You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home - Hannah Montana Cover

Believe it or not, I still have not seen the Hannah Montana Movie. I, and every preteen in the world, waited and waited for the movie to come out. Then I started working on Jennifer Miller's show at PS122 and a slew of other things and forgot to go see it. I think I will have to remedy that this weekend. This is another Taylor Swift penned song. She is prolific. She is like the Brill Building in one little blond package...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD : You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home - Hannah Montana Cover

another stupid day

unfortunately we have had another record company complaint. Soulja Boy Tell Em's record label filed a complaint about our cover of Kiss Me Through the Phone. Whatevs. Stupidity. People are not downloading my covers instead of downloading his. Save your money. Another lawyer made $$$$$$$...

MEDLEY MONDAYS - Love, Love, Love/ Long Long Time - Mountain Goats/ Linda Ronstadt Cover

It's Medley Mondays! Love, Love, Love is probably my favorite Mountain Goats song. That is saying a lot since John Darnielle is one of the great modern songwriters. And Long Long Time is perhaps the saddest song in the entire Linda Ronstadt canon, and that too, is saying a lot..

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Love, Love Love/Long Long Time - Mountain Goats/ Linda Ronstadt Cover

Best Days Of Your Life - Kellie Pickler Cover

Oh Kellie Pickler...Idol just didn't know what to do with you...This single is pretty darn good. Not the greatest ever, but I feel like everyone is learning from Taylor Swift. Add specifics that take the song out of generic land...If Taylor can do it, why can't Kellie? Oh wait a second....Guess who co-wrote the song? Which means she probably is the sole writer? Yes, Miss Taylor Swift!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Best Days Of Your Life - Kellie Pickler Cover

Angels - Kate Voegele Cover

This song popped onto the iTunes Top 100. Have no idea who Kate Voegele is nor what this song is about. See there is a final line of the chorus where she sings


But That's A Lie

And it just messes up the whole song..

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Angels- Kate Voegele Cover

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS - Leader Of The Band - Dan Fogelberg Cover

My sister had this Dan Fogelberg record and I sort of obsessively listened to it. I think this song has gotten short shrift as a cheesy song. A Muzak playing in the supermarket kind of song. Stripped down, it really is beautiful. No one is really writing this kind of song anymore. The closest someone is coming is Taylor Swift. Her song Fifteen has the kind of pathos to it that is sorely missing from the pop charts these days. Perhaps because it is in the 60s today in NYC, I'm feeling a bit maudlin. Leave it to me to have Spring bring out the blues...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Leader Of The Band - Dan Fogelberg Cover

Mad- Ne-yo Cover

This Ne-Yo song is mad infectious. I decided to record it on organ that sounds like the Renaissance Faire to me. Of course the melody does not lend itself to mead and jousting. Check out the video to it. it starts with a crazy fight between Ne-Yo and his girlfriend and then a kid gets hit by a car. I think...Very odd...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Mad - Ne-Yo Cover

Birthday Sex - Jeremih Cover

Someone has been listening to too much R Kelly. Not that that is a bad thing at all. But this a like a strange R Kelly out-take. Just popped onto the top 100. People are loving it.


CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Birthday Sex - Jerimih Cover

That's Not My Name - Ting Tings Cover

A little spoken word for a rainy Tuesday. I still am not sure what kind of band the Ting Tings are. But their songs keep popping into the top 10. I am learning through doing these covers that there is something ineffable about what makes a hit song. Hmm....

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: That's Not My Name - Ting Tings Cover

MEDLEY MONDAYS - Papa Was A Rodeo/Midnight Train To Georgia - Magnetic Fields/Gladys Knight Cover

MEDLEY MONDAYS!!!!
Two of my favorite songs of all time. I remember the first time I heard Papa Was A Rodeo, I played it over and over and over again. I'm not sure I listened to any of the other 68 songs for at least a week. This song kills me. And Midnight Train is certainly one the best songs of its era. It was said that Gladys Knight got all of the songs that Diana Ross didn't want to sing. Well, she messed up on this one, but her loss is our win...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Papa Was A Rodeo/Midnight Train to Georgia - Magnetic Fields/Gladys Knight Cover

Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf Cover

I actually think this is one of the better songs on the charts at the moment. It has a swagger to it that I find infectious.


CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf Cover

It's Alright, It's Okay - Ashley Tisdale Cover

Due to a computer issues I am putting up songs for the weekend now. Sorry for the tardiness.
Decided to cover this song with the rhythm from Randy Newman's Short People. Not sure why. Saw Randy Newman last year at Carnegie Hall. Just him and a piano. Quite amazing. This song is not so amazing. But still.. not a terrible one

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: It's Alright, It's Okay - Ashley Tisdale Cover

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS - The Living Dead - Suede Cover

One of my favorite songs of all time. I had a ticket to the very last Suede concert in London. I had a show the night before, got really drunk. my friend Richard called and told me to come meet him at the Joiners Arms in East London. Stupidly I did. 5 pills later, I woke up the next afternoon unable to really walk. I missed the very last Suede concert. I still have the ticket.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: The Living Dead - Suede Cover

Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga Cover

Ah Lady Gaga. She just churns these out, doesn't she? What I learned from recording this cover is that the word 'boys' spoken repeatedly starts to sound like gibberish.


CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga Cover

It's America - Rodney Atkins Cover

Another Country song...This one is so reductive of what America is, it almost plays a spoof. Okay, it's the night of the show y'all. Off to soundcheck!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: It's America - Rodney Atkins Cover

Butterfly Fly Away - Miley and Billy Ray Cirus Cover

This song is pretty...pretty stupid. Fathers and daughters probably shouldn't record songs together. Unless you wait, like Natalie Cole, until the dad has died and then capitalize on their success by singing along with a video of them. Just saying..

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Butterfly Fly Away - Miley and Billy Ray Cirus Cover

Day of Silence - Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 1950-2009

Ourhitparade.com is observing a day of silence for Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. It was with great sadness that we learned that she passed into another realm last night. She was a mighty queer theorist, writer and such an amazing human. I had the great pleasure of spending lovely afternoons with Eve, her husband Hal and our friend Claudia, doing crafts and gabbing. The conversations were always enlightening but what I remember most about those afternoons was the joy of living that Eve and Hal radiated. My heart is with Hal in this time and I send Eve a Panda to help her transition...Read her books and may her spirit live on and on...

Kenny

The Climb - Miley Cyrus Cover by Neal Medlyn

This a version of "the Climb" by Miley Cyrus that I've been working for my show in October 2009 at Dance Theatre Workshop, tentatively titled ...HERS A QUEEN, and primarily made out of Britney Spears songs.

Samples of Gimme More underscore all the songs and all the action in the show, see, as they do here.

Enjoy yourselves, kids!

Neal

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: The Climb - Miley Cyrus Cover by Neal Medlyn

Just Dance - Lady Gaga Cover by Neal Medlyn

Guest Post by Neal Medlyn


As bass player types are the ones who seem most likely to benefit from the drunkenness sung about in this song, I figured I'd make this cover pretty much all bass guitar.


Neal
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Just Dance - Lady Gaga Cover by Neal Medlyn

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS - Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman Cover

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS

This song and in fact, the entire first Tracy Chapman album was the soundtrack of my summer of 1988. I had just broken up with my first boyfriend (or rather, he broke up with me..) and I was living with a friend Bill who is a painter. I was would sit and watch him paint while we listened to this album over and over on cassette. My first boyfriend is now an Episcopal priest.

Kenny

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman Cover

Whatever You Like - TI via Weird Al Yankovic Cover by Neal Medlyn

WHATEVER YOU LIKE - WEIRD AL YANKOVIC

I've long had a soft spot for Weird Al. At some point in my youth, I had all of his albums up to that point on tape. I laughed out loud for about a week when I saw his video for "Fat" and he got his hand stuck in a mouse trap.

No real reason to jazz it up this much except that nothing says recession so much as dead art-forms like jazz. Oh snap! But come on, you all know that jazz is dead, right? Not that you'd know it by the amount of time and energy that is devoted to, shall we say, making love to that particular corpse.

But still, it's dead and there's not space here to go into all the reasons why. Nor is there space to go into why it's a good thing, either.

It's just that this recession just brings to mind all the things that died with the end of the last boom. I think, for me, forever associated with this last bout of ugly faced prosperity would be my experience doing a show that was seemingly heavily marketed to those who were flush with all that undue, dubious, fictitious and fractious money.

There was just something about those guffawing faces in their too fancy clothes, trying to take digital pictures of themselves grabbing my penis that seemed like an unsuccessful virus: not adapted to survive and flaming out fast.

Turns out that's what happened to their economy, and hopefully those nasty people are boo hooing their ways into obsolescence....like jazz!

See, it came back around after all, this blog post!

Anyway, I have a secret plan to do a Weird Al show one of these days. Don't steal this idea cuz I'm very, very excited about it. I feel like it might be the most post-modern thing one could ever do, therefore I'm saving it for my next museum gig assuming, in this economy, one of those ever comes back around...

Love,

Neal

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Whatever You Like Cover by Neal Medlyn

I Know You Want Me - Pitbull Cover by Neal Medlyn

I KNOW YOU WANT ME (CALLE OCHO MORE ENGLISH EXTENDED MIX) BY PITBULL
OUR HIT PARADE GOES REGGAETON

Here's a little known fact: I have a BA in Sociology with a minor in Spanish.

I love the music of the singer Selena. I visited her statue on the beach in Corpus Christi (one of my favorite towns) and was sad.

I live in a neighborhood where reggaeton is often to be heard.

I sometimes watch Mun2 late at night, after Hannah Montana, where Pitbull has his own show called La Esquina.

I know that La Esquina means the corner, as in where people often congregate in order to rap with one another.

I don't give a fuck what you say, Pitbull and Lil Jon's "THE ANTHEM" is the best goddamned song ever.

Assuming you are interested in moving your culo, that is.

X,

NM

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: I Know You Want Me - Pitbull Cover

Shuttin' Detriot Down - John Rich Cover by Neal Medlyn

Guest Post by Neal Medlyn



Here's a recession song for you, America. I had wandered around my house all morning thinking of the title before I heard it through and got all mad thinking that the song was about how we Detroit could go fuck itself.

I got all in a kerfuffle that my fellow Southerners are always so quick to suggest bad come to others, as in Toby Keith kicking such and such in the ass and so forth. So imagine my surprise when I listened and realized the song was on the side of Detroit.

Just goes to show just cuz you grew up in a place that might spawn the sentiment that Detroit or some other city could go to hell for all you care, you can still be surprised by your countrymen.

nm

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD - Shuttin' Detroit Down - John Rich Cover by Neal Medlyn

MEDLEY MONDAYS - Single Ladies/My Neck, My Back - Beyonce/Khia Cover

Medley Mondays! And the 100th post! It is pouring here in NYC. A grey day. A perfect day for a Beyonce cover.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Single Ladies/My Neck, My Back - Beyonce/Khia cover

What Hurts The Most - Rascal Flatts Cover

I enjoy this song. I also enjoy that everytime I watch a Rascal Flatts video, there is some odd minute or two of dramatic acting before the song kicks in. I promise to find out what the heck is going on with the ersatz telenovela that they've decided is a perfect accompaniment to their songs.
In other news, this is the 99th cover on this blog. Tomorrow is #100. That, to me, is pretty exciting.

Kenny

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: What Hurt's The Most - Rascal Flatts Cover

You Found Me - The Frays Cover

Things I learned today...Twilight is kinda a good movie. The workprint of Wolverine that leaked is an amazing study of how movies are made. Seeing cartoon airplanes where real ones will be in the final print, is so interesting. And I also learned that I can't forget to post....

kenny

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: You Found Me - The Fray Cover

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS - Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat Cover

In honor of Iowa. And perhaps soon there will a generation of kids from Iowa who won't feel like they have to leave home...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat Cover

Come On Get Higher - Matt Nathanson Cover

Had no idea who Matt Nathanson was before covering this song. I looked him up on Wikipedia and the most notable thing about him seems to be that his songs are well placed on TV shows. One Tree Hill, Scrubs and Private Practice to name a few. His music does seem to fit as emotional oboeing. My partner explains oboeing as the music that plays under an emotional scene in a movie or TV show that often involves an oboe and always is meant to pull at your heartstrings. This song is a definite oboeing song.


CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Come On Get Higher - Matt Nathanson Cover

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyes Peas Cover

Well, Black Eyed Peas are back. Straight to number one download on iTunes. As much as I lost all respect for Fergie when she did a cartwheel in front of Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, she sounds good on this track. But the track its self is pretty thin. Not production thin, but content thin. It basically is a brag track. I didn't think people were still making those.
Speaking of Heart, I was at Disneyworld this past weekend and Heart was playing the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. I saw their tour buses. Do you think they each get a separate tour bus? I wonder if they like each other still...

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas Cover