June 09, 2007

• Ouch! It hurts to be punched in the knees!
• London Mirror? Sinead could pound him into the dust. If I learned anything being raised by my extended Irish family, it's that you never mess with an Irish woman. Never.
• > you never mess with an Irish woman. Never. Especially not the lunatic mad insane ones.* *Though that is about 95% of them. The wind, you know.
• I'm confused - she recorded the song 17 years ago, and they're having a fight now?
• I noticed the article went back and forth between calling her "O'Connor" and "O'Conner" I wonder if there are two of them, like Thomson and Thompson.
• Don't you need to have permission to record and sell a version of someone else's song?
• Not to my knowledge... I believe all you have to do is pay the songwriting royalties. There are at least a few stories in the music world of artists who felt an angry loathing of a cover version of one of their songs, or the artist "presumptuous" enough to have done it. (There's a rumor, for example, that the Morrissey song "Have-A-Go Merchant" is about Natalie Merchant, who covered "Every Day Is Like Sunday" with 10,000 Maniacs. Morrissey supposedly didn't like the cover. But that is, you know, Morrissey, who has a lot of stories like that attached to him, and supposed music-biz enmities. Who knows what's true....) There's also some stuff about the permission issue in the comments section of the linked article.
• I had read about this years ago. If I remember correctly, it wasn't just her and Prince but also Prince's bodyguard or assistant. From what I remember she said she was excited to meet Prince and tell him how much she enjoyed his work so when she got to his house she wasn't ready for what happened. I recall she said that after she was punched in the stomach and couldn't breathe, the bodyguard picked her up and tied her to a chair as Prince was screaming at her and then both Prince and the other guy left the room and locked the door. She said she was terrified but was able to free herself and crawl out a window and run away. At least, that's how I remember it being told so who knows how much of my memory has been distorted over time.
• So if Justin Timberlake releases a new album and I hastily record a sound-alike version of it, then I can release it virtually simultaneously with him and only have to pay regular songwriting credits to whomever wrote those songs? That flies in the face of what I believe. That would be a potential nightmare for Justin Timberlake. Take the Beatles, for example. There have been some movie soundtracks that are loaded with covers. I believe Paul/Ringo/Olivia/Yoko would have to approve. Otherwise, we would see tons of Beatle covers. But we really don't. Being a big Dylan fan, I am very aware of tons of Dylan covers. I always just thought he didn't care as much. I felt that he did not feel that others covering his songs would dilute his product. He probably thinks that good covers enhance his product, as he is known foremost as a songwriter. Songs cannot be used for commercials without permission and a negotiated fee to the artist. Why would covers for albums be any different? I say all of this not being sure if I am right, but more as an explanation of why I believe what I do.
• That would be a potential nightmare for Justin Timberlake. Why? Do you think people would rather buy the bernockle version of the latest Timberlake album? That flies in the face of what I believe. But then you probably prefer Hydrox cookies to Oreos. Licensing for advertisements is legally different from simply allowing another musician to record the song, isn't it? I confess I don't know. I would imagine that it would depend on the specific rights granted in how the music is published.
• I happen to have recorded all of the songs on Timberlake's most recent album in a piccolo-accompanied gangsta polka genre that I have been working in. Send me ten dollars and settle the argument in my favor, or hang onto your money and regret this decision each and every day for the rest of your life.
• Yes, I think there are so many Dylan covers because he is a better songwriter than he is a singer (by far), and maybe he recognises that. (My resident trained singer says he won't sugar-coat it - Dylan is a bad singer, though not as bad as Leonard Cohen. His songs are the basis of his career - if he didn't have them, he wouldn't be a singer at all.)
• Ah, yes. The Bernockle Polka! Roll out the Bernockle, We'll have a TUM of good fun Roll out the Bernockle, we've got the Kokos on the run Zing Boom Terrara Join in a glass of cockpunch, Now it's time to roll the Bernockle For the gang's all here (Spoken: Take it away Monkeys!) The above is copyrighted. Re-record it, and I'll punch you in the knee. And I'm closer to Polish than Irish. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
• *wonders who put the Benzedrine in GramMa's Ovaltine*
• Dylan is a bad singer, though not as bad as Leonard Cohen... Umm -- what? Firstly, I'm not sure Dylan is a bad singer as such -- I always thought of him performing as various characters, to play into the populist/folk tradition he came from. As such, he's singing in a different way than, say, Jussi Bjorling, but no less technically adapted to his material. Of course, I could be completely wrong about that. But I don't think so. Dylan's willingness to suffer so many covers may be due to that folk tradition as well, where everybody covered and changed each other's songs endlessly. But secondly, even using the Bjorling-scale, Leonard worse than Bob as a singer? Leonard may have a weak voice, but unlike Dylan, he at least was never off-key. Hell, in the late 70s, his voice was in fine form, however possessed of a strong Canadian accent. Bob and Leonard are doing different things than stand-alone singers. What may be lost in terms of technical ability is gained in an earnest vision.
• Dylan's "willingness to suffer so many covers" could arguably just be described as influence. It doesn't matter whether he's willing or not, people can cover them anyway. I mean... the thing about Dylan is that people want to cover his songs. :) A couple of versions of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" came out soon after Britney's hit original. Most were by indie-type bands. "Wonderwall" by Oasis has also gotten this treatment, including a mocking cover by... I think it was Pavement. Faye Wong did a couple of Chinese covers of songs in the 90s that were released not long after the originals: a Cocteau Twins song (maybe "Serpentskirt"), and "Dreams" by the Cranberries. As far as "competing versions" - remember there aren't that many major record companies in the US, and those that exist have supreme pull with radio stations and TV outlets (the TV outlets may even have the same parent company as the record company). I think that would be the major factor in the situation described by Bernockle not happening. An indie release would have to really scramble for airplay, and mainstream pop that makes money isn't indie. (Though the acoustic covers of "One More Time" get played on modern rock stations now and then.) On another note, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" was supposedly written for Meat Loaf, who didn't record it after it was written. It was eventually a hit for Celine Dion. Meat Loaf finally recorded it for his most recent album, Bat Out of Hell III, in the last year or two. It doesn't matter whether or not he's getting along with Jim Steinman, the composer; they were in court last summer battling over the "Bat Out Of Hell" trademark, but eventually reached an agreement. Steinman was not involved in BOOH 3, but a number of his songs were used in it.
• Monkeyfilter: The above is copyrighted. Re-record it, and I'll punch you in the knee. Any MSTies out there remember Dr. Forrester's "Public Domain Karaoke?"
• Hell, in the late 70s, his voice was in fine form, however possessed of a strong Canadian accent. You, sir, are a discredit to your nationality. Why should singers not have a strong Canadian accent? If all singers sounded alike, by what criteria would I mock them?
• *waves maple leaf in retort, gets hassled by LAPD*
• I think the real question is, could we get them to fight again? With wagering, of course. half a yard on Sinead.
• Back to the FPP: It's scandalous, I say. Even if Sinead was a nasty girl. Why he wanna treat her so bad? Was he delirious? Surely he realized it would create a controversy. Couldn't he just adore her? Life can be so nice -- what happened to positivity? Okay, somebody glam slam me so I stop.
• And holy crow, whatta buncha morons at Chavez Ravine!
• Just in case you haven't seen it, or haven't seen it in a while, and just because no discussion of Prince is complete without it... Charlie Murphy's True Hollwood Stories: Prince. The part at the end with the pancakes gets me every time.
• Ah, I see someone has already mentioned Charlie Murphy. My work here is done, then. Excellent.