What are you listening to ...right now?

[C C]

The second in the so-called "philosophical song" series. With the first ("What I Am") being belatedly designated such here, since it wasn't in that post: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-2918-p...l#pid46065

In The Year 2525:

Here is the original 1969 classic by Zager & Evans themselves.
Here is arguably the best vid using the Pete Stark cover (won't embed).
Here's a German language version that's heavy on footage from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", that also uses the Pete Stark version.

Jane Rossi: cover of "In The Year 2525" - Zager & Evans ... https://youtu.be/eDoJikmrHRI

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/eDoJikmrHRI

The minimalist cover below done by "me and blue" is pretty weird from the standpoint of the location. But that was apparently the best place they had for good acoustics (LAWL). One of the rare occasions when a video with s-phone/tablet like vertical dimensions and absent equipment actually has good audio.

me and blue: cover of "In The Year 2525" - Zager & Evans ... https://youtu.be/g9E1ekYoIYw

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/g9E1ekYoIYw

[Leigha]

Not aware of the original, but I like their ''version.'' Agree, their ''location'' for the song is an interesting choice, but it seemed to work. Overall, I liked it...a little ominous yet funny, is that possible? They should've edited that ending, though.

I tried to find other covers / songs by them, and nothing came up. 

---

Never heard of this song, but Dido's style captures a certain emotion whenever you hear her. She's so underrated. There's a sadness to her voice that comes through, yet I feel uplifted at the same time.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/-ttpI7WXAO4

[C C]

Not aware of the original, but I like their ''version.'' Agree, their ''location'' for the song is an interesting choice, but it seemed to work. Overall, I liked it...a little ominous yet funny, is that possible? They should've edited that ending, though.

I tried to find other covers / songs by them, and nothing came up. 

They're from Vienna. Supposedly street performers, as exemplified here: https://youtu.be/4z0WJd1kDsU

But not so good at lip-syncing to something obviously recorded elsewhere. In contrast, ABBA was better at it back in their heyday (everybody had to do that on American Bandstand): https://youtu.be/NJ7Mbdquc8s

(EDIT: Hmmm... on a second viewing, maybe they are more adept at lip-syncing than I first thought. Late Saturday night does odd things to one's perceptions and thoughts.)

Here's some of their other vids (me & blue): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwQaoF...LtQ/videos

Never heard of this song, but Dido's style captures a certain emotion whenever you hear her. She's so underrated. There's a sadness to her voice that comes through, yet I feel uplifted at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ttpI7WXAO4

Not familiar with it either -- dates back to 1984. Just sampling the original briefly, I'd say Dido does more justice to the lyric than "Bronski Beat" did. [LAWL, the latter didn't invest much into it, IMO.]

[Leigha]

^ Yea, Dido’s version is much better. lol It’s curious how some artists have a timeless sound to their music while others don’t. It comes across in a natural way, not sure it can be learned.

[C C]

The third entry in the so-called "philosophical song" series. The prior installment: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-2918-p...l#pid46169

Its maker surely didn't expect it to ferment to the degree of gravity that it has over the decades. But by the time it rarefied its way through various exegetic, cinematic and egghead corridors -- plopping finally even into a key part of the plot of Battlestar Galactica (2004), you've definitely got that kind of thing on your hands...

All Along the Watchtower

Here is Bob Dylan's original version that appeared in his 1967 album "John Wesley Harding" (audio only).

Here is the legendary Michael Hedges' cover of it, that is as much a radical departure in its own way as Hendrix's. (In case that one disappears eventually, here's a weathered 1985 performance by Hedges..

Here is a piano version played and sung by Tom Ellis on the TV series "Lucifer", that became somewhat notable (audio only).

And, of course, here is the Jimi Hendrix cover that skyrocketed the Dylan ditty into the psychedelic sublime in 1968 (audio only). So influential that it reciprocally caused Dylan to borrow from it in his later performances. 
- - - - - -

While Corey Heuvel has Hendrix's flatpick technique of combining rhythm and lead together down pat and then some, it is far more extraordinarily demonstrated with his cover of "Voodoo Child". (Which will be posted at some point in the future, but probably not as part of this theme sequence.)

Still, the following is among the best non-instrumental solo acoustic guitar covers of AATW out there.

Corey Heuvel: cover of "All Along the Watchtower" - Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix (most emulated version) ... https://youtu.be/6rg3Xyg-ncs

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6rg3Xyg-ncs

And as a solo instrumental complement (adding the vocal melody itself to the guitar parts) here is Jørgen Ehlers' version of the song. (Still viable after circa nine years.)

Jørgen Ehlers: cover of "All Along the Watchtower" - Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix ... https://youtu.be/KLPrPERlol8

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KLPrPERlol8

[Leigha]

Heard this recently in the series Big Little Lies, and it's meh...just okay. I like the soft pace, not a fan of the crashing waves in the background, though. That's a big turn off to me, nature ''soundscapes'' in mainstream music. <Big little sigh>

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2JnJym03CCo

[C C]

Heard this recently in the series Big Little Lies, and it's meh...just okay. I like the soft pace, not a fan of the crashing waves in the background, though. That's a big turn off to me, nature ''soundscapes'' in mainstream music. <Big little sigh>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnJym03CCo

Another trivial coincidence. Just last night I was looking at and weighing the value of the original performed in that Rock and Roll Circus show that The Rolling Stones put on back in 1968. Needless to say, it didn't quite fit the bill, what with an especially gangly looking Mick Jagger jumping and gesticulating about.

https://youtu.be/Ef9QnZVpVd8

At the very start of it, I noticed there really were some kids sleepily yawning and looking bored in the audience. The sight of that must have contributed to Jagger abandoning the project as much as anything. 

"The performances began at around 2 pm on 11 December 1968, but setting up between acts and reloading cameras took longer than planned, which meant that the final performances took place at almost 5 o'clock in the morning on the 12th. By that time the audience and most of the Rolling Stones were exhausted. It was only due to Jagger's sheer enthusiasm and stamina that they kept going until the end. Regardless, Jagger was reportedly so disappointed with his and the band's performance that he cancelled the airing of the film, and kept it from public view." Until 1996.

[C C]

The fourth entry in the so-called "philosophical song" series. The prior installment was here: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-2918-p...l#pid46205

Heck, I don't know -- I guess a passage in the lyric like:

"Believe in me ... 'Cause I don't believe in anything ... And I wanna be someone to believe ... To believe, to believe ... Yeah!" 

might qualify it for somebody's homespun sophistry. This theme never pretended to be striving for material that could fill an academic slot.

Additionally, there's that philosophical anxiety element of 1990s music, especially the angst during the Cobain period. Here as existential forlornness:

"When everybody loves me ... I will never be lonely ... I will never be lonely ... Said I'm never gonna be Lonely"

Mr. Jones

Here is the 1993 original by Counting Crows.

Did I select the following because it was the best female vocalist cover I could find, or because it had better audio quality than some of the other prospects? After listening to it another round or two, I'm maybe leaning toward both.

Sam & Dan: cover of "Mr. Jones" - Counting Crows ... https://youtu.be/pDV_DSQxQr4

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/pDV_DSQxQr4

For those who would prefer a minimalist version that is sung and played circa the intensity of the original, here is (the ever reliable) Fernando Ufret doing a cover in 2014.

Fernando Ufret: cover of "Mr. Jones" - Counting Crows ... https://youtu.be/khIFMDg7fUw

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/khIFMDg7fUw

[C C]

That infamous DAEAEE tuning. Maybe if you've got a deadweight guitar you never use, you might sacrifice it, mutilate it with two E strings on the treble side. 

And, yep, that Jeff Probst long before he ever dreamed of being the host of "Survivor".

Go to around the 3:25 mark if you want to miss all the jabber beforehand.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/nexAcbXCPMM

[Leigha]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ErSCdHJdUgU