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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Bleg / A Bleg and a Reward

A Bleg and a Reward

by | 107 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Update:  If folks would post links to online versions of their suggestions as available, we’d have a pretty good afternoon concert going, don’t you think?

Bleg first…gotta sing for your supper, folks, more or less literally.

Here’s the story:  I received a note from my younger brother today, another one of my siblings with all the musical talent I lack.*  His mid-life crisis is manifesting itself:

I’ve just started playing keyboard with a rock band through Bandworks (they put together bands, help them practice for 8 weeks and set up a chance to perform for friends).

All well and good.  But there is already trouble in paradise:

<div align=”center”><iframe title=”YouTube video player” width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xlf5ucFanpY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

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The coordinator for our group had already selected several songs with good guitar and percussion but not great keyboard parts (at least not in their original version), and, they also all seem to have uninteresting melodies– designed for people with a vocal range of about three notes.

My bro voiced his desire for something a little meatier in the keyboard department than “When the Weight Comes Down,” and maybe with a tune a former SF Boys Chorister would enjoy singing.

__

My first idea  was an old, old favorite, from the irreplaceable and much missed Warren Zevon:

<div align=”center”><iframe title=”YouTube video player” width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/44Rwu5yPUrc” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

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But then I thought, what are the intertubes for?

So what say you:  give me your poor, your lonely, your rock or rock-ish tunes, good piano/keyboard part, something happening in the melody, yearning to be covered by middle aged guys in Berkeley, CA.

But, “Hey!” I hear you say.  What about that reward?

Oh, that.

This is a couple of years old now, maybe more — but I hadn’t seen it until another brother forwarded it to me this a.m.  It is beyond surreal, perhaps NSFW, not exactly sensitive to more or less anyone’s sensibilities, (if Vegas showmanship, complete with quadrapedal lap dances, offend you, don’t watch)…

…and proof, if any were needed, that the French are different:

<div align=”center”><iframe title=”YouTube video player” width=”640″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/ck14LKBI9GM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

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To which, what can one say, except that “Naturellement Pulpeuse” would make a great rotating tag for this blog.

 

*I’m considering suing them for my share.  In an idle kind of way it would be fascinating to see if I could find a lawyer willing to take the case.  Make for a great decline and fall story, wouldn’t you say?

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    (if Vegas showmanship, complete with quadrapedal lap dances, offend you, don’t watch)

    It was the bear going all Riverdance with the zebras that got me into cheesy territory. Otherwise the commercial is a homage to several famous erotic (but not overtly sexual) images over the past several decades. Amazingly enough, it tried too hard to be creative, and ended up just kinda meh.

  2. 2.

    Warren Terra

    That Orangina commercial is really very disturbing. Between the Furry angle, the Uncanny Valley angle, and just the general bad taste of it all … very, very weird.

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Bruce Hornsby. Elton John. Heck, there are some Beatles tunes with plenty of keyboard.

  4. 4.

    Josie

    Tom – listen to Dream Theatre. They have a dynamite keyboardist in addition to the other superior musicians, so anything by them would probably have good keyboard parts.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Tom, big congrats on the “This week in science” shoutout this morning over at GOS.

    Edit. On your Einstein post.

  7. 7.

    TheOtherWA

    Um, that video. A bear wearing a speedo, a deer doing a scene from Flashdance, various other animals doing suggestive things with orange juice… was a REWARD?

    Hookay.

    eta- You did warn us. I just didn’t think it could be that weird. Good thing you posted this in the am when we’re all more likely to be sober.

  9. 9.

    S. cerevisiae

    Let It Be. Light My Fire. Karn Evil #9. Maybe some Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. Call Me the Breeze by Skynyrd has a killer piano lead.

    Just a few off the top of my head.

  11. 11.

    Tom Levenson

    1S1111111111111111111111111111111111111
    YHUY><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [actual comment, typed by my cat whilst chasing a moth across my keyboard]

  12. 12.

    Wolfdaughter

    I probably shouldn’t weigh in here, since I’m not a rock fan. I LOLed at the singers with a 3-note range. I sing operatic arias, and have a 3-octave range, tho not all fit for public consumption. I also have perfect pitch, and rock singers, for the most part, ride slightly under the pitch, because of the way they produce the tone. Chalk on the blackboard for me.

    Back to the original question. Not strictly rock, but Burt Bacharach songs have terrific keyboarding.

  15. 15.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    @TheOtherWA: furries, featheries and tentacle hentai mashed with burlesque fan dance, pole dance, riverdance and flashdance.
    superawesome sauce.
    im ravished.

  18. 18.

    Redshift

    Lots of stuff by Jim Steinman (the ones he recorded himself, and that he wrote for Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler.) Lots of good keyboard, lots of range.

  19. 19.

    PeakVT

    Hot Hot Heat and Coldplay are the only newish bands where I’ve really noticed the keyboards. I think the grunge revolution reduced the role of keyboards in rock to occasional studio fill.

  22. 22.

    S. cerevisiae

    I just thought of another one – Head East’s There’s Never Been Any Reason. Fun song.

  23. 23.

    bemused

    I love the juicy French ad. It’s a little weird but beats any ad seen on American tv even late night. What a dull, boring country this is to live in a lot of the time.

  26. 26.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    @Yutsano: besides that its a dance tribute. fandance, burlesque, riverdance, flashdance, poledance, flamenco and ballet…the theme is a tango beat. The peacock chorus line with the flamenco solo is from Don Quixote i think….and the pas de deux from many ballets….could be Swan Lake.
    No street dance, dubstep or hiphop.
    Saving those for the next commercial?

  27. 27.

    Bill Murray

    If you want to go obscure, Suddenly, Tammy and The Origin made some good piano/keyboard ng music

  28. 28.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    @bemused:

    It’s a little weird but beats any ad seen on American tv even late night.

    It would deeply offend Jesusland, and the wingnuts would boycott orange juice.
    The Market rules.

  29. 29.

    Tom Levenson

    @SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for the heads up — I hadn’t checked out GOS’s front page this a.m.

    Nice to see.

    And thanks to all for the suggestions; being passed on they are.

  30. 30.

    Tom Levenson

    @Sam: The band is/may try Radio Nowhere, which, though I like it (and saw Springsteen on the tour supporting that album) is not exactly a melodically fascinating piece of work.

  31. 31.

    Polish the Guillotines

    Pretty much the entire Tom Petty catalog features piano and organ. Blondie, The Cars, Cheap Trick (Dream Police). Someone already mentioned Deep Purple up thread. Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Joe Jackson’s first couple of albums.

  35. 35.

    bemused

    @Hermione Granger-Weasley:

    In a museum in Stockholm, we saw a video, no sound, of a woman stroking a horse’s neck, head. It was very sensual and it’s times like that you know instantly you are not in Kansas.

    It’s already too stodgy here. If the wingnuts can”t kill us by eliminating health care, food, drug, product or environmental safety, their backup plan is to bore us to death.

  36. 36.

    MikeJ

    One of the greatest pop songs ever written, 3 minutes of pure pop goodness. The dB’s Bad Reputation. (Did Don Dixon write this? It’s on his If I’m a Ham, You’re a Sausage).

    Anyway, great keyboard break in the middle on the studio version. The live version I found on youtube doesn’t have it.

  38. 38.

    MikeF

    @Linkmeister:

    Lots of Rolling Stones songs have great keyboards. Just ask Billy Preston!

    \

    Good call – Exile in particular is fertile keyboard ground.

  40. 40.

    Suffern ACE

    I think half the songs from exile on mainstreet would work for you. Just on drink from your loving cup and I’ll fall down drunk…or something like that.

    Hard to Handle doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to cover.

  43. 43.

    Cassidy

    Coldplay is garbage. Any asshole can whine for a full album. Start poring through Wallflowers records, Better than Ezra, or some Cowboy Mouth.

  46. 46.

    Sam

    Zevon’s eponymous album and EB are track after track of classic piano hooks. My favorite, by far, is The French Inhaler.

  49. 49.

    Tom Levenson

    @PTirebiter: Apropos of very little — I studied radio production with David Ossman, aka Porgy Tirebiter, back when we would have killed for something as modern as a chisel to mark our slates.

  53. 53.

    Josh

    “Blind Willie McTell.” Indeed, there’s probably a number of songs The Band performed that could work.

  54. 54.

    Tom Levenson

    @lovable liberal: Sadly, you know the truth of my self assessment, LL.

    @Sam: Good one. The version on the Hammersmith Odeon live album/DVD is amazing too.

    @Sam: French Inhaler is great, but so are any number of Zevon’s. I’ve always had a thing for Mohammed’s Radio, though.

    @sven: Cruel. Just cruel.

    @transmaniacon: Oh, you mean like this.

    And so on — thanks to everyone, and keep ’em coming (with links).

  57. 57.

    Cassidy

    Music snobbery may be fun, but people want to rock out at shows. And they like to sing along. If they can’t do that, it doesn’t matter how good you are.

  59. 59.

    transmaniacon

    @Tom Levenson:

    back when we would have killed for something as modern as a chisel to mark our slates

    It’s a shame, really. Late night radio used to be the cutting edge of commentary.

    Now it’s just the crazy house.

  61. 61.

    Josie

    @Cassidy: You may be right. My youngest son covers the lead guitar solos; that’s how I knew about them. He’s not a casual musician, however. He’s 27 and has been playing guitar parts from Ozzy’s music since junior high. Dream Theatre is his favorite group.

  63. 63.

    PTirebiter

    @Tom Levenson: I met the boys a couple of times while I was working at KHJ/RKO and attending Moore Science High School at night. Until yesterday I didn’t realize you’d written Newton, it was my favorite birthday gift last year. As I mentioned on the Einstein thread, I was a bit surprised by what a terrific read it was and on a number of levels. I knew Don Herbert, and you’re no Don Herbert but you sure as hell know how to tell a great story.

  64. 64.

    Amir_Khalid

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Manfred Mann’s “blinded by the light”

    Actually, that’s a Springsteen cover. There are plenty of keyboard-heavy Springsteen songs — after all, how many other bands have two keyboardists in their permanent line-up?

    Some of Elton John’s earlier, more rocking stuff — Benny and the Jets, stuff like that, might be worth investigating.

  66. 66.

    Cassidy

    @Josie: My wife listens to them. I’m not a huge fan; just not my cup of tea. But god those guys are outstanding musicians. Just brilliant, intellectual music.

  69. 69.

    PTirebiter

    @Tom Levenson: Maybe I should have said Don Herbert, aka Mr. Wizard. It was a wonderful time to be a production apprentice, chisels and smpte time code were just over the horizon.

  70. 70.

    cbear

    Wow, so Scooter Libby and Liz Cheney are now producing French music videos?
    No one could have predicted that one.

  72. 72.

    MaxxLange

    If I ever get married, or, if I ever play in a wedding band again, I will call to the dance floor Zevon’s brilliant song “Looking For The Next Best Thing”:

    I worked hard, but not for the money
    I did my best to please
    I used to think was funny
    Until I realized it was all a tease

    Don Quixote had his windmills
    Ponce de Leon took his cruise
    It took Sinbad seven voyages
    To see that it was all a ruse

    [chorus]
    That’s why I’m looking for the next best thing
    Looking for the next best thing
    I appreciate the best
    But I’m settling for less
    Still looking for the next best thing

    [guitar solo]

    All alone on the road to perfection
    At the inspection booth they tried to discourage me
    You can believe what you want, that’ll never change it
    You’ll have to come around, eventually

    [repeat chorus]

  74. 74.

    cg

    Our local radio station, WTIP, actually plays “Mohammed’s Radio.” The song has been a favorite of mine for years, also. I like the version on Zevon’s ’76 album: “Warren Zevon,” because it includes backup harmony from Lindsey Buckingham and Stephanie Nicks. Zevon sings, “hopin’ that the righteous, might just, might just come.”

    And they harmonize, “Just be right.”

  75. 75.

    PanurgeATL

    @transmaniacon:

    True. But that’s what you get when you have very un-casual musicians acting casually.

    I saw them in ’08 or ’09 at NEARfest in Bethlehem, PA (sadly cancelled this year). They brought the house down with an arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue”.

  77. 77.

    PanurgeATL

    The French ad really speaks to the way even Creative Types are reflexively influenced by the dominance of conservative currents of thought. Are there no male deer? (*) No female bears? (Heck, think of the way we conceive of just cats and dogs, for that matter.)
    —
    (*) A proposal for a quiz:
    1. Have you seen or read Bambi?
    2. If no, what sex is Bambi?

  78. 78.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    @transmaniacon: false. that is only true if you hate alternative and techno. Me, i really hate hipster muslik. It sukks all the energy out of the room.

    sry, Dr. Levenson, im not useful on this thread. I only liek musik you can dance do.
    Is that the difference? Older ppl liek sit-down musik, and younger ppl liek dance muslik?

  88. 88.

    Bill Murray

    Videos as requested by Tom’s update

    The Origin

    “Growing Old” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGR84pp9ah8

    “Set Sails Free” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH8oWWkqzdM&feature=related

    Suddenly Tammy

    “Not That Dumb” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otksx9IHPpM

    “Mt. Rushmore” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Uldsm55mM&feature=related

    “Lamp” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuLfRiyy5S4&feature=related

    Joy Division     “Love Will Tear Us Apart” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ii8m1jgn_M

  94. 94.

    debbie

    This may be too far in the way back machine for your brother, but I saw the Allman Brothers in Boston just after Dwayne died. They added a piano player to play all of Dwayne’s bits, and I must say, it really sounded pretty good.

  96. 96.

    ed_finnerty

    amir @ 64

    It’s is funny to hear someone refer to songs off ‘Good Bye Yellow Brick Road’ as Elton Johns earlier stuff.

    Try ‘Madman Across the Water’ or something

  99. 99.

    MaxxLange

    Wait….what? Why, again are the Ayn Rand people and the Christians allied? Please explain it to me slowly, as if I were stupid.

    I can’t think of any thing LESS Christian than the Rand/Ron or Rand Paul/Serious Sacrifice philosophy:

    Ayn Rand says, hey, if you do not have loaves, and if you do not have fishes, that’s because you are weak. Loaves and fishes are for closers!

    Jesus Christ said, if you want to be perfect, take all your money and give it to the poor. Follow me.

  101. 101.

    RosiesDad

    Wow. 100 comments and no one mentioned Billy Joel? (apologies if I missed it)
    There’s a whole catalog of piano-heavy pop-rock there to pick from but I always really liked “big Man On Mulberry Street.”

  102. 102.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Keyboards parts needed and nobody has mentioned Supertramp? If you want good keyboard action, how about Dreamer? Bloody Well Right? Give A Little Bit? Take The Long Way Home? The Logical Song? Crime Of The Century?

    Great music! I saw them in concert back in the day, fucking righteous music.

  105. 105.

    Mark Haag

    Are there two decent singers who can do harmony? I would go with Chest Fever …good .lots of opportunities for keyboards and guitar to ham it up.

  106. 106.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @Hermione Granger-Weasley: But the rhythms in techno are so rudimentary. Straight sixteenths, most of the time. I like something that swings if I’m going to dance, and dance and house and techno most definitely don’t swing.

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