Tag: Mama Cass

Saturday Matinee – Dancing In The Street

Martha & The Vandellas‘ 1964 hit “Dancing In The Street” has staying power, and was covered by many, including The Mamas & The Papas (1966):

Gah! See how long you can stand it. (At least Mama Cass did the Mash Potato.) Sixteen years later, it was covered by Van Halen (1982):

https://youtu.be/Yau0BCVdsaw

Holy crap. That was actually worse than the Mamas & Papas’ version. It wasn’t until David Bowie and Mick Jagger got together to do a halfway decent video cover (1985):

https://youtu.be/9G4jnaznUoQ

You don’t need to watch that full video either – it’s only posted for those who have never seen it and to restore faded memories for the rest of us. All that preening and prancing takes away from the original, but finally there’s an excellent stripped-down studio cut version, vocals only (2016):

Martha Reeves is laughing her JaggerBowie off about now.

Tip ‘o the Tam to Octopus for the heads-up on the strip-down. Have a great weekend folks. See you back here tomorrow for more suffrage.

Saturday Matinee – Teeth, Shocking Blue & Postmodern Jukebox’ Greatest Hits Mashup

Teeth [via].

Shocking Blue had an almost invisible drummer, and here they are *ahem* playing their hit “Venus” in 1969. I never knew they were from the Netherlands until this posting.

The song’s a ripoff of “The Banjo Song” recorded circa 1963 by The Big Three (featuring a young Ellen Naomi Cohen, aka Mama Cass). They co-opted and renamed Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susannah,” one of the most popular minstrel songs of the late 1800s. Fun facts to know and tell.

Postmodern Jukebox did a one-take mashup of their greatest covers, and it’s pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ve got more inane stuff in the queue.