My own tiny slice of the Clan Foster collective website, as well as being the place where I expound upon my unpopular opinions and attempt to impress with my witty, erudite prose...hon.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Such sublime absurdity must be shared!
A video of William Shatner's majestic cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Dig the music, kids!
I find this song and video deeply moving and powerful. It says to me, "William Shatner is a cosmic force of unparalleled importance, for within him lies the secret of life."
Either that or it says he's loony as a tune . . .
Question: is this a recent video creation to intepret his 60s homage to the Beatles? Even in its vibrant weirdness, it seems too technically polished (in an intentionally herky jerky way) to have originated in the low tech 60s . . .
Mark: I'm quite sure that this was put together in recent years (I'm guessing Flash was used to create it), but with such animated Beatle's features as "Yellow Submarine" in mind (not to mention a hefty dose of Monty Python's "Flying Circus" era wackiness). I particularly enjoyed the appearance of Lucille Ball and Charles Schultz's "Lucy" -- true icons of the 1950's American cultural zeitgeist taken playfully out of context to ironic and absurd effect.
OK, that's enough deconstruction for now. Can anyone else tell that I went to art school? :-S
This is so atrociously bad that it transcends the usual scope of the word "bad." From what I know of this version of "Lucy", it was actually released for commercial consumption on a full length album by Cap'n Kirk himself, some time after Star Trek was cancelled. What on earth was the A&R department at the record label smoking to think this was a good idea?
If you've ever read his writings, then you know that Shatner has a very witty, acerbic and sarcastic personality, making this recording doubly perplexing in its awfulness. Listen to it! The backup musicians are just going through the motions, clearly ashamed to be a part of the project. The production is pedestrian and cloying to boot... what a horrible mutilation of a great song. How could this happen!?!?!?
We can only assume that Will got paid VERY well for this, just as he did for the PriceLine.com commercials a few years back. This recording was done in a bygone, different era. Nothing else explains it.
5 comments:
So, so strange. I don't know what else to say. Amusing, entertaining and strange. :)
Mind-blowing and a little bit disturbing...
I find this song and video deeply moving and powerful. It says to me, "William Shatner is a cosmic force of unparalleled importance, for within him lies the secret of life."
Either that or it says he's loony as a tune . . .
Question: is this a recent video creation to intepret his 60s homage to the Beatles? Even in its vibrant weirdness, it seems too technically polished (in an intentionally herky jerky way) to have originated in the low tech 60s . . .
Mark: I'm quite sure that this was put together in recent years (I'm guessing Flash was used to create it), but with such animated Beatle's features as "Yellow Submarine" in mind (not to mention a hefty dose of Monty Python's "Flying Circus" era wackiness). I particularly enjoyed the appearance of Lucille Ball and Charles Schultz's "Lucy" -- true icons of the 1950's American cultural zeitgeist taken playfully out of context to ironic and absurd effect.
OK, that's enough deconstruction for now. Can anyone else tell that I went to art school? :-S
This is so atrociously bad that it transcends the usual scope of the word "bad." From what I know of this version of "Lucy", it was actually released for commercial consumption on a full length album by Cap'n Kirk himself, some time after Star Trek was cancelled. What on earth was the A&R department at the record label smoking to think this was a good idea?
If you've ever read his writings, then you know that Shatner has a very witty, acerbic and sarcastic personality, making this recording doubly perplexing in its awfulness. Listen to it! The backup musicians are just going through the motions, clearly ashamed to be a part of the project. The production is pedestrian and cloying to boot... what a horrible mutilation of a great song. How could this happen!?!?!?
We can only assume that Will got paid VERY well for this, just as he did for the PriceLine.com commercials a few years back. This recording was done in a bygone, different era. Nothing else explains it.
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