The Rich Girls Are Weeping

04 June 2008

(photo: jean lannen)


Oh, hello! I owe a review of the Bellmer Dolls/WOMAN/Magick Daggers show a few weeks back (OMG, do I ever have to go to Union Pool on a Friday night on a holiday weekend again? Please promise me I don't.) -- and a reminder of a few things that are coming up in the next week or so. I promise, I'll post that tomorrow. I swear.

In the meantime, we're a bunch of crabby grumpuses over here at Castle Rich Girls tonight, which meant that there was only one thing to do -- pop in disc two of the super-obsessively wonderful Roxy Music 2-dvd set The Thrill Of It All: A Visual History 1972 - 1982. We'd watched the first disc about a month or so ago, but tonight we needed some broken hearted Bryan Ferry to make us feel better. Or something.

Make no mistake about it, I'm pretty sure that Roxy Music is my favorite band of all time, and the 1978-1980 years are my absolute favorite, if mostly for Andy MacKay's amazing mullet and special pointy sideburns. And possibly all the leather suiting. And sharkskin. And the sweater with the saxophone on it.

Anyway, smack in the middle of the disc is the band's cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." I turned to Pinkie and declared, "I believe this is one of the best songs ever written." Which is odd to say, really, because it's actually quite chilling when you stop and think about it -- a man's jealousy can be a terrifying thing sometimes. But Lennon's unapologetic apology is just so ... painfully real, which is why I imagine so many dudes have subsequently covered it (nearly 100, according to Wikipedia). I love the original, I love Roxy's version, I love Donny Hathaway's version. And I'd completely forgotten about the Deftones cover -- thx, Wikipedia!

It's also odd to think about the fact that when Roxy covered the song after Lennon's murder, they were accused of cashing on tragedy -- when in reality, it fits in quite well with the band's other songs at the time. Ferry was still clearly smarting from his split from Jerry Hall -- something he didn't artistically bury until the video for "Avalon," really. (Which I've also included for your viewing pleasure because it's so very lovely.)




John Lennon -- Jealous Guy



Donny Hathaway -- Jealous Guy



Roxy Music -- Jealous Guy



Roxy Music -- Avalon

See, now we're in a better mood, yay! Hope you are, too.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yay for a new Rich Girls post! This is mildly mortifying (hence the anonymity), but I thought "Jealous Guy" was a Roxy Music original for YEARS. Just backing up your "it fits in quite well" argument...

Wednesday, June 04, 2008 2:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The best part has to be the cat in the Andy MacKay picture. "What am I doing here?"

Wednesday, June 04, 2008 12:39:00 PM  
Blogger cindy hotpoint said...

I love that cat, I do. Makes me wonder, was that his cat?

Don't worry late nite anonymous, I won't tell anyone of your secret shame!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:50:00 PM  
Blogger douglas martin said...

donny hathaway killed his version of "jealous guy." his version is almost better than the original.

ah, how people have slept on hathaway over the years. he's got to be like top-five best soul singers EVER.

Friday, June 06, 2008 8:24:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

ahhhh.
thank you.
that cured my hangover
http://music.pluggedin.com

Friday, June 06, 2008 6:34:00 PM  

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