Tag: women

Strange little girls: Great covers of men’s songs, by women

I’m not going to call these “the best” (how would I know?), but here are ten songs originally written and recorded by men, later covered by a woman, where I think the cover surpasses the original. Not in any particular order (because I couldn’t make up my mind).

1. Working Class Hero by Marianne Faithfull

Originally written and recorded by: John Lennon

I love John Lennon’s original version, but Marianne Faithfull’s take, from her fantastic album Broken English (1979), featuring her upper-class accent and broken voice, is just darker and angrier and therefore, somehow, more awesome. Certainly better than Green Day’s fine but unexciting version on the Instant Karma John Lennon tribute CD (which is, unfortunately, full of fine but unexciting covers).

The video is a live version. I’m not sure it’s better than the studio version, but it’s good, and certainly more interesting to look at for six minutes than a static picture of the Broken English album cover.

 

2. Heartless by Dia Frampton

Originally written and recorded by: Kanye West

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d heard Kanye’s version of this until today. Having listened to it now, though, I can confirm that I like Dia’s version much more. To be fair, Kanye’s music isn’t the type I tend to listen to anyway. But when Ms Frampton did this version on The Voice, I thought it was one of the greatest things I’d ever heard. Lots of others did too, as it very nearly propelled her to victory on that show.

It’s a bit hard to find a good version of that Voice performance now. You will have to pop over to YouTube to actually see the below.

 

3. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Avril Lavigne

Originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan

This is a probably a controversial choice, but I’ve never been much of a Dylan fan. I don’t quite get him, and I can’t get past that voice. But no doubt this is a really good song. And say what you will about Avril, that girl has a good set of pipes. She covered this song for the War Child charity, which assists child soldiers. I find her singing on it very touching. She may be a bratty 18-year-old here who doesn’t really understand the issues, but that makes her the same age as the young men (usually men) caught up in  war. You may disagree, but for me, this works.

I also find the official video pretty touching.

 

4. Hallelujah by k.d. lang

Originally written and recorded by Leonard Cohen

And here’s the obvious, uncontroversial choice! She kind of owns this song now, complete with dropping one of the original verses (“Remember when I moved in you…”). Hearing her do this one live last year was as stunning as you’d expect. (And I also like her cover of Talking Head’s “Heaven”.)

Going with the video of her Juno performance here, as they may be when most Canadians realized what a great marriage between song and singer this was…

 

5. Real Men by Tori Amos

Originally written and recorded by Joe Jackson

Tori did an entire album of covers of songs by men, from which I’ve borrowed for the title of this post: Strange Little Girls. It has a dark version of I Don’t Like Mondays, a terrifying take of Eminem’s ’97 Bonnie and Clyde, an unrecognizable Heart of Gold. But my favorite is Real Men. I like the Joe Jackson original too, but Tori’s version just sounds great, and you can’t help but see a song about men’s gender roles differently when it’s song by a woman. It seems less snide and more thoughtful.

Here’s a very good version Tori did on TV.

 

6. Enjoy the Silence by Lacuna Coil

Originally recorded by Depeche Mode

Someone I follow tweeted that this was the “best cover ever”. I don’t think that’s so—I believe some on this very list are better—but it is a good cover, of an 80s tune I hadn’t given much thought to in quite a well. It sounds more powerful, more dramatic. And it inspired this post, which was originally going to be just a list of covers in general, until I realized most of the ones I was picking out were of women covering men’s song.

(Know what would be tough list to put together? Great covers men have done of women’s songs…)

Here’s the official Lacuna Coil video for “Enjoy the Silence”.

 

7. The Man Who Sold the World by Jordis Unga

Originally written and recorded by David Bowie

Bowie’s version is somewhat cerebral; Jordis brings a lot of emotion to this song, which she performed on long-ago reality series Rock Star: INXS. She said it reminded her of a friend who had committed suicide. This performance was the show-stopper on this episode of that series.

 

8. Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies

Originally written and recorded by Lou Reed

Not that Cowboy Junkies are all women (neither are Lacuna Coil), but Margot Timmins’s mellow yet sexy vocals definitely contribute a lot to the popularity of this cover. I had a few year’s gap between hearing this and the very different original, which I’m still not that crazy about. But the Cowboy Junkies’ “Sweet Jane” still has that nice groove.

The official video.

 

9. Crabbuckit by The Good Lovelies

Nothing wrong with KOS’s original, but you got to love the gorgeous three-part harmonies The Good Lovelies bring to this, while still retaining the lively beat. Fun group to see in concert, by the way.

Apparently they never did a video for this, so this one of those static sound types. Barely over 2 minutes long, though.

 

10. Darling Nikki by Chairlift

Originally written and recorded by Prince

An unlikely song for a woman to sing, which is partly why I love it. They sort of play around and deconstruct the song while keeping it recognizably, absolutely, Prince’s Darling Nikki. From Purplish Rain, once offered free by Spin Magazine, a collection of rather good covers of Prince’s Purple Rain, in its entirety.

Hard to find any online version of this, but you can listen to the MP3 here: Chairlift – “Darling Nikki” (Prince cover)

Ladies and gentlemen, Ms k.d. lang

I had all good intentions of getting a list a few tracks from k.d. lang’s new album, Sing It Loud, before seeing her in concert last Wednesday. But with the renovations going on, that just didn’t happen. So it occurred to me that I didn’t really know that many k.d. lang songs. I have the Ingenue album, and Hymns of the 49th Parallel, a few more versions of her singing “Hallelujah”, and her duet of “Crying” with Roy Orbison. That’s it.

Turns out my three companions to the concert were pretty much in the same boat. We were joking how we’d all just be sitting there, waiting for “Hallelujah”. But that voice, right? It should be great on any tune, whether we knew the song or not.

Continue reading “Ladies and gentlemen, Ms k.d. lang” →

Movie review: Ruby Sparks

*** Ruby Sparks (July 2012) – Theatre
Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan. A young novelist struggling to write his second book after the successful first is finally inspired by a character he names Ruby. Then one day, Ruby shows up in the flesh, just as he has envisioned her…

She says: It was hard not to go all “feminist analysis” on this one, with the character of Ruby being, of course, the ultimate “manic pixie dream girl”. Having literally been imagined into existence, she is indeed a quirky young woman who lives only to inspire and please the main male character.

But then the movie examines that point. Having been brought to biological life as a complete human being, Ruby starts to chaff under her limitations. She’s lonely. She wants to do more. She wants to be more. And the reclusive Calvin isn’t sure he likes it.

It was definitely an interesting movie. Though I still wonder what it would have been with the genders reversed.

He says: Yes, enough happened in that movie; it had enough plot for me. He was an odd duck, that Calvin, though. Not a typical guy at all. She was just riveting. The whole thing held my interest.

Yeah, OK, I liked it.

Sugar in my Bowl

Sugar in my Bowl is a collection of essays edited by Erica Jong. The subtitle of the collection is Real Women Write About Real Sex.

Sugar in my Bowl coverI somewhat dispute that subtitle, as most of the women represented here are writers by profession, some of them somewhat famous (Suzie Bright, Gail Collins, Eve Ensler, Liz Smith). Not that women who write for a living aren’t real, but only that a particular subsection of womanhood is represented here.

So, a lot of the essays here are about writing. The embarrassment of having written an erotic novel—and it being your best selling work, ever. The problem of editors wanting to soften your sex scenes. Your personal difficulty in including sex scenes in your novel. And there’s even one about reading a novel—The Story of O, to be precise, in one sleepless but exciting solitary night.

And, not everything is about real sex, either, if you’re going to be literal about it. Some are works of fiction. One’s a mini play.

Of course, there are definite upsides to including professional writers: The writing is very good! And the collection is quite varied. You never know quite what you’re going to get. It could be slightly erotic tale about a teenage encounter with an older man. It could be a rather sad story about a marriage nearly devastated by loss of desire after the birth of a child. (That one doubles as a pretty good form of birth control.) It could be a graphic fantasy (i.e. comic). An analysis of why one’s sex life is so very mainstream, despite being raised by free-loving hippies. An admission of having trouble using the proper anatomical terms with one’schildren. A recollection of a tryst that nearly but didn’t happen, and years later, is still being thought about.

I quite enjoyed this, and I zipped through it. It suited my reading habits, broken into short but complete chunks that I could easily read before going to sleep. It contained much that was interesting, and nothing that was (to me, anyway) disturbing. As Erica Jong says, sex is life.

Movie review: My Week with Marilyn

*** My Week with Marilyn (November 2011) – Theatre
Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne. A young British man working as a “third assistant director” gains the attention of star Marilyn Monroe and is smitten.

He says: No man would stand a chance with her. That combination of seduction and vulnerability—just irresistable. I finally get the appeal of Marilyn Monroe.
She says: Me too. Michelle Williams was just terrific at conveying her charisma—why Marilyn Monroe was such a big deal.
He says: She was really good.
She says: It looked like she gained some weight for the movie. She didn’t look so waif-y. Though the dresses could have been padded.
He says: The dresses were definitely padded. But back to the story… You know, the main character was the least powerful person on that movie set. But she made him feel like he was the most important person to her. That she needed him. Of course he was a goner. Am I right that they never actually had sex, though?
She says: That was my interpretation. What with him always being in bed with clothes on.
He says: No matter. 23 year-old-guy… He didn’t stand a chance.

Movie review: Easy A

*** Easy A (September 2009) – Rental
Emma Stone. High school girl decides that a path to popularity is in encouraging the rumours that she’s an easy lay. Then it gets complicated.

She says: A very likable movie, primarily due to the charismatic performance of lead Emma Stone, and the writers who gave her bright and funny dialog to work with.
He says: That was a good one, eh?

Look better naked!

Cover of DVDI’m not entirely sure what to make of the marketing of this DVD. Six weeks to my leanest, hottest body ever—really? Even though I’m now in my 40s, and when in my 20s, apart from having 20 years fewer gravity effects to combat, I worked out something an hour or two a day? Still, this DVD’s going to make me look better than that?

I’m skeptical.

Also, it looks a little porn-y. But in case you’re wondering, the fitness instructors are in fact clothed during the workout, in fairly standard (not especially slutty) workout gear.

And, I assume the title is meant to evoke that Showtime series, How to Look Good Naked. Although the whole point of that show was not that fitness and better diet were necessary, but mostly improved self-esteem. (And maybe a more supportive bra.) It was all about making women feel better about their current size, not trying to change it.

So, it seems I should be sort of offended by this thing. But in fact… It’s a really good DVD workout. What I like is that in a compressed 30 minutes, you get a really good workout. One 30-minute option is called “Metabolic”; the other “Strength”. But with both of them, you actually get a combination of aerobics and muscle training. So covering a lot of fitness needs in a short amount of time. (You can also do the whole thing in 50 minutes.)

The queuing is excellent, with a visual appearing before each new move giving the name and number of reps, along with verbal queuing by the instructor. And she’s quite appealing, motivating without being irritating. Two other women do the workout with her, one modifying some of the moves for beginners.

And I’ve been feeling it. The metabolic one has this interval training approach that is a good addition for me, because you do get to some pretty intense moves, but only for a reasonable number of reps, then followed by an easier set of moves. The strength requires one set of dumbbells, and moves you through the items before any get tedious.

And you know, it may even be possible that my abdominals looks slightly more defined now. Though it hasn’t been six weeks yet.

So what can I say. Despite the dubious packaging, I do recommend this DVD if you are looking for an aerobic/strength training workout. (I also recommend Collage Video in general for fitness DVDs.)

And don’t discount the fun of having a reason to entitle a blog post, Look better naked!

Movie reviews: Redefining the chick flick

Though not at all intentional, I’m realizing that the last three movies we watched on DVD all feature strong women characters. Two were even directed by women. Only one qualifies as a “traditional” chick flick. (Also realizing… I’d rather write about this than the election.)

**½ Bright Star (May 2009) – Rental
Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw. Story of the unlikely romance between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne.

She says: Surprisingly engrossing for a slow-paced movie in which comparatively little actually happens.
He says: Yeah, that was slow paced. Like, glacial.

***½ Catfish (September 2010) – Rental
Documentary. Nev Shulman’s roommates decide to do a documentary about his long-distance friendship with an eight-year-old artist and her family, which develops in a way none of them expect.

She says: I got very caught up in the twists and turns of this real-life story. The additional interview on the DVD is also well worth watching for those lingering questions.
He says: I was surprised how interesting I found that. I was expecting something different, maybe more terrible, but it was still really fascinating.

*** The Runaways (April 2010) – Rental
Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart. A look back at the story of The Runaways, the first all-girl rock band.

She says: It focuses mostly on Cherie Currie, whose biography this is based on, and secondarily on Joan Jett, the movie’s producer, with the remaining Runaways mostly treated as background players. Though at times you feel an urge to run in and protect these very young women from some of these experiences, overall it was kind of inspiring. Nice music sequences. And a great reminder of how awesome Joan Jett is.
He says: Is it over? I think I fell asleep. I guess I was really tired from the canoeing. How did it end?
She says: Joan Jett became a big star.

 

 

Movie review: Made in Dagenham

A bit behind, as we saw this a while ago…

**½ Made in Dagenham (November 2010) – Theatre
Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins. Set in Britain in 1968, shows how women workers at a Ford plant achieved pay equity with men though labour action.

She says: Really positive view of history that you realize must have been streamlined somewhat for dramatic purposes, but still makes for a pretty engaging movie.
He says: It was mostly good, but it was slow in parts.

The movie ends with the point that having achieved this milestone, the concept of “equal pay for equal work” for women spread throughout Britain, then through other industrialized countries. Of course, that’s for unionized jobs with clear pay scales. The picture is a bit more murky in other cases, as per this recent chart comparing men’s and women’s wages in US.

Gender gap in wages (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Movie review: Whip It

**½ Whip It (October 2009) – Rental
Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore. Young girl finds the thrill of roller derby much more to her taste than her mother’s pageant aspirations.

She says: It’s certainly likable and moves along, but the story really follows a predictable pattern, and the roller derby sequences just don’t come across as well as they might.
He says: Way less sexist than I was expecting a “movie about roller derby girls” to be.