Third Eye Blind & other FONY cover versions

[theCOOP]

new Mahones version as of Dec 24 2007 http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1873

[Woody]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ji7uf2s8s

Fairytale of New York Catherine Tate and George Michael

[philipchevron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ji7uf2s8s

Fairytale of New York Catherine Tate and George Michael

Oh for fuck's sake! This man wrote "Careless Whisper" and "Jesus To A Child". Why George, why?

[Sober]

hahaha it's got to be the WORST cover of Fairytale of New York I've ever heard! And I've heard plenty! But it's for comedic purposes, so I find it kind of funny. It's not like they don't know it sucks while they're singing it.

[Heather]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ji7uf2s8s

Fairytale of New York Catherine Tate and George Michael

That is one of the worst videos I've ever seen.

[Woody]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBfnOZmWrX8

This is a bad version of FONY.Who the fuck is Tex Perkins?

[Eckhard]

George Michael singing FTONY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-sq6X_NfM

[MacRua]

Mike Conklin, Brooklyn-based writer and Music Editor of The L Magazine, on Jesse Malin's brand new covers record and his daring attempt against FONY:

<...>he also does "Fairytale of New York," by the Pogues, and it's driving me insane. Aside from his irritating delivery, where he switches between all sorts of different put-on voices, and his crazy pronunciation of the letter B, which -- I don't even know how to explain it -- sort of sounds like a noise one would make in hopes of getting an infant to laugh, and his insistence upon veering from the melody not quite enough to qualify as a complete re-working, but just enough so that his version could never possibly be enjoyed by anyone who likes the original (read: everyone), he also commits one of the cardinal sins of cover songs: Unless you're changing them to make a point (which is also ill-advised for the most part), do not fuck up the lyrics.

A list of the lines Malin botches here:

"The rare old mountains do."
Now, it's possible that I'm giving him even less credit than he deserves here by not capitalizing properly and by assuming a misunderstanding of context, but if you don't know that it's "mountain" -- singular, not plural -- then can I really assume you know that "The Rare Old Mountain Dew" is the name of a traditional Irish folk song?

"This year's for you and me."
No, Jesse, it's not. It's for "me and you."

"Lying there almost dead on that drip in the bed."
This one doesn't seem like a big deal -- the correct line is "lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed" -- but it's indicative of Malin's intense inability to understand the natural rhythm of things, the subtlety language. "That drip in the bed," in addition to simply not sounding good, almost makes you think he's talking about a bed that had sprung a leak or something, and not about a person lying in bed on an IV.

There's one other thing, too, which isn't strictly a botched lyric, but it's still infuriating. The Kristy MacColl parts are done by NYC songwriter Bree Sharp, who by and large does a pretty good job. But when she gets to the "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap, lousy faggot" line, she giggles right before she says the word "faggot," as if she's worried people might think she actually hates gay people, rather than trusting her audience to understand that she's playing the part of a character who used a hurtful, loaded word to express sheer disgust with another character -- not as a harmless, ironic joke between two people, which is how Sharp's giggle makes me think she wants it to come off. She completely misses the point.

If Malin thought the rest of the vocal take was good enough to justify leaving in all these mistakes, he was very, very wrong.

Full URL of the review
US version of Jesse Malin's On Your Sleeve (with butchered FONY) available Oct.28
There is no such thing like a bad publicity...

[firehazard]

Mike Conklin, Brooklyn-based writer and Music Editor of The L Magazine, on Jesse Malin's brand new covers record and his daring attempt against FONY...The Kristy MacColl parts ...

Haven't heard Malin's version, so can't comment on that... but if you're going to go on a rant against someone's "botches", it's probably best, and certainly shows a bit more respect, to make sure you don't botch the names yourself.

[Mick Molloy]

Apparantly Amy Macdonald is releasing a version of FONY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ILqJPy3f0

[Sportin' Life]

Mike Conklin:

he also commits one of the cardinal sins of cover songs: Unless you're changing them to make a point (which is also ill-advised for the most part), do not fuck up the lyrics.

I haven't heard this version and I don't plan to ... I'll take Mike's word that it is bad. But I don't think it is bad just because it has the lyrics screwed up. I think a person doing a cover has a bit of license to personalize the song they are singing a bit, no?

[philipchevron]

Mike Conklin:

he also commits one of the cardinal sins of cover songs: Unless you're changing them to make a point (which is also ill-advised for the most part), do not fuck up the lyrics.

I haven't heard this version and I don't plan to ... I'll take Mike's word that it is bad. But I don't think it is bad just because it has the lyrics screwed up. I think a person doing a cover has a bit of license to personalize the song they are singing a bit, no?

Um......nope. Not if they are wilfully changing the writers' intentions, in which case they need to get the writers' permissions. Unfortunately, there's no real way of dealing with a spot of infantile laughter before the word "faggot".

[territa]

Apparantly Amy Macdonald is releasing a version of FONY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ILqJPy3f0

and, after these other versions, it sounds right on.

[MacRua]

Dustin Kensrue recorded FONY for his upcoming Christmas album This Good Night Is Still Everywhere.
His version is streamed on his site now (kick green ball on that wreath)

[Woody]

Coldplay - Fairytale Of New York at O2 Dublin on Sunday 21st. December 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqCHQ5VITLc