When you're smilin'

[venta]

It's Friday, it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).

I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...

Today's cover version [mp3 download]

That was Joey Ramone covering What a Wonderful World, originally recorded by Louis Armstrong.

Now, this illustrates well a point I feel I've not been making very well on my cover-related posts. When I say "hey, this is a good cover" I'm not claiming that it's better than the original. There are cover versions which improve on their original (yes, there are) but they are pretty few and far between.

So, is this is as good as Louis Armstrong? According to me: no. It isn't. I think Louis Armstrong was brilliant, and his recording of What a Wonderful World is just fabulous[*].

Do I, however, think Joey Ramone's reinterpretation thereof is valid and interesting? Well, yes. I do. I imagine, however, some people will regard it as a massacre.

I remember hearing Joey Ramone's cover version for the first time on the day his death was announced. The album it comes from was released posthumously in 2002. I'm not actually sure that this single was released at the time of his death, so my memory may be collapsed by distance; perhaps I just heard it some time after his death.

It seemed a fitting tribute, and a good coda to the end of his life. I suspect a lot of my fondness for this cover is due to that context.

Note for ulfilias: sorry, I couldn't find something I thought would specifically appeal to you. Be warned, though: I have in my hand an album of 13 Cure cover versions performed by goth bands. It is not good. Trust me, it starts with Nosferatu and goes down hill from there. Too much lip and I'll start mailing them to you ;)

[*] Although I must admit that whenever I hear it, I see in my head the long, panning shots which accompany it in the closing scenes of Good Morning, Vietnam. Which is a film I really should see again. It sticks in my head as the best thing Robin Williams ever did, but I was about 15 when I saw it so may not have been a reliable witness.

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

No, good Robin Williams films are pretty much that and Dead Poet's Society (which I originally saw on a French exchange trip, with French subtitles. Very surreal experience!)

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Damn....I Agree with you on this one. Good cover. Not better than the origional, but fun and interesting.

I have a habit of liking punky rocked up cover versions though. I love the Me First and Gimmie Gimmies. They do great versions of Science Fiction Double Feature, Goodbye Earl & Who put the Bomp...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvPEcX_wX9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLjNGcd1whQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-lkTpf6GMA

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I think it is valid, but not especially interesting, because it is exactly what one'd expect it to be like. If you'd said "What about Joey Ramone covering What a Wonderful World?" I guess I'd have said "Yes, I can see how that would work," rather than "Yes, I must hear it!" Is that another dimension of demandingness that we can apply to the cover quality conundrum?

(Apart from the intro being the same as a Clash song that I can't think of which one it is; that's quite interesting I suppose.)

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

Going the other way, I really like some of Nouvelle Vague's and the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain's covers of Sex Pistols songs.

[zotz]

Indeed. Not as good as the original, but lots of fun and entirely different.

I rather admire him for calling an album Don't Worry About Me while he was dying.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I did Red Cross duty at a Roy Castle gig a couple of weeks before he died. He introduced What a Wonderful World by talaking a little about his illness, and saying that "this next song is how cancer makes me feel".

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

I have in my hand an album of 13 Cure cover versions performed by goth bands. It is not good. Trust me, it starts with Nosferatu and goes down hill from there. Too much lip and I'll start mailing them to you ;)

There are some good cure covers and some truely horrible ones. Nosferatu do nothing for my either.

I do have a old album of Sisters covers, most of which are pretty poor.