore my copy completely out probably by 1977.  8-tracks just don’t last long if played at all.  This would be a cool novelty item and that’s about it.  I’m tempted, but not all that much.  But, I did get a kick out of seeing it.

My friends Jeni-Q and Cristin put together their Top 20 Bowie songs over at Jeni-Q’s place. That seemed rather simple enough. So, I thought I’d do it myself. First off, here’s theirs.

For Jeni it was:

• Five Years
• Cygnet Committee
• The London Boys
• I Dig Everything
• Win
• Young Americans
• Let Me Sleep Beside You
• The Gospel According To Tony Day
• Candidate
• Be My Wife
• Breaking Glass
• Fantastic Voyage
• Strangers When We Meet
• Wild Is The Wind
• Black Country Rock
• Moonage Daydream (A. Corns)
• Life On Mars?
• Quicksand
• Boys Keep Swinging
• Station To Station
• Ashes To Ashes
• God Only Knows

For Cristin it was:

• Time
• Watch That Man
• Teenage Wildlife
• Moonage Daydream
• Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)
• Let Me Sleep Beside You
• Strangers When We Meet
• The Secret Life Of Arabia
• A New Career In A New Town
• Red Sails
• The Wedding Song
• Slow Burn
• V-2 Schneider
• Boys Keep Swinging
• Station To Station
• Suffragette City
• See Emily Play
• New Killer Star
• John, I’m Only Dancing

For me it was easy and I rifled off my top 20 in about five minutes:

• Moonage Daydream
• Heroes
• Time
• Silly Boy Blue
• Cygnet Committee
• Alternative Candidate (Demo)
• Quicksand
• Space Oddity
• Sound And Vision
• Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family
• John, I’m Only Dancing
• The Man Who Sold The World
• The Supermen
• Stay
• Station To Station
• The Bewlay Brothers
• Saviour Machine
• Panic In Detroit
• Cat People
• Blue Jean

No, but wait, Breaking Glass has to be on there somewhere. For that matter, Ashes To Ashes has to be on there somewhere. Sheez, All The Young Dudes has to be on there somewhere as well. Dangit, Under Pressure HAS to be on there as well. For that matter, Scary Monsters always makes for a great singing. And, my secret indulgence has always been Absolute Beginners. If I’m frustrated or aggravated, Five Years was always a good release, so maybe it should be on there too? Nah, Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide does that better. Mellow moods always had to have Word On A Wing. Just had to. Feelin raunchy? Gotta have Cracked Actor. Feel like rockin out? Gotta have Suffragette City and Rebel Rebel. Feelin weird? Gotta have Life On Mars?, Memory Of A Free Festival, Sweet Thing/Candidate/Reprise, and The Width Of A Circle. Feeling insightful………

Maybe this ain’t so easy after all……

I read this story and it led me to a thought:

Drawing inspiration from both dance-pop kingpins like Madonna and Michael Jackson and glam practitioners like Queen and David Bowie, the fabulously flamboyant Lady GaGa — checking into Elements nightclub in Kitchener Thursday for a sold-out show — is tied with Katy Perry (I Kissed A Girl) as pop’s pre-eminent It Girl.

“I consider what I do to be more of an Andy Warhol concept: pop performance art, multimedia, fashion, technology, video, film,” the 23-year-old New Yorker, whose hit single Just Dance was nominated as best dance recording at this year’s Grammy awards, notes on the Universal Music Group web site.

OK, let’s get insightful here, shall we?

Lady Gaga for starters, maybe borrowed from Bowie’s Lady Stardust and Queen’s Radio Ga Ga?

Her hit, Just Dance, kinda reminds in name of Bowie’s Let’s Dance. And of course, her other song at the moment is Fashion, which is the same title of David Bowie’s Fashion.  And, she considers herself an Andy Warhol concept.  Bowie of course, sang of the Andy Warhol concept in his song titled, you guessed it, Andy Warhol. He later even acted as Andy Warhol in the movie Basquiat, probably his best performance.  Of course, if you want all her newest stuff, you’d buy her CD, The Fame, remember Bowie’s Fame?

Then, there’s the matter of style:

A space cadet ala Ziggy Stardust.

So yeah, I see the Lady Gaga / David Bowie connection.  There’s probably more, I just didn’t feel like digging any deeper.

In my RSS feed this morning I was thrilled to see that David Bowie is still being quoted for some of his rather quotable stuff from the past.  This one made a site called “Have U Heard?”

“You can neither win nor lose if you don’t run the race.” – David Bowie

OK, before true Bowie fans get too worked up trying to remember which song that came from, it didn’t.  That’s actually a Richard Butler quote from his days with the Psychedelic Furs in “Love My Way“.

There’s an army on the dance floor, It’s a fashion with a gun my love
In a room without a door a kiss is not enough in

Love my way, It’s a new road
I follow where my mind goes

They’d put us on a railroad
They’d dearly make us pay
For laughing in their faces, and making it our way
There’s emptiness behind their eyes, there’s dust in all their hearts
They just want to steal us all and take us all apart
But not in

Love my way, it’s a new road
I follow where my mind goes

Swallow all your tears my love, And put on your new face
You can never win or lose If you don’t run the race

Now, this wouldn’t be so weird to me but I just did another post on mis-attributions a few days ago.

David Bowie and death seem to go hand in hand for a long time.  From the tragedy of his brother, his association with John Lennon, Marc Bolan, Klaus Nomi, Freddie Mercury, and of course, Mick Ronson.  Unfortunately, it just doesn’t stop there.

Shortly before his death, Heath Ledger directed two music videos.  The first, “King Rat” by Modest Mouse.  More importantly to me, the second in 2007, was a video for Grace Woodroofe.  This was her remake of Bowie’s Quicksand.  Now, Quicksand’s always been one of my personal favorite Bowie tunes.  It’s haunting, insightful, and just flows perfectly.  Early in Bowie’s career he had an ability to paint a picture with his lyrics, this was the classic example.  He did that by using a very expanded, sometimes creative, use of the English language.

I haven’t heard Grace’s version of Quicksand yet, it’s not featured on any of her web pages that I am aware of.  So, the best I can do right now is feature a video of Bowie performing Quicksand from about the same time Ledger was working with the same song.

Harmonix and MTV have announced the newest songs to be added to Wii Rock Band:

• David Bowie – Moonage Daydream
• Drive By Truckers – 3 Dimes Down
• Garbage – Why Do You Love Me
• KISS – Calling Dr. Love
• Lucinda Williams – Can’t Let Go
• Metallica – Blackened, Ride The Lightning
• Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve
• Old 97s – Time Bomb
• Radiohead – My Iron Lung
• Sonic Youth – Kool Thing
• Steve Earle – Satellite Radio
• The Clash – Train In Vain
• Wolfmother – Joker And The Thief

Is that cool or what? Not only a Bowie song, but probably my all time fave! Only problem is I could do without pretty much every single one of the other ones. I mean, how exciting could playing Calling Doctor Love or Train in Vain be?

I got an email from Bowie letting me know that a project he was working on is now ready for consumption.  The project is called War Child: Heroes.  It’s a benefit for child victims of war.   Now, I’m all for the charity.  But, this is a Bowie-influence blog, so I just want to look at what it is that we’re getting.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, I’ll start off with what is not the first song on the album.  And, it shouldn’t be.  ‘Heroes’ is covered by a band called TV on the Radio.  I knew nothing about them before this, I know nothing now.  The War Child site goes into great detail about the stars lending their songs, but little to nothing about the talent playing them.  That strikes me as some kind of ego trip by the stars, but I doubt they had that much to do with it.  Anyways, their version I really don’t like.  The song builds to a climax and then lets you back down as do the lyrics.  It’s also supposed to sound harsh, reflecting the realities of a seperated Berlin.  Then amidst the harsh rhythym is an uplifting melody that wafts throughout the song.  That is the hope inferred by the narrator.  TV on the Radio just plays it like some elevator music.  There is no harshness.  There is no melody.  There is no hope or betrayal of that hope.  Promising to bring relief to children affected by war in the most unimaginably horrific environment anyone can imagine I would think would be more than enough inspiration to bring out some emotion for this song.  But, these guys don’t get it.  They sound like a bored Kraftwerk.  This sucks.  It really does.  I think Bowie’s contribution to this effort would have been much better served getting Till Lindemann fronting Apocalyptica to do a full version of the song.  Till gets it vocally, Apocalyptica gets it musically.

Beck doing Dylan was pretty decent.  But, then it starts getting weird.   Scissor Sisters do one of my favorite bands, Roxy Music.  Out of my top 10 favorite Roxy songs, they do none of the above.  They do the horrible “Do the Strand”.  And, they do it as horriby as Roxy did.  Why they picked this song is beyond me.  Lily Allen does a fairly obscure The Clash song.  I was sort of a Clash fan back in the day.  I didn’t know this one.  She does it ok.  Duffy then does a watered down jazz sounding version of Live and Let Die.  It just keeps getting weirder and weirder as it goes.  It does however, finish off with an excellent, fun version of Call Me by Franz Ferdinand.  That I think is definitely the hilite of this CD.  I’m clueless how the performers were picked for the songs.  I’m clueless to how the songs were picked.  It’s like no one other than Bowie, Blondie, or McCartney even wanted this thing to succeed.

I’m so harsh on this thing because it could have done so much for so many people that need it.  But, I don’t think it’s going to do much of anything due to the weak selection of songs and inappropriate mix of performers for the songs selected.

Totallylookslike.com is a kind of fun site for a few minutes.  I figured since Bowie has taken on so many oddball personnas and looks, he’d be all over it.  Well, he’s not all over it, but they did have three pretty good ones:

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

The ones I figured would be there weren’t.  Early Richard Butler for example:

If this post serves no other purpose, it’s a good reason to post one of my favorite bands of the 80’s.