Gladys Knight will survive
Gladys Knight’s been in the news lately for her great rendition of the national anthem at the Superbowl, and for showing what a tool Don Lemon is:
That sent me on a stroll down YouTube memory lane in search of some Gladys Knight oldies. Among them I found a 1982 cover by Knight that I’d never heard before. In it, she’s singing a song made famous by Gloria Gaynor during disco’s heyday (1978), “I Will Survive.”
Gaynor’s version, the original and her most famous hit, was upbeat and had a distinct disco flavor. And although it had no backup singers and a simpler production than most disco numbers—or maybe because of those things—it was extraordinarily popular. Here’s Gaynor (and some funky skater; don’t know what’s up with that). The video has almost 60 million views, which is pretty darn good for an oldie:
Knight’s version is different. Very very different—although like Gaynor, she wears a fabulous sparkly gown, a sleeveless one this time. Knight’s version is much slower (up until the last minute, when she picks up the pace and becomes celebratory), and there’s an emphasis on acting out the lyrics. Knight’s telling a story—masterfully—and not just singing a song. And you believe her story, which is of survival over pain, a story that becomes more powerful over its course. Yes, perhaps she’s overacting, but it’s utterly convincing to me. Just watch her eyes as she says, “Oh no, not I!” at 1:30-1:34:
Brilliant.
[NOTE: The song became something of an anthem for women after being dumped or having other disappointments, but it was written by two men, Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. It was Fekaris who wrote the bulk of the lyrics:
…Dino Fekaris revealed [the song] was about getting fired by Motown Records, where he was a staff writer.
He told Songfacts: “They let me go after almost seven years. I was an unemployed songwriter contemplating my fate. I turned the TV on, and there it was: a song I had written for a movie theme titled ‘Generation’ was playing right then (the song was performed by Rare Earth).
“I took that as an omen that things were going to work out for me. I remember jumping up and down on the bed saying, ‘I’m going to make it. I’m going to be a songwriter. I will survive!'”]
One of the things that used to happen in music that doesn’t really happen anymore was multiple artists recording the same song often in very different styles. Gladys Knight was an example of this with ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ which she recorded and had a hit with first then Marvin Gaye recorded it and had a huge hit with it a year later then a couple of years after that Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded it as an 11 minute swamp jam song that still sounds awesome to this day.
I guess the moral is that a great song is a great song period.
And Gladys Knight strikes me as an old fashioned liberal that idiots like Lemon can’t countenance on today’s left.
Then there’s the Igudesman & Joo cover of “I Will Survive,” arguably the greatest musical performance using an immersion blender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xui7x_KF7bY
I&J are professional, conservatory-trained, classical guys with subversive humor, yet warm, even uplifting. Really one of the funniest things I’ve ever watched.
What both artists brought to mind for me was the thought that these two women could fix their own problems – no snowflakes here!
How does a boob like Don Lemon continue to survive is what I want to know….
Magnus on February 9, 2019 at 4:56 pm at 4:56 pm said:
What both artists brought to mind for me was the thought that these two women could fix their own problems – no snowflakes here!
* * *
That used to be the preferred model of the feminist movement; when it got hijacked into all-abortion all-the-time and hate-the-men, we ended up with the “I’m so strong don’t you dare say something mean to me or I’ll ruin your life” bunch.
There ought to be a good social-behavioral study in there, but no one would dare propose it for fear of losing their job.
One of the things that used to happen in music that doesn’t really happen anymore was multiple artists recording the same song often in very different styles
Griffin: Too true. The jazz greats used to cover pop songs to the benefit of all — most famously, Coltrane’s version of “My Favorite Things.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI
huxley on February 9, 2019 at 4:56 pm at 4:56 pm said:
Then there’s the Igudesman & Joo cover of “I Will Survive,” arguably the greatest musical performance using an immersion blender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xui7x_KF7bY
* * *
Brilliant – thank you so much.
I’ve been playing their stuff all afternoon!
One of the great cultural tragedies of this century is the disappearance of the Motown sound in favor of rap/hip-hop.
Compare Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, The Temps, The Tops, Ashford & Simpson, Smokey etc to Kane, Ice T, Snoop Dog, etc.
Pimp the Butterfly was one of Obama’s favorite albums. Allegedly. Check out his favorite songs each year. Pathetic. Unlistenable.
Cornhead,
I couldn’t agree more. Bring back melodies. I also think parents should play melodic music for their young kids at night while they are putting them to bed.
Cornhead,
Not just the Motown sound but really R&B as a genre. When I was a kid in the 80s people like Luther Vandross and Anita Baker were mainstays in black music and on R&B radio. Now even if you have someone like Alicia Keys who is musically talented they have to tack on the latest hip hop flavor of the month on every song.
I mean listen to Luther’s version of ‘A House Is Not A Home’. So good.
expat:
When I tried singing lullabies to my son when he was a toddler, he would sometimes cover his ears and yell “Mommy, no! NO SING!!”
Two great versions of a great song. A fine exercise in compare and contrast. Thank you.
And, by the way, I completely agree that Don Lemon is a tool and a damn dull one at that. People will still be listening to Gladys Knight in joy and awe long, long after he is utterly forgotten.
neo,
Everyone’s a critic!
AesopFan: Glad you enjoyed Igudesman & Joo!
It’s been several years since I checked their YouTube channel. On your comment I looked and found this bit where I & J are playing the Bach-Gounod “Ave Maria,” when John Malkovich wanders onto the stage as a busybody critic to coach their performance…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A95yzVgBTs
There are wonderful, rare examples of covers upstaging the originals, even blowing them away.
Jimi Hendrix — Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”
Eva Cassidy — Sting’s “Fields of Gold”
The Cowboy Junkies — Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”
Joe Cocker — Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends”
IZ — Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
The Doors — Brecht-Weill’s “Alabama Song”
Cream — Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad”
Miles Davis — Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”
Prince (and others) — Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Though I would never give up the originals.
Huxley,
Nope on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.
Others though maybe. There are few Dylan covers that are better than his because he can write but can’t sing.
‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ original Don Gibson covered by Ray Charles is another one.
‘A few Dylan covers’
Where, oh, where do you go Mr Edit?
Griffin: That version of “My Guitar” made me a believer in Prince as a guitarist and showman.
Touching too that it was a tribute to George Harrison. His son, Dhani, was playing on stage. When Prince fell backwards with the support from a crew member, he was facing Dhani who had such a big smile.
Both Sting and Lou Reed acknowledged their covers as respectable, and those guys were plenty territorial about their music. The Beatles were impressed with Joe Cocker’s “Bathroom Window.” Dylan said he was “overwhelmed” by Hendrix’s “Watchtower” and rightly so.
Come to think of it, Johnny Cash did a special version of U2’s “One,” though I don’t know if Bono said anything specific about that.
Edit: Joe Cocker’s, “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
Johnny Cash had a ton of covers on those Rick Rubin albums his last few years that are interesting. I really like his version of Neil Young’s ‘Heart of Gold’. A few others I like the original too much like ‘Rusty Cage’ to go with his.
Yes Cocker kind of made ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’ into a proper song as opposed to the piece of the End medley that it was for the Beatles.
Personally I don’t think there are more than a couple Beatles covers that are even close to better than the original. Cockers ‘Friends’ would be one for sure.
Blasts from the past…
Cocker was a great cover artist, his rendition of “Be Home Soon” was far superior to the original, same goes for “Cry Me a River”. Leon Russell was also a great cover artist, his cover of “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” was so succint and atmospheric. The Beatles, as much as I enjoy/enjoyed their music, were not great cover artists. But there is no accounting for taste. We like what we like.
We drove to Iowa City to attend a performance of Jersey Boys. Wow, brought back memories of our mid teen years and back seat fumbles. Good to be young, and now be seniors snuggling after decades of sticky sweetness. I will die happy on those memories.
Parker,
One of the really revolutionary things about the Beatles was there insistence on recording their own songs. Not very many covers that come to mind. Early on there was ‘Anna’ originally by American Arthur Alexander and of course ‘Twist and Shout’. Before them not many huge acts were as insistent ( or talented enough) on recording their own material. And now McCartneys a billionaire.
The Beatles’ songwriting catalog, mostly L&M, is what separates them from others. There were others who could sing and play as good, or even better, but who else wrote over 100 catchy, memorable pop songs? And though they had a more-or-less consistent style they almost never repeated themselves. An incredible proportion of their songs have a memorable melody, or hook, or lyric or something that distinguishes it from the others.
“Not very many covers that come to mind.” Their first two British albums had quite a few covers though even then the majority were original compositions. Several Motown songs – “Money”, “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and “Please Mr. Postman” among others. After that only occasionally.
Griffen,
The fab 4 was mostly covers ealy on, some good or insipid, until Rubber Soul. I still enjoy their orginal songs afterwards with a few obvious examples which were just plain pop pablum. They had many great tunes, Penny Lane remains a favorite after all these years. Never saw them of great rock ‘n rollers, but most of their output was as good as pop could ever achieve. And I’ll give you my numbers.
Parker,
Yeah Rubber Soul was clearly the first sign of real artistic growth and is my favorite album of theirs. It’s also more a John album to me whereas the later albums were more Paul driven as John drifted. Exceptions of course. But even before Rubber Soul just about all the songs from Meet The Beatles, Help and Hard Days Night were originals. It was the early British albums that had some covers as FOAF mentioned.
The genius of Lennon/McCartney was the perfect blend of the two. One stronger lyrically one stronger melodically. One more positive one more negative. And all in about seven years.
There’s a lot of speculation that Knight is one of the contestants on “The Masked Singer”, specifically the one dressed like a bee. It’s a silly yet entertaining piece of fluff that my sister-in-law got me hooked on.
The immersion blender guys are fantastic. I’ll have to check out some of their other stuff.
This (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybXrrTX3LuI) has always been my favorite version of “I Will Survive.”
Other covers that upstaged the originals:
Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” (orginal by Jake Holmes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsvs-pAGDc)
Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” (original by Fleetwood Mac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eANGHVQS9Q)
i got an email yesterday:
I thought this link below was worth sharing. It starts with Toby Keith playing golf with Clint Eastwood. That sets the stage. At one point, Eastwood said to Keith, “I turn 88 on Monday.”
“What are you going to do?” Keith asked.
“I’m going to shoot a movie,” Eastwood replied, with filming scheduled to begin the following week.
“What keeps you going?” Keith asked him.
“I get up every day and don’t let the old man in,” Eastwood said.
“I’m writing this down right now,” Keith replied.
Keith didn’t ask him if he could contribute a song, Keith just went home and wrote it, sent it to Clint and hoped that he would consider it. And, he did.
Great story & a great song/thought for either gender to consider…………….
Here it is: https://youtu.be/yc5AWImplfE
Another cover of “I Will Survive”, this a duet from the TV series “Lucifer”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcu3Bq6gvWU
Funny, about the Beatles — Rubber Soul is the beginning of their end, for me, and there isn’t one song on that album that I want to hear. And it was that way for me at the time, too — Norwegian Wood so overrated and dumb (imo). I think the LSD and their own wild circumstances were getting to them. Beatles ’65 and Beatles VI are the absolute top of their rock n roll achievement, for my ears. When that first droning, feedbacked note of “I Feel Fine” sounds, a whole new phase began in their music — that is how I remember it from the days, and it still gives me that shiver now.
“No Reply” also a great one off Beatles ’65, and then “Eight Days a Week,” and the whole second side of Beatles VI culminating in “Every Little Thing” (a great song with another great cover, by Yes) — that (for me) was the Beatles in absolutely full stride. Then the “Help” album, with “Ticket to Ride,” and then by the end of 1965, the confusion and decadence began to edge into their music, bit by little bit. Bothered me then, and now it seems all too clear what was going wrong, and why. My 0.02.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Goxw7VgxfA
P.S. Gladys Knight struggles nicely to remain polite to Don Lemon there! While making clear how far off the mark his assumptions and prejudices lie.
If anyone cares what someone born after almost every Beatles album was made thinks, I have fairly little use for their pre-Rubber Soul work.
KyndllG:
As someone who remembers when the Beatles first broke on the scene, it’s hard to describe why their earlier work was great, too, but all I can say is that at the time it sounded completely fresh and wonderful. Now it seems much more typical of the times. But at the time it came out, it didn’t sound typical at all. And their amazing energy when they performed was great, too.
I don’t know how old you were for the early Beatles, but although I was pretty young I wasn’t all that young. Made a deep impression at the time.
Elvis Presley also did covers. I had a tape full of different versions of “Fever”.
Elvis did it best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xz5ntBbP7M
Sting did a great alternate lyric version of Mack the Knife (Lost in the Stars, lots of Kurt Wiell alt versions) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2m3YBqSDg8
The Turtles did quite a few great Dylan covers, my fav was It Ain’t Me Babe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrfpj9P_Mys
Many of the Turtles then went with Zappa as the Mothers of Invention, but the two singers then left to become Flo and Eddie.
Most early Beatles covers were both better than the originals, and yet also Beatles’ songs. I like covers. (KyndlyllG, I care enough to suggest … listen to them early songs again, but while doing something easy like housework, and just one or two songs at a time.)
Perhaps the most covered song is “Louie, Louie”, based on KFJC weekends where they played hundreds of versions including from amateurs. I have a box of tapes from the weekend. Some very creative but most are terrible. Semi-cool idea, tho.
Neil Young was first from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHebRiT5Vmw
Better from Maximum Louie Louie was the guy who wrote it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5bL7lcCwuM
KyndllG, Neo:
I am also someone born after the Beatles run was over (technically still together but have no memory) so everything I know has been from reading and listening. I have brothers and sisters much older than me and it is hard to fully grasp what a big deal 1964 was for them.
The thing with the Beatles to me is the incredible artistic growth they showed over such a short time combined with the revolutionary production techniques utilized by the band and George Martin. I certainly see the early stuff for it’s incredible catchiness but for me the stuff from Rubber Soul on is far more interesting in just about every way.
Griffin, give me two (or three) songs you especially like, just curious to get a better feel for what you’re saying.
To me, the later albums were overproduced. To some of the Beatles, too — I remember reading Ringo criticizing the Sgt. Pepper sessions shortly afterward, along the lines of, “Why are we just sittin there for hours listenin to a feckin orchestra play? That’s not a Beatles record.”
Another factor was that the attitudes in the lyrics had begun to sour. The first-half songs (dividing those few years in two) were so clean, and so fresh as Neo put it, AND the lyrics were mostly, although not always, happy. While the Rolling Stones grumped and snarled that they weren’t getting any satisfaction — the Beatles could sing these lyrics with such (apparent!) sincerity:
I remember the first time
I was lonely without her
Can’t stop thinking about her now
Every little thing she does,
She does for me, yeah
And you know the things she does,
She does for me, oooh
When I’m with her I’m happy
Just to know that she loves me
Yes, I know that she loves me now
There is one thing I’m sure of,
I will love her forever
For I know love will never die
Those first two lines are intriguing, from a song-story-writing point, an unusual place to begin a verse. The rest is sweet and pleasant and then comes that last line, which for me separates the song from mere sweetness and carries it into some more anthemic place. Whatever the chord they hit in that line, I’m not musical enough to know, a seventh or an augmented, it rings a whole different mood over that previously simple love lyric.
No Strawberry Fields Forever, much as I appreciate that particular piece of studio production, can match what this song does, then and now. It is such an affirmation packed into this modest piece of two-minute rock and roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrDikOz8YSU
[But God forbid that I argue over the Beatles!!]
Kai,
I kind of differentiate music into songs I like lyrically and then songs that sound great. My favorite Lennon song is ‘Girl’ from Rubber Soul which has about as simple a title as can be but is really pretty deep lyrically. On the other hand I love ‘Get Back’. It’s a non sensical McCartney lyric but man it sounds so cool. Same with ‘I Want You’. Just love the sound. And the late Beatles Harrison classics are all good. ‘Here Comes The Sun’, ‘Something’, ‘Guitar’. Hell I even like the anger of ‘I Me Mine’.
Just lots of interesting things in my opinion maybe more sound wise in the later era.
“it’s hard to describe why their earlier work was great, too, but all I can say is that at the time it sounded completely fresh and wonderful. ”
When an artist emerges who is not only groundbreaking but influential, it can be hard to understand many years later what all the fuss was about. Because their influence may have been so pervasive that what was once fresh and new has now become commonplace.
A more limited example of the same effect is Jimi Hendrix. A while back I listened to his album “Axis: Bold as Love”, recorded in 1967, and heard nearly every rock guitar cliche of the past 40 years. Then I realized they *became* cliches because every rock guitarist in the 70s and 80s was trying to copy Hendrix.
Kai, though “Every Little Thing” is a great song I might disagree with you about liking it better than “Strawberry Fields” which is near the top of my list of favorite Beatle songs. But the real point is that the Beatles’ songbook is so rich and diverse there is something there for almost everybody.
I prefer both these covers of Sound of Silence to the original.
Disturbed – https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4
Puddles – https://youtu.be/U3RXf0E_Vuw
Postmodern Jukebox on YouTube does a selection of retro covers…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORIeT1hk6tYBuntEXsguLg
Some translated backwards better than others, but there’s some good stuff in there. I think (after watching a lot of PMJ) that a good song will still be a good song in a different style, but a bad song will still suck. I also believe that if I were a professional musician, I wouldn’t consider my career a success until Weird Al covers one of my tunes.
In the opposite direction of Gladys Knight’s rendition of “I will survive,” there’s an old movie entitled “The Replacements” that includes a couple comedic versions of the song. Keanu Reeves leading a bunch of football players who will soon get the axe sing the song.
Another one that comes to mind, and I’m sure Beatles lovers will disagree, is the song “Across the Universe” as performed in the film “Pleasantville” by Fiona Apple. While the original is good, I thought the Apple version really captured the spacey ethereal feeling better. She also slowed it down. I somehow missed the fact that it was a Beatles song, so when I first heard it I assumed it was an original of the female artist. Then years later I heard the Beatles version on the radio.
FOAF, if you still see this, I am wondering if a preference for the first-half Beatles over the second half reflects attitudes about the changing social conditions. The Beatles both led and followed, in that regard. The drugs, the gurus, the fancier production, the ambiguous lyrics and increasing sourness reflect exactly how ’60s life was going, at least in my America. And I was somewhat caught up in it myself, but sensing a fraction of the malevolence that was taking over. That’s a strong word. But Manson, Altamont, when was Son of Sam? Etc. The beauty of the earlier Beatles includes (for me) that sense of loving affirmation they could express. It was above and beyond all the other perfectly cool sounds and songs from the rest of the “British Invasion.”
Griffin, thanks for the titles. Yes, we have differing tastes. That’s cool too.
Love, love, love…..
The last time I made a bet (barring my pre-election bet with parker that he has refused to pay) was in 1981, when a jerk in my office said the Beatles had only recorded their own songs. I bet him a lunch. I said, “‘Roll over, Beethoven,’ by Mr. Charles Edward Anderson Berry.” The look on his face was priceless. He paid up, too!
Richard Saunders:
That’s weird that he didn’t know that. Maybe because it was the 80s. Anyone who was young in the 60s would certainly know about their covers, but maybe he was too young to remember. The ones that immediately come to mind for me are “You Really Got a Hold On Me” (a great song) and “Till There Was You,” which is from the musical “The Music Man.”
There are many more, too. Here’s a list of 10 of them, and it’s not all-inclusive; it’s supposed to be the top ten covers they made. Here’s a list that I assume is the definitive one. There are a LOT of songs on that list. But a great many hadn’t been recorded yet when you had your bet with your friend. However, a great many already had: 25 of them.
FOAF on February 10, 2019 at 8:50 pm at 8:50 pm said:
“it’s hard to describe why their earlier work was great, too, but all I can say is that at the time it sounded completely fresh and wonderful. ”
When an artist emerges who is not only groundbreaking but influential, it can be hard to understand many years later what all the fuss was about. Because their influence may have been so pervasive that what was once fresh and new has now become commonplace.
* * *
This is also noticeable in films, and now especially in “special effects” — I recently watched “La Belle et la Bête” by Cocteau, which had super-duper-de-looper cinematographic effects in 1946, but now is, well, kind of cheesy.
The story line has some of the same problems: it was praised at the time for its deep, and sometimes funny, characters, and its touching romance, but now the plotting is quite dated.
And let’s not get started on “Star Trek: The Original Series.”
“I am wondering if a preference for the first-half Beatles over the second half reflects attitudes about the changing social conditions. The Beatles both led and followed, in that regard.”
That is an astute observation, Kai. The Beatles started out as a pop band, indeed the archetypal “boy band”. As things changed (I won’t say “progressed”) in the 60s I believe they were conscious of not wanting to be left behind and suddenly become dated so their music changed with them. And don’t forget that at that time none of them was more than 25 years old.
neo — Wow! I only knew about a handful of those. Of course, I was post-Beatles by 1969 and most of them were released after that. Remember the scene in “The Big Chill” when Jeff Goldblum says (IIRC), “You know, there’s been a lot of good music written after 1968.” Kevin Kline answers, “Not in this house, there hasn’t!” Kevin Kline was channeling me in that scene..