Sunday, March 05, 2006

Songs Sixty-Three and Sixty-Four

Whew, my written quals are over! Thank goodness for Cabrera's explanation of applied logistic regression, which included a lovely graph that one could cite and then recreate from memory in WordArt. My two days of mega-studying were broken only by short bursts of Pride and Prejudice (2005) viewing, what a wonderful damp and mucky wish-fulfillment world. My Mr. Darcy bought me a new 4GB iPod, which helped create a lovely cocoon of sound before and inbetween my exam sessions, and 54 cans of Tab, which helped throughout the entire process. Still, I am completely filled with untapped knowledge about the Dartmouth Case, Hopwood v. Texas, the Yale Report, and the like--and would be willing to answer any questions you have about such matters, dear reader, since my committee did not deign to ask. Now, that's over, I can move on to serious pursuits, like watching the Oscars whilst cleaning the bathroom!

I'm still on the covers jag, so here are two more Oscar-themed ones to bring me current.

Song Sixty-Three: Elaise Piper, "Ring of Fire." Much more upbeat than the original. Rather than burning, I this ring slightly singes. Ms. Piper's voice is pleasant, and the song still has a driving push throughout, but it isn't really tortured. Stick with the original--and see Walk the Line. Oh, and the only thing I could find on the Internet about Elaise Piper is a picture of her with Brad Pitt, which may explain this song.

Song Sixty-Four: Nouvelle Vague, "I Just Can't Get Enough." Yep, it's the old Depeche Mode tune and my tribute to Brokeback Mountain. I haven't really seen the movie (it seemed too noble and enriching for my escapist ABCFamily made-for-tv-romance-movie soul), but I have, of course, seen just about every parody--good and bad. Brokeback to the Future is my fav. As for the song in question, it improves on the original about 1000x. Admittedly, I am no Depeche fan; DM is a band that seems like a self-parody. The Nouvelle Vague version is perfectly upbeat continental-loungey, with a universal euro bossa-vibe. It has a brushy percussion production, complete with whistles, that is enveloping. Fun!

I wish I could quit you, cover songs--but there will be more next week.

301 to go.

2 comments:

meg said...

Yeah, congratulations on making it through quals. What a relief.

"Ring of Fire": Stan Ridgway (sp?) has a superb cover of it. And I like Nouvelle Vague doing Depeche Mode, but they're even better doing the Clash's "Guns of Brixton." Ooh, baby!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Look what you find when you google your own name!

Thanks for the mention and I'm glad you like the song. Actually, Brad has nothing to do with recording it. I was an assistant on a photo shoot with him and was lucky enough to get a pic with him.

The song came about because a friend of mine was the producer and asked me to do that one and an Eagles song. Ah, life in LA!

Thanks again and hopefully I'll do some more recording down the line!
~Elaise

PS - Tell Adriaan Elaise has been an awesome name to have! No evil fixations! ;)