The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Unless Spud has just kept me out of the loop (which is certainly likely!), Octothorpe still needs a drummer, yes.

I'd like to think there was a reason other than "I'm moving to Seattle" that I became a part of the band so easily, though. (Perhaps it was somehow related to the fact that I was able to call him on the phone as soon as I got the job which led me to Seattle anyway.)

The thing I hate more than debates about Yoko and the end of the Beatles is people thinking the line is "koo koo ka choo." Goo goo gajoob, man. Seriously. Get with the program.

mkilly wrote:The thing I hate more than debates about Yoko and the end of the Beatles is people thinking the line is "koo koo ka choo." Goo goo gajoob, man. Seriously. Get with the program.

Well, good news for me. Glad to know I'm not on the receiving end of your rage to the extent that JB is. Well, and I shouldn't be, at all. If you read carefully, you'll see that we fell far short of actually debating the cause of the end of the Beatles. We danced in proximity to it, if that. In fact, note that I made the point that such a debate is fruitless. And I'm with you on the onomatopoeia thing. I might have said something, but I'm just sick of correcting everyone on it. But I'm totally happy to jump on your bandwagon now. Down with misspellings of John Lennon's noises! Oh, by the way, my transcription says "Goo goo g'joob." Or, better yet, straight from the inside of the Magical Mystery Tour vinyl jacket:

"I am the eggman, they are the eggmen - I am the walrus GOO GOO GOO JOOB"

Seems like everybody's wrong. Cool. In any case, a walrus sounds nothing like that, anyway. I suppose it does give a boost to the surrealist atmosphere of the song, doesn't it?

Oh, here's another one:

Lucy in the Skies with Diamonds: Johnny Cashpoint

<strike>I haven't finished 'Run For Your Life' yet! </strike>

Here you go, Glenn. Apologies for the sloppy, sloppy 'drumming' - I did try and get a proper drummer. No apologies, however, for the sloppy, sloppy everything else!

I changed the words and the melody a bit, made it a bit gayer. You know, the usual.

Next up - 'L.S.D' ...

j$

According to Ian McDonald, I'm an idiot. Then again, this kind of shit is his job, and not mine.

George Harrison – double-tracked vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ
John Lennon – lead guitar
Paul McCartney – backing vocal, piano, organ, 6-string bass
Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
Eric Clapton – lead guitar

Sounds a little out of balance, doesn't it? Seems to me like John probably didn't contribute much to this session.

Lord of Oats wrote:yoko vs paul vs ringo stuff

Well, publishing songs that you wrote and john didn't even play on as "Lennon and McCartney" is a little suspect, don't you think?

Also, about whether Ringo is great, good, best or worst...I don't think anyone really thinks "all it takes is for someone to be great for a band to totally rock". Ringo was the right guy for the job. Period. What good is it to debate this crap 30+ years on?

Lord of Oats wrote:

jolly roger wrote:For the record, I played through 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' many times (for about an hour), trying to figure out George Harrison's licks.

Actually, Eric Clapton played lead guitar on that track.

Whoops. I guess I just don't know Beatles history. As long as I end up better at guitar in the end, I guess it doesn't really matter ... at least to me.

rdurand wrote:

jolly roger wrote:Hey - turns out my brother has the White Album. I went through the song a bunch of times and picked out the power chords for that song.

Power chords for Bungalo Bill - ouch!

I think it sounds okay, but maybe that's just an excuse I use because I don't yet have the skill to figure out songs with the full chording. I should work on that.

jolly roger wrote:

rdurand wrote:

jolly roger wrote:Hey - turns out my brother has the White Album. I went through the song a bunch of times and picked out the power chords for that song.

Power chords for Bungalo Bill - ouch!

I think it sounds okay, but maybe that's just an excuse I use because I don't yet have the skill to figure out songs with the full chording. I should work on that.

If you're playing it on electric guitar with distortion, then bar chords are perfectly fine. I learn every song I cover by playing the bar chords first. Then I find the full chords as needed.

roymond wrote:What good is it to debate this crap 30+ years on?

Superman could TOTALLY take Bat Man in a fight.

For some reason this thread possessed me to make the following recording. I hope you enjoy it in the spirit in which it was intended

http://www.rossdurandmusic.com/hmmm.mp3

"Help!" to come.

Caravan Ray wrote:

GlennCase wrote:Caravan Ray - Taxman

That is probably the perfect suggestion for me. Nice work Glenn! Hope to find the time to have a crack

What a stupid idea, Glen Case! This bloody song is killing me.

I got the bones of this down and thought it sounded OK - but as I tried to fill it in - I am starting to realise why The Beatles are The Beatles and Caravan Ray is Caravan Ray. Man those dudes are good - and when I try to copy them it sounds bloody silly.

If I am going to get anywhere with this I am going to have to deconstruct it and bring them down to my level. This may take some time - but I'll keep working on it.

Caravan Ray wrote:

Caravan Ray wrote:

GlennCase wrote:Caravan Ray - Taxman

That is probably the perfect suggestion for me. Nice work Glenn! Hope to find the time to have a crack

What a stupid idea, Glen Case! This bloody song is killing me.

I got the bones of this down and thought it sounded OK - but as I tried to fill it in - I am starting to realise why The Beatles are The Beatles and Caravan Ray is Caravan Ray. Man those dudes are good - and when I try to copy them it sounds bloody silly.

If I am going to get anywhere with this I am going to have to deconstruct it and bring them down to my level. This may take some time - but I'll keep working on it.

OK - after 3 days of toiling over a now abandoned Beatlesque version - I just knocked this one up in the hour or so since my last post.

I'm spent

Caravan Ray - Taxman

Caravan Ray wrote:OK - after 3 days of toiling over a now abandoned Beatlesque version - I just knocked this one up in the hour or so since my last post.

I'm spent

Caravan Ray - Taxman

I'm pretty sure that the point of assigning specific people to cover specific songs is to hear those peoples' takes on those songs, and not to hear them reproduce the original.

Your take on this song is great.

Also rdurand's Dylan-esque Walrus is pretty good, too.

fluffy wrote:

Caravan Ray wrote:OK - after 3 days of toiling over a now abandoned Beatlesque version - I just knocked this one up in the hour or so since my last post.

I'm spent

Caravan Ray - Taxman

I'm pretty sure that the point of assigning specific people to cover specific songs is to hear those peoples' takes on those songs, and not to hear them reproduce the original.

Your take on this song is great.

Thank you very much.

And yes, I know the idea is to do a reinterpretation - but damn! I wish I could play it like the Beatles! It sounds like such a simple song - but in trying to copy them you realise how bloody good they were

fluffy wrote: I'm pretty sure that the point of assigning specific people to cover specific songs is to hear those peoples' takes on those songs, and not to hear them reproduce the original.

In an ideal world, this may be true, but do you really think most people around here think this way? If you look at the suggestions, they seem to have more to do with the strong similarities that already exist in a given SongFighter's style with the song being suggested.

I am either the world's most cynical idealist, or the world's most idealistic cynic.

Whenever I suggest that someone cover a song, it's because I think that if they had the sheet music in front of them and arranged it similarly to other music of theirs, that the resulting song would sound good matched with their voice.

I just do a cover the way I do and hope no one throws hammers at me.

j$ wrote:<strike>I haven't finished 'Run For Your Life' yet! </strike>

Here you go, Glenn. Apologies for the sloppy, sloppy 'drumming' - I did try and get a proper drummer. No apologies, however, for the sloppy, sloppy everything else!

I changed the words and the melody a bit, made it a bit gayer. You know, the usual.

Next up - 'L.S.D' ...

j$

Caravan Ray wrote:OK - after 3 days of toiling over a now abandoned Beatlesque version - I just knocked this one up in the hour or so since my last post.

I'm spent

Caravan Ray - Taxman

Both of you did a great job of re-interpreting your assigned songs to match your respective styles, and I thank you both for taking the time to actually learn the songs and record them.

frankie big face wrote:
In an ideal world, this may be true, but do you really think most people around here think this way? If you look at the suggestions, they seem to have more to do with the strong similarities that already exist in a given SongFighter's style with the song being suggested.

With my list, I tried to imagine songs that wouldn't seem like too much of a stretch from what each songfighter would normally do. That much is true.

ROCK!

Glenn Case

j$: if it weren't for the fact you were singing about jealousy over a girl, I'd totally think that was one of your own songs.

Thanks Fluffy, if you listen carefully I have changed the words so it's a girl being jealous over the fact that I'm cheating on her with another man, so it's totally my song now

W.A.I.L.

Ross Durand - haha. I was watching 'The Other Side Of The Mirror' the other day so this is pretty apropos! Even the harmonica is suitably in the wrong key! Though your voice is too rich to do a truly convincing Dylan, and you shouldn't sing over the harmonica if you want it to be real pastiche

Caravan Ray - as a bass player, 'Taxman' is probably my favourite Paul moment, so it's a shame that part's bitten the dust, but I appreciate your anxiety of influence! What I like about it is that you stamp your own identity on the song while the source material is still recognisably good. Nice work. I'd like to hear the abandoned version, though, even as an instrumental.

Fluffy - Been listening to a lot of Blancmange? Glenn is right, your voice is sounding thicker and richer than previous recordings. new mic? i like the backing vox a lot. I don't think I know the original though.

Glenn - 'Girl' - What I can say? Smart! Another song I don't know that well.
'Eleanor Rigby' - never been a huge fan of this song, and by taking out that semi-orchestral drive that roots the original, you end up taking out the only thing I liked about it! Also I think doing this as (basically) a G'n'G, you put too much emo wieght on the lyric, which is of course really f**kin' cheesy and not at all moving. Really really really well done, but it was going to take a total rewrite to make me warm to this. However, as ever, beautiful harmonies. I am jealous.

Jim - It's a bit Phil Collins for my taste. No, sorry, that's a bit harsh, it's just I can see the camera in the video swooping out of the shadows and around the grand while you sing to the glass of water on the top, which can only be a compliment! I would certainly hear you tackle something a little more uptempo, maybe 'Back In The USSR', or something more challenging in the arrangement, like 'Across The Universe' ...

Dan-O - digging that percussion. Is this slower than the original, I don't recall? Campfire Beatles - Are you Peter, Paul & Mary? Good stuff.

Anti-M - great vocal take, very soft and fragile. At 1.22ish I wanted a swelling drawbar organ kicking in and an instrumental section. Not sure about that falsetto - that took me by surprise. Short and sweet!