Covers of JoCo songs

edited May 2008 in JoCo Fame
We already have threads dedicated to covers JoCo has done, and covers folks would like to hear him do. Here's a thread about covers that other folks have done of JoCo songs. (I searched and didn't see anything similar, except threads for specific covers.)

So what do folks think of this latest offering, "Pwn Monkey (Jonathan Coulton vs. ... well, everyone)?" I know some folks have shared their opinions elsewhere. Overall, I thought it was amusing but not great. Much of it is pretty chaotic. However, I really enjoyed the Tom Sawyer snippet, because it actually fit with the melody so well. In fact, I'm gonna go listen to that part again now... :-)
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Comments

  • What with suuuupadave (are there enough 'u's?) teaching people to play the songs I suspect that soon there will be a larger number of covered JoCo about.
  • edited May 2008
    I thought it was kind of amusing, and that there were a couple of parts that worked really well, but it's certainly not going into my regular rotation.

    I want to heartily recommend gmrtech's IKEA and Code Monkey orchestral covers. I love those two and am sad that he seems to have decided to stop making them. I would pay actual money for a full album of those bad boys.
  • edited May 2008
    I don't like it, sorry-too chaotic for my tastes. However, if JoCo could put together some sort of wonderfully insane blend of "Shock the (code) monkey" now, THAT would be fun.

    Or what if he found a way to insert every song with monkeys in it into a giant monster monkey song, like what you would get if the Skullcrusher Mountain scientist decided he wanted to be a rock star?
  • edited May 2008
    I agree with Spiff. Though I was more a fan of Code Monkey than I was IKEA, I think he focussed on the wrong part of the song and it generally felt not as clean as the other...
  • BryBry
    edited May 2008
    suuuupadave (are there enough 'u's?)
    Yes, but unfortunately too few 'a's. (4 u's, 2 a's, is how I remember it.)

    I'm a big fan of Walt (gmrtech)'s covers too. I'm on a Paul Sahner jag at the moment -- thanks, Rob, for linking his minor-key "Still Alive" cover, and thanks, Paul, if you read this! (Paul's "Still Alive" differs the most from the original, of course, but he does a mean "Madelaine" and a really great "Brand New Sucker," a song which, as soon as I saw he was doing it, I could envision that it was going to be just wonderful.)
  • I like watching Paul's fingers move so casually across the keyboard as he pops out the complex music. It really makes it look like it would be fun to be able to do that myself. I started piano lessons once but found that it didn't hold my attention when in competition with all the other things I could be doing with my time, which is too bad for me.
  • edited May 2008
    Per Bry's request, here are all the tunes I could identify in Pwn Monkey. Sorry Mitch, I couldn't resist, as Bry should know. ;-)

    Jukebox Hero - Foreigner
    Back in Black - AC/DC
    ?
    70s funk instrumental that I can't recall the name of
    Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
    We Got the Beat - Go-Gos
    ?
    Tom Sawyer - Rush
    Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
    Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
    ETA: Break on Through - The Doors
    Don't Bring Me Down - ELO
    Rainbow Connection - Kermit :-)
    (?) Funkytown - Lipps Inc
    ?
    Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
    ? long stretch of stuff I don't recognize ?
    Born in the USA - Bruce Springstein
    Canon in D - Pachelbel
    Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi
    Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel
  • I'm on a Paul Sahner jag at the moment -- thanks, Rob, for linking his minor-key "Still Alive" cover, and thanks, Paul, if you read this! (Paul's "Still Alive" differs the most from the original, of course, but he does a mean "Madelaine" and a really great "Brand New Sucker," a song which, as soon as I saw he was doing it, I could envision that it was going to be just wonderful.)
    I like watching Paul's fingers move so casually across the keyboard as he pops out the complex music. It really makes it look like it would be fun to be able to do that myself.
    I'm still in "lurk mode", but I just wanted to jump in and thank you guys for your kind words! I'm having tons of fun discovering the songs and trying to see what works and what doesn't.

    I just posted a cover of Dance, Soterious Johnson, Dance- I hope it holds up!
  • BryBry
    edited May 2008
    And I was just about to post that I would've liked to hear the harpsichord version of DSJD you mentioned considering.

    ETA: Forgot to say (because I forgot it was in this thread), but thanks, Colleen! ("Don't Bring Me Down!" I knew I knew it, but I just... couldn't... place it. Groos!)
  • Oh my god, that Brand New Sucker cover is amaaaazing, Paul. I was already a fan of the Still Alive cover, but this one's even better.
  • Hey there Paul - I didn't even realize you were a poster here.... I've been enjoying your videos for quite awhile. "Brand New Sucker" is my favorite since "The Future Soon." I've never even been a big fan of that song, but I think it was made for you!

    Other favorites: Tom Cruise Crazy by Molly (of course!), and some crazy lady singing "Gambler's Prayer" for her husband's birthday.... ;)
  • edited May 2008
    Jukebox Hero - Foreigner
    Back in Black - AC/DC

    ?The Hustle?

    Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
    We Got the Beat - Go-Gos

    Nobody Loves Me_ Portishead

    Tom Sawyer - Rush
    Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
    Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
    ETA: Break on Through - The Doors
    Don't Bring Me Down - ELO
    Rainbow Connection - Kermit :-)
    (?) Funkytown - Lipps Inc

    ??Let Me Go - Heaven 17

    Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
    ? long stretch of stuff I don't recognize ?
    Born in the USA - Bruce Springstein
    Canon in D - Pachelbel
    Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi
    Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel
  • Thanks for the help, Gle3nn! Now if folks could confirm our questionable ones, and fill in the rest (especially the long bit after Stairway), that'd be great. :-)

    Jukebox Hero - Foreigner
    Back in Black - AC/DC
    ?
    The Hustle - Van McCoy
    ?
    Pick up the Pieces - Average White Band <-- the one I couldn't remember (Thank you, Amazon)
    Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
    We Got the Beat - Go-Gos
    Nobody Loves Me - Portishead
    Tom Sawyer - Rush
    Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
    [There's something playing over Queen that sounds almost like Eric Clapton's Lay Down Sally?]
    Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
    Break on Through - The Doors
    Don't Bring Me Down - ELO
    Rainbow Connection - Kermit :-)
    (?) Funkytown - Lipps Inc
    (?) Let Me Go - Heaven 17
    Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
    ? long stretch of stuff ?
    Born in the USA - Bruce Springstein
    Canon in D - Pachelbel
    Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi
    Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel
  • I remember that one of the songs is the opening guitar of Shining Star by Earth Wind and Fire, but I don't have access to the song right now to confirm where it is.
  • I wanted to post a link to Fong Songs, which is one of my favorite cover blogs. They've got a link to a cover of Still Alive by missFlag that I haven't seen mentioned before.
  • D,SJ,D was amazing, i especially like when you added the piano to JoCo's version of it. Interesting hearing it with another instrument in the mix. It sounds great.
  • Hey I didn't know this discussion was in here.. serves me right for not thinking :)

    Without reading your list I threw together my own list as a comment to the original post. For clarification:
    0:29 - the "Ohhh!" in the background is from "Unbelievable" by EMF
    1:25 - the bass guitar is from "Block Rockin' Beats" by Chemical Brothers
    1:47 - the organ is from "Let Your Backbone Slide" by Maestro Fresh-Wes

    I know "FunkyTown" and "The Hustle" quite well, and currently believe that they do not appear in this work.

    Good job identifying "We Got The Beat". i was never a big GoGo's fan. I cannot confirm the Portishead song either.

    I suspect that is "Lay Down Sally" overtop of Another One Bites The Dust, but I can't be sure of it.
  • Also I'm not so sure about "Pick Up the Pieces" either.
  • Ah. What I thought was The Hustle around 0:34, I think might actually be another snippet from Pick Up the Pieces, which is correct. I thought I heard something FunkyTown-like around 1:21, but no, it's not FunkyTown.
  • 2:15 - right before "Born to Run" is "Dog Pound Hop" by Jim Smith. More commonly known as the theme song to Ren & Stimpy.

    I seem to know useless information.
  • edited May 2008
    Is that Lay Down Sally right before whole lotta love?
  • That's what M_Pony and I think. It overlaps the end of Another One Bites the Dust.
  • 0:36 - '19-2000' by Gorillaz? Oh please let that be true.
  • Ann is new. Ann is good. Ann knows what the hell she's doin'. Hooray for new faces on the forum!
  • [Speaking of Gorillaz, my kids chorus provided the backing vocals for Dirty Harry.]
  • Haha, thanks jinx, glad to be of service! Colleenky, that's awesomeness.
  • Thanks, Ann. And welcome! You might want to say "howdy" to everybody here, if you like. :-)
  • I must add that I'm also really enjoying Paul Sahner - keeps the friendly "guitar vs piano" argument alive. Happened to notice that he uses the transpose button, too, at least on DSJD, which puts it in the guitar-with-capo territory ;-)
  • Hey guys, I know you're all sick of Still Alive, but here's a video of my band covering it. We've been playing the song since about 2 days after Portal came out so if it's any consolation, we played it before it was trendy. There are a few other good cuts from that concert we played at Anime Central on the same users channel if anyone has more interest about my band. Check it out if you like video games and anime, or this song at the very least if you like JoCo.

  • I saw that earlier suuuupaadave but I didn't realize that it was your band. That was actually a pretty good cover. You guys are pretty tight (I also like how the audience got all into it).
  • Yay, it's a long weekend Over Here, which gave me time for music. Mixing cues from Pwn Monkey, Spiff and Paul Sahner, I am ending up with a rather schizoid pseudo-classical version of DSJD. I don't have Walt Ribiero's capacity for recording an orchestrated version, but it does make an amusing piano piece. Hopefully I can play it well enough tomorrow to make it worth recording.
  • Another video has popped up of me with my bandmate Alex performing Tom Cruise Crazy at the anime central 2008 at early o' clock am. This was done rather impromptu, hence me blatantly copying what Paul and Storm do with the funny stuff in the third verse. Forgive me for being unoriginal, but considering this was done off the cuff I feel pretty good about it. There was a point around 3:00 am where we played something like 5 or 6 JoCo songs in a row, but it was because people were requesting them and I like to oblige.

    Tom Cruise Crazy
  • edited May 2008
    Nice, but it would have even been better if you'd've sung "Never Gonna Give You Up" in backing at some point. Hehe... <(^-^)<
  • Okay, my long weekend project finally got to the point where I managed to play through it without a major train wreck. It is essentially a bit weird, but here (the only song on the page) is version 1 of DSJD as a stylistically-confused piano piece with subtext that would please robgonzo.
  • edited May 2008
    he is pleased.
    Seriously, great job! I love the Sugar Plum Fairy bits!
  • Borba: Loved it!

    Have to admit that even knowing I was listening to DSJD, it took me a few moments to realize what I was listening to. I blame the Stones:
    image

    This is probably not what you were going for, but I think the way you've arranged the chorus would be very fitting for the intro music to a newscast.
  • @Bry: We're on the same page - it evolved into a horn call ("Hunt, SJ, Hunt?") which is kind of newscastish. Maybe more of a Mike Post/Pete Carpenter 80's theme tune? And "Paint if Black" is a bloody good angle I wish I had thought of! You probably now see what I originally meant when I said the melody works contrapuntally in the straightened, simplified form.

    I actually started thinking of doing something orchestral, but then I realized that it's more realistic to stick to piano, so parts of it are meant to suggest an orchestral reduction. Who knows, my next long weekend is in August...

    @Rob: So now the question is who does the role of the fairy, SoJo or Terry Gross? I really wish a) I could meld the (Nutcracker) Trepak better with the bridge, and b) it was a different Cossack dance, which would have allowed the title "Gopak, SoJo, Gopak!"
  • Nice, I think it's fantastic. Well done!
  • BryBry
    edited May 2008
    Ah, a horn call! I would love to hear that done by actual brass. Anyone capable of setting that up? If so, anyone capable of installing it as the intro music to Soterios Johnson's newscasts?

    (Re: Gopak: I have always wanted to write a cut-time arrangement of modern Hindustani music just to be able to call it "Bourree for Bollywood.")
  • @suuuupaadave: Would just like to say I love your band, have bumped into them before when searching for a good version of one winged angel. I am a big fan of final fantasy (although I only have 7 and 8, silly only owning an original playstation and not getting round to buying 9). Love your stuff, it rocks muchly. Also while on the praising you tone, love the lessons.
  • @Borba - Dang, that's cool!
  • Borba - This is amazing! Thank you for sharing it.
  • Don't encourage me, you might cause me to do more summary justice to the canon ;-)
  • Truly awesome, Borba! How long have you been playing? Maybe next time there's a three-day weekend, you should tackle another ;)
  • Amazing! fantastic! Excellent!
  • edited May 2008
    (Wait for the finished version).
  • Dantes link == no bueno. Object not found. 404.
  • edited May 2008
    Works for me, and of the 5 seconds I had time to hear. It was good.

    ETA: I see that was adressed. Darn.
  • Works for me now too.
  • Thanks, Jon. :)
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