MLT Club Member David Herrick
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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If singing a Beatles song in German isn’t odd enough, what if you add a layer of Jim Henson to it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pUZMjhOehg
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Jung, are you familiar with a British group from the 60’s called Harmony Grass (a.k.a. Tony Rivers and the Castaways before the 60’s got all groovy)? They wrote, arranged, and recorded a lot of songs in the Beach Boys style, many of which would have seemed perfectly at home on Pet Sounds or Smile. Check out their album “This Is Us” on YouTube.
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Agreed, Jung. If I could have asked them to cover only one Beach Boys song, this one certainly would have been at or near the top of my list. It’s a pure pop symphony, and this version is just as moving as the original.
The Beach Boys are probably my second-favorite 60’s group after the Beatles, although I’m embarrassed to admit that I first became aware of them through Shaun Cassidy’s cover of “Surfin’ USA” and a commercial jingle for Sunkist orange soda set to the tune of “Good Vibrations”.
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I know Mona and Lisa don’t watch much TV, but given that my daughter is the same age, I can’t help but wonder whether their choices of hair color were influenced by The Powerpuff Girls.
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Yes, now that you mention it, they are kinda Kinky. Good observation!
“Tired of Waiting For You” is my favorite Kinks song. It’s also the unofficial theme song of my marriage. (Ba-dump, bump. Ching!)
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Thanks, Jung. My very first experience with Beatles music was seeing the original English-language version of this on Sesame Street when I was four or five years old.
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Very nice! I actually hadn’t heard that cover. But given Brian Wilson’s obsession with Phil Spector, it doesn’t surprise me that they did it. And of course, when you mentioned the Crystals, I immediately thought of Shaun Cassidy’s cover of “Da Do Ron Ron”.
You hit on some of my favorite Beach Boys songs there. “In My Room” makes me tear up every time I hear it. Introspective songs like that and “When I Grow Up to Be a Man” provide a perfect complement to their girls/cars/surfing persona and really round out their appeal.
My next offering in this music exchange is a Beach Boys cover by Harmony Grass, under their older name of Tony Rivers and the Castaways. The original was vocally very sparse, but HG filled it out beautifully and even gave a nod to Frankie Valli at the very end. The description of the video, written by Tony Rivers himself, is worth a read as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEWvxQGiXU
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Glad you enjoyed it! “I’ve Seen to Dream” strikes me as the Beach-Boysiest track on the album, and I think you’ve hit upon why. I hadn’t explicitly recognized the similarity to “God Only Knows”.
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Hey, you could do a lot worse than Kristy. Seemingly every girl I knew in junior high school copied her hairstyle.
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Yes, I remember reading that thread, and that story from Mona is where I first got the idea.
So were the British successful in their quest for hemp?
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Thank you, Mona, for your reply and the link. I had not heard that Beatles story, but it’s very easy to picture it occurring exactly as described!
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Interesting! I hadn’t read about that, but if it had been in the book, it wouldn’t properly be termed “secret” history. Glad to be in on the secret now.
I did hear about MLT’s time in Adelaide. Coincidentally, based on what I’ve read about the various Australian cities, Adelaide would be my first choice if I could only visit one. If I had tons of money, I’d ride the Ghan from there to Darwin so that I could experience all the different biomes.
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Well, I suppose MLT will just have to get by on “sugar and everything nice”, and leave the spice to The Spice Girls.
I have yet to travel abroad, but I’ve been fascinated with Australia since I was in high school. It’s always seemed to me like a parallel-universe version of the United States, with some of the key details changed. I even read a book on Australian history a couple of years ago, largely to be able to appreciate the lyrics of Bruce Woodley’s song “I Am Australian”.
One of the most interesting things to me is that the timing of the British colonization was connected to the American revolutionary war: once the U.S. had gained their independence, England needed to find a new place to exile their prisoners.
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Yes, Howard, that’s how I see it. It leaves us with the question of who their Buttercup is, though. By default I suppose it would have to be Michaela, but Buttercup is a feisty tomboy with a short fuse, so it may not be a good temperamental match.
By the way, a few years ago I discovered the city of Townsville on a map of Australia, and I immediately notified my daughter. I imagine if they established a modest Powerpuff Girls museum there, it would be an effective tourist trap for young Americans.
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Thanks, Howard. I didn’t know about the “search forums” resource. That should come in more and more handy as the posts pile up.
I remember reading the discussion about “Close to You”, which is why I pointed out that the title is rather distinctive. But I guess if you don’t copyright or trademark it, it’s fair game.
This example is kind of a sore spot for me. I adore the Sedaka/Greenfield songs of that era: pure toe-tapping happiness, second only to Goffin/King in my book. So whenever I overhear someone discussing “Stairway to Heaven”, I’m always disappointed that it’s not MY “Stairway to Heaven”.
