[flv:/Video/2008/APR/ShatnerCommonPeople.flv 440 330]As promised, here’s the remake of Pulp’s Common People, narrated by the shameless William Shatner of all people, with Joe Jackson in excellent voice, doing the heavy musical lifting. Somehow, the combination works! Who’d a thunk?
The video is from The Tonight Show, of all places. ‘Would have expected SNL. The studio recording is on the audio player.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/CommonPeople.mp3]Old habits die hard. I’m going to play DJ again.
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Besides the previously-mentioned Common People, another 90’s song that caught my aging Boomer brain ten years after-the fact is “Creep” by radiohead. This is the cleaned-up radioplay version. The word used in the original before “special” isn’t “very.”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/Creep.mp3]A couple of years ago I became quite taken with the song “Common People,” by a British band called Pulp. I had never heard it until my sister Marianne gave me a CD for Christmas that included a surprisingly effective remake by the unlikely pair of William Shatner and Joe Jackson. Hearing that made me want to seek out the original.
Although my upbringing was decidedly middle class, not working class, I can definitely relate to having a girlfriend in college who made me feel as though she was slumming just by going out with me.
What’s Gary Larson doing these days?
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I’ve never cared for the American version of the first Godzilla movie, with Raymond Burr. My son Eric rented the original 1954 Japanese version, Gojira, and it’s quite good! I’d place it alongside the best of the 1950’s American sci-fi flicks, such as Them!
I’ve picked a scene from the movie that shows the obvious influence of King Kong. Even the music here is reminiscent of Max Steiner’s score.
Gojira has a rather dark and downbeat story, with a serious message about Japan’s understandable fear of nuclear weapons testing. One of the principal actors in the movie is Takashi Shimura, who also appeared in The Seven Samurai that same year. Shimura can be seen briefly in this earlier post.
Well, it’s happened. Responding to pressure from Comedy Central, YouTube has sent me a notice of copyright violation. If the text of the message isn’t below, look for a “more…” link and click it.
I haven’t posted much on YouTube — a couple of short Stephen Colbert items and a movie clip. A moment ago I deleted them. So now the question is, will I be hearing from Comedy Central directly, for the Colbert clips I’ve posted here?
Continue reading TheirTube
