Sunday, August 26, 2007

Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World

Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World

I looked up Lulu, because apparently she's a big pop star, but until I saw her on Ab Fab I'd not heard of her.
Try a few samples, she not my bag, but I like her in combination with Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World.
Bowie's songs are a gold mine for other artists to cover. He does the best melodies ever.



Here is a version from Bowie himself, where he drags that song into the style he is mostly using in his middle age. Meaning remove any melody and sound whiny.

Here is Lulu's first big hit, Shout. Hot stuff.

It is sad that the hip-swinging sweet girls of the sixties got lost under the big dirty tsunami of drugs, long hair and incoherent lyrics of the flower-power era.

Update: some interesting comments on this post, read 'em.

9 comments:

Alex said...

I'm surprised she didn't get more soundtrack work. She did music for "To Sir, with Love" and the title music for Bond's "The man with the golden gun".

Little scratchy sounding, but no school disco was complete without "Shout".

Lauren Kate said...

Wow - thanks for posting!
Bowie's my all-time favourite artist - simply fantastic.
I use him as a subject for a lot of my sketches etc.
Lulu's not done a bad job on the song - Nirvana did a cover too.

Anonymous said...

It is sad that the hip-swinging sweet girls of the sixties got lost under the big dirty tsunami of drugs, long hair and incoherent lyrics of the flower-power era.

agreed. nothing ever stays the same does it eolake? i would love to rewind my life and have it remain 1978 forever, or at least ten more years like it. ever read the "picture of doreon gray?"
of course i'd want to hide the portrait of myself like he did, but then again i wouldn't be true to myself and my own sin and failure.
would anybody want this or am I standing alone toying with this thought? eolake, your comment please? pascal, my friend, would you comment as well?

Anonymous said...

Alex said...
I'm surprised she didn't get more soundtrack work. She did music for "To Sir, with Love."

I didn't know that Alex. I saw that movie when I was a kid and loved it. Thanks for the information about this.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yes, I have read Dorian Grey. Good book, like most of Wilde's work.

Anonymous said...

She did music for "To Sir, with Love" and the title music for Bond's "The man with the golden gun".

You're damn right, Alex! These are excellent references. She deserves more recognition.

Terry, I've read the Portrait of Dorian Gray. Very powerful story. But remember the underlying moral: to attempt and stop Time is a form of damnation (remember Groundhog Day). I don't mean it's a SIN, but life is motion. And nostalgia is a classic trap.

I can speak from personal experience. Somehow, the world seemed to jolt into motion when I finished school. The comforting routine of childhood (especially in Lebanon during the war) was over on a very precise day. But looking back, I see that I'm nostalgic of an illusion. Things weren't all fine, I was just innocent and unaware of the bad stuff. Protected, thanks to my excellent parents. In truth, we mistake nostalgia for what is it not. We THINK it is a regret for the past, a longing, a natural instinct making us want to return to the Past. In truth, it is the love for a memory, for the perception and sensation we have of a past period. Which we mistake for a need to go back. Big difference. If you could rewind Time, this period would again become your ordinary present. It is only time and distance that makes you feel the way you feel. NOW, you realize you loved it, because things have changed. But maybe at the moment you hated some of it. It wasn't all a "groovy trip, dude", right? There are always ups and downs.

It is the same, whether it is nostalgia = love for a past we hold dear, or nostalgia = love for someone we've lost. It's perfectly okay to feel it. Just don't mistake it for what it is not. You need to assimilate the wisdom/the serenity of accepting things which you cannot change, things which God Himself decided would not be changed once they happened, when the Rules were set for this world.
In a way, it is a growing up process. Even adults keep "growing up" for their whole life (or remain immature and hopeless, that's also an option frequently chosen!). You need to realize that what you feel you wish more than anything might not be good for you, or that you can never have it. It's a self-built prison if you lock yourself in this misconception, that what you want, you need and you can always have. Only you hold the key.
The salvation is through enlightenment, acceptance, and courage to move on. Nobody says you must forget. By all means, no. Remembering is absolutely priceless. Simply, know what it really is. An expression of love. Love does not equal desire.

Sometimes, the greatest love is knowing when to let go. To remember, without holding back. Children "loved too much" by their parents are never let go, never fulfill themselves, and in the end they'll be very unhappy. Which is the opposite of the original intent! True, enlightened love is not always easy. It can even be astronomically difficult. But it is the "straight and narrow", and as soon as you set off you'll feel it widen like an Arizona interstate. The taste of genuine liberty is unmistakable.

Life is not about finding happiness. It's about learning, expanding one's awareness, fulfilling the soul. And happiness? Well, I've found out it comes by its own on this path. Real happiness is what you cannot lose, ever, because it is part of you. Like your love for somebody you lost physically. While you have the love, you've never really lost that person, they're always with you. Happiness becomes an indication, more than a reward. Like the sunshine telling you you're getting close to Florida. It's a part of the bigger picture, see?

You know, Terry, maybe you should seek professional help, to aid in this awareness process. It helps a lot to talk and talk and have someone to listen. There is only so much that blog posts and e-mails can do. Also, you need to exit the attitude of guilt over your sins. Face it, we are all sinners, even the saints, and God still loves us and can forgive. If you're not something like a serial killer sadistic child molester, then maybe you CAN accept your imperfect self. (That "maybe" was pure rhetoric, BTW.) Instead of beating yourself over your mistakes (which they probably are, right? more dumb mistakes than the evil intent to sin?), learn from them, use them -and your negative feeling for them- as a tool to better yourself. EVERYBODY can do it. It works, I've tried. And I know you have the right mindset to succeed. Just learn to forgive yourself, as He forgives you. You CAN forgive without forgetting, and you can certainly forgive one who is not innocent (otherwise what's to forgive?). Just like you can have a nostalgia = love without ever coveting the return to the Past. Try it. Do you have something better to do with your life and your time? Like, say, moping around and hating your sorry self? Guess not. That ain't "something better to do". ;-)

My success wishes are with you.

Alex said...

Dorian Gray found himself to be outside the judgment of his peers. He projected a good outward image, and hid his needs for women, opium and other vices. By seeming beyond reproach he placed himself beyond the checks and balances, the friends who would have guided him. By not showing to himself or his associates the impact of his decadent lifestyle, he missed the warning signs, and fell long and hard into his own hell.

I guess it's like alcoholism or drug addiction where you are a secretive user, you don't see what danger you are putting yourself into until it's too late. Maybe it's a way of saying a more permissive society would be less troubled with vice.

If you can believe the film "Wilde" as a reliable bio-pic, then Dorian Gray was begat by a chance comment that a lover remain as youthful as his portrait. Maybe the book was also a reference to how closeted homosexuality lead to more dangerous practices, and more risks to those involved.

Babbling again.

Anonymous said...

"Babbling again."

Not sure about that, Alex. I found your analysis very interesting.

But them, who am *I* to not cast the first stone on a babbler? I'm the Guinnes record holder of big bold blog babbles. :-)
[Try saying it 5 times fast.]

Anonymous said...

P.S.: Then try saying it 5 times fast UNDERWATER. :-D