I'm sure you all read Jim's report on last week's Curmudgeon Con, but there's something Jim didn't tell you.
After we finnished lunch at Manny's, we asjourned to a bar across the street, as is our habit. And when we got there, we found thata our usual table had been coopted by a musician. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a microphone, he was playing exactly what you'd expect from a guy with an accoustic guitar and a microphone -- John Mayeresque covers of various pop songs of the last 3 or 4 decades. We got some fun out of discussing what songs we should request -- that is, coming up with songs that absolutely positively should not be John Mayerfied. My favorite suggestion was Anarchy in the U.K.
Anyway, when we first showed up at the bar, he was playing one particular song that has since been stuck in my head all @#!&#$! week, and now you get to have it stuck in your head. At least you get the original and not the mellow accoustic version.
I Want You Back
Jackson 5
When I had you to myself
I didnt want you around
Those pretty faces always made you
Stand out in a crowd
Then someone picked you from the bunch
One glance was all it took
Now its much too late for me
To take second look
(chorus)
Oh baby give me one more chance
To show you that I love you
Wont you please send me back in your heart
Oh darlin I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back
Yes I do now
I want you back
Oo oo baby
Yeah yeah....naw....
Trying to live without your love
Is one long sleepless night
Let me show you girl
That I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on
I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl
I didnt even want around
(chorus)
Abuh buh buh buh
All I want!
Abuh buh buh buh
All I need!
Abuh buh buh buh.....
Posted by Jason Fliegel at April 28, 2008 12:34 AM
Of course I didn't mention him.
That kind of ... experience ... can't be summarized in a single line of a list. And while his cover of "I Want You Back" certainly grabbed our attention (and it was one of his best covers), I've had a different song in my head - which, yes, he also covered:
Africa
Toto
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in twelve-thirty flight
Her moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say: "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"
[Chorus:]
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become
[Repeat chorus]
[Instrumental break]
Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you
[Repeat chorus]
Sweet reason, the men of Toto are unattractive.
I have an irrational affection for "Africa", actually, as it was popular at the time I was first exposed to MTV and developed an individual taste in music. (I didn't say "good taste".)
My favorite suggestion was Anarchy in the U.K.That would've been entertaining, but I was holding out for something else.
I Feel Love
Donna Summer
Ooh
It's so good, it's so good
It's so good, it's so good
It's so good
Ooh
Heaven knows, heaven knows
Heaven knows, heaven knows
Heaven knows
Ooh
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love
I feel love, I feel love, I feel love
Ooh
Fallin' free, fallin' free
Fallin' free, fallin' free
Fallin' free
Ooh
You and me, you and me
You and me, you and me
You and me
Ooh
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love
I feel love, I feel love, I feel love
Ooh
I'll get you, I'll get you
I'll get you, I'll get you
I'll get you
Ooh
What you do, what you do
What you do, what you do
What you do
Ooh
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love
I feel love, I feel love, I feel love