History When Black Is Not All That
posted by on April 1 at 11:39 AM
We only hear about white people taking black music and ruining it. But that is not always the case. Sometimes a white singer takes a black song and makes it better. I give you the greatest example:
The original version of “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” by a sister, Cherrelle.
And the appropriation by a white man, Robert Palmer:
Palmer killed that tune. No diggity. It’s his forever.
Weird trivia: The song was co-opted as the "breakthrough hit single" of Mariah Carey's alter-ego in Glitter.
I hate that I know that.
I also hate when I accidentally turn people on.
I much prefer Colette's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwIr3OgGpY
A white girl re-interpreting a white guy interpreting a black girl.
Is that a greater example than "Tainted Love"?
@3 REALLY? um, better than Gloria Jones version? thas fucking nuts.
I asked it as a question, Nipper...opening it up for debate.
Your vote is "No." Counted.
Personally, while I appreciate the Gloria Jones original (and am a fan of Northern Soul in general), I believe an argument could certainly be made for which love seems more "tainted"--and in that argument, the advantage would go to Almond.
My problem with using Robert Palmer as the greatest example of "white cover of a black original" is that far too often Robert just copied and pasted his "white Englishman doing rote tech-funk covers" approach (see also his take on "You Are In My System" or "Early in the Morning".)
Better to use as an example someone who didn't simply apply blackface (or worse, Bolton-ness) to their efforts but found a way to incorporate the emotion of the original into their own particular circumstances.
So, I picked Soft Cell.
I'm not sure if Soft Cell's version is "better" (which is why I asked it as a question)--but I do know that it's definably theirs.
(It could have been worse, Nipper. I could have tried to take the indefensible stand of defending Billy Idol's take on "To Be a Lover...")
Coil's "Tainted Love" pwns u all
'tainted love' is great both ways, but gloria jones belts that shit out. if it were any lesser singer, i would give the trophy to almond, but she's all over that song.
Relative whiteness into blackness notwithstanding, seems like I once read the Meters backed Palmer on his first LP...that true?
BTW - Never heard Idol's version of "To be...", love him in Gen X, but that was as far as I got with him!
@8:
yup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakin%27_Sally_Through_the_Alley_%28album%29
the more i read about music, the more that i realize that allen toussaint is running shit just about everywhere.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).