Monday, November 21, 2011

under-covers: Cyndi Lauper/Arcade Fire

Perhaps, one of the greatest guilty pleasures in my life: the perverse enjoyment I get listening to musicians covering other artist's songs. The weirder the cover, the better! It doesn't matter how awkward or horrible the quality (shitty cell phone video, I'm looking at you), I'm an absolute sucker for this stuff. Here's the first in a new installment I'm proud to call, "under-covers."

Today, we feature Cyndi Lauper's smash 1983 hit, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." This song has been a favorite of mine since I first heard Homer singing the chorus way back in "Lisa's First Word" (Episode 10, Season 4.1992!)
"That's all they really waaaaaaaaant"
Here's Cyndi's classic:

Who doesn't love this song? It's easily, one of the catchiest songs in the history of creation. Not to mention, Cyndi Lauper's voice is one in a million.

Now Arcade Fire's take.

This may sound insane, but I kind of enjoy their live version better. The pulsating bassline pushes through everything else and makes ya wanna get funky right?....right? All the 80's electronics and studio effects are gone, leaving only wild, toe tapping musicianship to fill the void. Vocally, Regine is no Cyndi Lauper, but she sings the song with such an honest, giddy school girl quality it kind of makes my bitter heart melt. Also, how rad is it seeing a bunch of six foot dudes singing along to this jam?

Love this song. Love this cover.
What do you think?

*Bonus Clip*
Did you know Cyndi's Lauper's version wasn't the original?! It's technically a cover as well!
The song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was originally written by some dude named Robert Hazard. He gave the song to Cyndi for her debut album and helped her create the famous version we all know today. HA. My first post...a cover, of a cover!
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

17 comments:

  1. OutcastNovember 22, 2011 at 2:21 AM

    I had no idea Arcade Fire would cover that, it's insane! Great post buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarkNovember 22, 2011 at 3:28 AM

    The original original is actually pretty good. One of my favourite covers would be Hit Me Baby One More Time by Ten Masked Men and yesterday I had a pretty odd cover of Paranoid by Black Sabbath but I can't remember who covered it :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pat HattNovember 22, 2011 at 5:17 AM

    haha yeah that song is just so over the top cheesy hard not to like it. Never knew it was made by another first.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 22, 2011 at 6:30 AM

    there are awesome covers over there, even geater than original songs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ZombieNovember 22, 2011 at 6:36 AM

    I dont care how gay it makes me look, I Love this song. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BerserculesNovember 22, 2011 at 7:04 AM

    I like the cover but the sound is kind of off! But I agree with you on the bass!

    My favorite cover is Devos cover of the song Satisfaction by the Rollin Stones.

    This reminded me of a video I saw where someone pretending to be Bob Dylon did a cover of Rebecca Blacks song Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tony Van HelsingNovember 22, 2011 at 8:36 AM

    Travis covering Hit Me Baby One More Time is a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tony Van HelsingNovember 22, 2011 at 8:37 AM

    And Lawnmower Death covering Kim Wilde's Kids in America.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ChipNovember 22, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    I gotta say these bring back some memories! 'Girls just wanna have fun' reminds me of the goonies! Classic :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousNovember 22, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    That's good music. (:

    ReplyDelete
  11. CopyboyNovember 22, 2011 at 2:49 PM

    That's a total shocker! I never knew that.

    ReplyDelete
  12. GNovember 22, 2011 at 3:23 PM

    loving the arcade fire vid

    ReplyDelete
  13. D4November 22, 2011 at 4:46 PM

    That's a pretty good cover actually. I mean it's live and I could still dig it, that's awesome.

    And yeh, some of the best songs out there are covers. Most are still originals, but covers aren't bad half thee time.

    ReplyDelete
  14. mamtcNovember 22, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Wow. never knew this but always loved this song. one of evergreen classics.

    ReplyDelete
  15. ✗✗November 23, 2011 at 9:56 AM

    I didn't know that Lauper's song was basically a cover, interesting. I do however enjoy Arcade Fire's cover, not bad at all. I like this new installment~keep up the undercovers!

    ReplyDelete
  16. BartNovember 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    atleast this song isnt as gay as its raining men.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AdamNovember 23, 2011 at 2:18 PM

    I remember that simpsons episode

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)