Sunday, June 15, 2014

‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS #22’ (Or, ‘PEGGY LEE VERSUS "JESSICA" IRVING’)

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Republican Vs. Democrat, Male Vs. Female, War Vs. Peace, Light Vs. Dark, Good Vs. Evil, Man Vs. Machine, Love Vs. Hate, Dog Vs. Cat, Sun Vs. Moon, Brain Vs. Brawn, Oscar Vs. Grammy, Angel Vs. Demon, Laurel Vs. Hardy, Beer Vs. Wine, TV Vs. Radio, Pitcher Vs. Batter, Paper Vs. Plastic, Reality Vs. Fantasy, Yeshua Vs. Beelzebub, Conservative Vs. Liberal, You Vs. Me, House Vs. Senate, Offense Vs. Defense, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Spy Vs. Spy, Fischer Vs. Spassky, W.C. Fields Vs. Sobriety, Harold Gimpy, Jr. Vs. Sheldon J. Pismire, Rock Vs. Paper Vs. Scissors, Islam Vs. Everything, Singer Vs. Singer, Band Vs. Band...

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  BANDS! (‘BOTB’)
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Shoop-Shooby –
Shooby-duh-Dooby-Doop-Dooby-Dooby-Doo-Wah –
Buh-Doo-Wah!

Yes, it’s time once again for ‘Battle Of The Bands’ (‘BOTB’)
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EUGENE  MARTONE  VS.  JACK  BUTLER
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Alright, let’s get on it...

Do you know the song ‘The Weed Smoker’s Dream’?
Yes, you do. Well... you do... sort of.

According to Wackypedia, it was written in 1936 by Joseph “Kansas Joe” McCoy “and recorded by his band, the Harlem Hamfats. The song was subtitled Why Don't You Do Now on the original release. McCoy later rewrote the song, refining the composition and changing the lyrics entirely. The new tune, now titled Why Don't You Do Right?’, was recorded by Lil Green in 1941, with guitar played by William “Big Bill” Broonzy. The recording was an early jazz and blues hit.

... “One of the best-known versions of the song, Peggy Lee’s, was recorded on July 27, 1942 in New York with Benny Goodman. It sold over 1 million copies and brought her to nationwide attention.

“Lee often stated that Green's recording was extremely influential to her music. In a 1984 interview she said:

‘I was and am a fan of Lil Green, a great old blues singer, and Lil recorded it. I used to play that record over and over in my dressing room, which was next door to Benny's (Goodman). Finally he said, 'You obviously like that song.' I said, 'Oh, I love it.' He said, 'Would you like me to have an arrangement made of it?' I said, 'I'd love that,' and he did.’

Why Don't You Do Right?’ was not the biggest hit Goodman and Lee put out; it only reached #4 on the Billboard charts. But it defined Lee's sultry and rich vocal style early on in her career.”

‘WHY DON'T YOU DO RIGHT?’ (1942)
PEGGY LEE & BENNY GOODMAN


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GODZILLA  VS.  KING  KONG
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In 1978, two years after he made the movie Carrie, director Brian DePalma made another (bad) movie about a psychic teenaged girl. This one was called The Fury and it starred Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, and Amy Irving. I certainly didn’t star in it – I didn’t even speak in it – but I did appear in it...

‘The Paragon Institute’ (owner/operator Charles Durning) was a place where psychic young people lived and further developed their abilities. And that’s where Charles Durning (in “real life”, Mr. Demille DePalma) put Amy Irving and myself back-to-back in regal looking, high-backed leather chairs and I mentally transmitted to her the images that I was seeing on flash cards, and she mentally received those images I sent and pointed them out when the correct flash card was shown to her. Ooh! The magic of Hollyweird! (Psst... Just between you and me, DePalma told Amy Irving in advance which symbols she should point to. But don’t tell anyone else because it’s a Hollyweird secret how these sorts of special effects are achieved.)
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Charles Durning and Amy Irving in ‘The Fury’. A couple of caption possibilities for this photo come to my mind but... they’re both “dirty”.
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I’ve told you all this only so you would believe me when I tell you that I once met the next contestant in this Battle Of The Bands’ installment. Yes... I once met... Jessica Rabbit.

In the (great!) movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Kathleen Turner supplied Jessica Rabbit’s speaking voice, but it was Amy Irving who did Jessica Rabbit’s singing.

And now I give you Jessica Rabbit’s version of ‘Why Don’t You Do Right?’

‘WHY DON'T YOU DO RIGHT?’ (1988)
JESSICA RABBIT - AMY IRVING


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RIDDLER  VS.  BATMAN
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Alright now, “you know the gig”... I welcome EVERYONE to vote for their favorite of these songs in the comment section below. And feel free to tell us WHY you chose one song over the other. (NOTE: Comment Moderation is activated. All submitted comments that do not transgress "Ye Olde Comment Policy" will be posted as soon as possible. Thanks for taking the time to comment.)

After voting here, I suggest - actually I insist - you pop over to FAE’s ‘Far Away Series’, Arlee Bird’s ‘Tossing It Out’, Robin’s ‘Your Daily Dose’, and LC’s ‘DiscConnected’ blogs to see which songs they have chosen and vote there also. (If their ‘BOTB’ blog bits aren’t posted yet, pour yourself two shots of ‘Grand Marnier’ over ice – do it twice – and then return to their blogs to vice your voice ...vote your vice ...voice your vote.)

Voice Your Vote @ ‘FAR AWAY SERIES’ by clicking HERE.
Voice Your Vote @ ‘TOSSING IT OUT’ by clicking HERE.
Voice Your Vote @ ‘YOUR DAILY DOSE’ by clicking HERE.
Voice Your Vote @ ‘DISCCONNECTED’ by clicking HERE.
Voice Your Vote @ 'A WRITER'S LIFE IN PROGRESS' by clicking HERE.

As I've done in the past, I will continue to return to my 'BOTB' blog bits on the 7th and 21st of each month to post my own votes and announce the winners in the comment sections.

Links To Previous 'BOTB' Installments:
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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28 comments:

  1. Sorry, Jessica, just too slow. And, Benny Goodman!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. BROTHER MARTIN ~
      So you prefer it fast and hot rather than slow and easy, eh?

      Yeah... this isn't a "music test", it's a "sex test". As my friend DiscConnected likes to say (although when I say it, it's actually true), there are NO WRONG ANSWERS HERE.

      Benny Goodman... Dude! That guy was just fantabulous! (Even before Van Morrison invented the word.)

      I probably didn't discover Benny Goodman until 12 or 13 years after I discovered The Sex Pistols. But when I found Goodman's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' (written by Louis Prima, by the way), I started telling people to listen to ANY Sex Pistols song and then listen to Benny's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' and tell me which band they thought expended the most energy.

      Benny Goodman was "Punk Jazz" long before "Punk Rock" was even a sperm lookin' for a place to land!

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  2. Jessica can go back to Toontown. Peggy Lee and Benny G. take my vote.
    The breathing song -that's not singing, that's seduction by Jessica Rabbitt . . .interesting about you knowing the singer!

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    1. D.G. ~
      Yeah, but... WOW!... what "breathing", what "seduction", what a wild hare! (I guess it's a "guy" thang. Ha!)

      Ya know, Jessica told me personally that she wasn't bad, she was just drawn that way. And I took her word for it.

      But you know what?
      She was... "BAD!"

      Thanks for your vote, D.G.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  3. Is that the same Amy Irving who later married Speilberg?

    It must be, but she doesn't look like the same person in that picture (not just younger-even her face seems different).

    This is tough-both arrangements are good, as are both vocal performances. I think I like the torch-ier Irving vocal a bit better, so Jessica Rabbit gets my vote.

    LC

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    1. LC ~
      Yes indeed it's the very same Amy Irving. The reason she looks different in those photographs is because those shots were taken BEFORE she came into possession of 100 million dollars of Steven Spielberg's money. HA!-HA!

      Thanks for you're vote, Doctor DiscDude.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  4. Seems to me that this one comes down to whether you want your horn blown or your ivories tickled. I've always preferred my ivories being tickled. Was that too much information???? Ha!

    However, that said, I really like both versions of this song. In fact, I enjoyed the Lee/Goodman version so much I was sure that they had it in the bag. And then I heard Jessica Rabbit. (That movie was great and I haven't seen it in A LONG TIME so it was like hearing this song for the first time all over again.) I love the piano and I think the smoky voice works on this one. So, check me in for Amy Irving and the Rabbit... hahaha. I just realized what I said.... oh dear!

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    1. >>... "...whether you want your horn blown or your ivories tickled."

      HA! Nice wording there, GIRL WONDER.
      Wanna take a stab at captioning that photo above of Charles Durning and Amy Irving with her ice cream cone? (See if your captions and mine are somewhat similar?)

      OK, well then there now, it seems Jessica Rabbit is off and running and this is turning into a real 'BOTB' contest after all.

      Thanks for voting, Robin!

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Undeground'

      Delete
    2. "Look at my fingers. It's Tab A and Slot B. You can practice with your ice cream."

      Ha!

      Delete
  5. The Jessica version is nice--it would have been nicer at about a minute and a half--it started getting a little repetitious and boring.

    It's gotta be the Goodman and Lee for me. Benny's one of my all time favorites.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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    1. BOIDMAN ~
      Maybe if Jessica Rabbit had been touching you all over while singing that song you wouldn't have found it to be too long after all. ;-)

      Got you down for Lee and the great Benny G.

      ~ D-FEnsDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  6. I didn't know Amy Irving was the singing voice for Jessica Rabbit. I loved that movie. Its a tough choice here, Brenda and Benny are just so good; but I cannot resist the silky, sexy voice of Jessica (ne Amy).

    Jessica for me.

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    1. DONNA ~
      'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' has been one of my Top 25 Favorite Movies Of All Time from the very first time I saw it in a Los Angeles movie theatre in '88. (If you've never seen the Jack Nicholson movie 'Chinatown', you should, because '...Roger Rabbit' was basically a Live Action / Animated version of it. Private Detectives... 'Chinatown' - 'Toontown'; 'Water Rights In L.A. - Freeway Rights In L.A.' Very similar stories!)

      Thanks for your vote.

      I never count the votes until the end, but I sense that Jessica Rabbit has hopped forward to take the lead in this contest.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  7. What has American Pop done to me, man? I voted for the first one without a second thought. Also I realized how much I love that classic Benny Goodman sound. Peggy Lee is good, and Amy "Jessica Rabbit" Irving is great, but Benny Goodman is, as you say, fantabulous, and he wins it for me easily.

    I'll chime in some time later this week with "the other half" of my vote, but for now I thought I'd at least get this started and show ol' Benny some love.

    ~6B

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    1. Thanks, 6-B!
      I really like how close this 'BOTB' contest is. Very often, when I'm putting a 'BOTB' together, I will have a belief about which contestant will win the thing (sometimes thinking my own vote will line up with the winner, and other times suspecting that my own vote will be in the minority). Very often though my preconceived ideas about who will win turn out to be wrong.

      Then there are other times when I can't even begin to guess which musical artist is going to win the 'BOTB' I'm putting together.

      This was one of those times, and I STILL can't tell who is going to win this one.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
    2. Saw my fraternal non-related twin brother yesterday and he gave it to Peggy and Benny, if only because he's, as he puts it, "not a big fan of that breathy singing."

      I'm curious to see not just who you voted for (like Sheboygan, I really can't figure it out. Most times I can, this time I can't), but who you thought would be the blowout. I know those two don't always go hand in hand.

      ~6B

      Delete
    3. 6-B ~
      I'll bet Brandon wouldn't have minded that "breathy singing" if Jessica simultaneously had her paws all over him, rubbing his fur in the opposite way that it grows.
      :-)

      Thanks so much for getting Brandon's vote for me!

      Man, this 'BOTB' installment seems like its ear to ear, or butt to cotton tail. I'm really curious to see who wins this one, as I think its amongst the tightest 'BOTB' races I've ever had.

      Thanks again to both of you B Boys.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  8. I am a fan of Peggy Lee. On the other hand, Amy's version is plenty sexy. However, I will vote for Lee and the tight, swinging Goodman version.

    It is a puzzle guessing which way YOU will vote on this. I don't think you like Peggy that well but you love Goodman. Since you love Who Framed RR, and since you acted with Irving, I will guess these (unrelated) factors sway you subconsciously to vote for Amy's version. Also, a vote that way will further cement in your mind my crappy musical taste.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. SHEBOYGANBROTHER J. McSIX ~
      Thanks for yer vote!

      I DO love Benny Goodman! You got that right. However, you got the Peggy part wrong - I like her really well too. (C'mon man, she was "Peg" in one of my all-time favorite animated movies, 'LADY AND THE TRAMP'!)

      >>... since you acted with Irving, I will guess these (unrelated) factors sway you subconsciously...

      Well, I wouldn't say that either of us were really "acting", and I am pretty good about remaining objective when it comes to these sorts of things.

      >>... Also, a vote that way will further cement in your mind my crappy musical taste.

      Well... there IS THAT.
      Ha!-Ha! ...And we HAVE been voting alike quite often lately, which is bound to concern me. ...Yeah, maybe I better play this one safe.
      :-)

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  9. There is a lot I would like to say but...

    I vote for the girl who was smart enough to marry a rabbit. She must get to...play patty cake all day long.

    Lucky goil!

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    1. FAE ~
      In putting this blog bit together I came across the fact that the woman who supplied Betty Boop's voice in the original cartoons also supplied her voice in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'.

      I thought that was GREAT. And it really surprised me too, because I wouldn't have thought she was still alive and "booping" in 1987/'88 when 'Roger Rabbit' was produced.

      What a lucky ol' goil.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  10. I love both Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee, so figured this would be an easy choice. Not so. The second version is seductive, and has sex dripping from every breathy syllable. Still, I'm still going with Goodman and Lee. The slow pace of the second one wore thin for me quite quickly.

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  11. Al Bondigas here. I never thought I would ever vote against Peggy Lee, but that damn Rabbit had me so flustered that I didn't know whether I should take a cold shower or find her that money she was asking for. I'm still shaking damn it. Vote for Jessy poo.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Part 1 Of 2:

    STMcC’s Vote On ‘BOTB #22’
    And The Final Tally:


    Sorry I’m a day late with my ‘BOTB’ results but... stuffs happens.

    I’d been planning to use the song ‘WHY DON’T YOU DO RIGHT?’ for quite some time and for whatever reason, this time felt right.

    This one really came down to evaluating several different factors when determining one’s preference:

    There was tempo – both versions were done in very different tempos, with the “Jessica Irving” version being ultra-slow.

    The styles of the two singers were also considerably different. Peggy Lee performed the song in a rather brassy, sassy way, while Jessica Irving went for the sultry, sexy approach.

    And then there was a significant difference in the instrumentation. Benny Goodman gave it the Big Band treatment with the focus on his clarinet (naturally), while on the ‘Roger Rabbit’ soundtrack recording, the crackerjack studio musicians Randy Waldman and Chuck Domanico were featured on the piano and bass respectively. (Or as Robin humorously expressed it: It was a matter of “whether you want your horn blown or your ivories tickled.”)

    I really like BOTH versions of this song, and the fact that I own both versions on compact discs is proof of that.

    However, when it comes down to selecting just one, as much as I love Big Band and Benny Goodman, I gotta vote for Jessica (Amy Irving) Rabbit. That slow, sultry sex-appeal really gets me.

    And in case anyone is suspicious, I will state emphatically that I’m not voting for the second version because I once appeared in a movie scene with Amy Irving. When I purchased my compact disc soundtrack of ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ in 1988, I had no idea that it was Amy Irving who supplied Jessica Rabbit with her singing voice. It wasn’t until owning the CD and reading the liner notes that I made that discovery.

    Thinking back on the day that scene was filmed for the movie ‘THE FURY’, I can remember only a few details about it. (After all, I was like 18 or 19 years old then, and I’m 54 now, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge over the decades.)

    Continued Below...

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    1. Part 2 Of 2:

      I didn’t have Clue One who Amy Irving was when that scene was shot, and I suppose most folks wouldn’t have either. But in 1989, Irving was awarded an approximately 100 million dollar divorce settlement after 4 years of marriage to Steven Spielberg, and she was certainly a household name after that.

      However, I thought it was an A-list day when that scene was filmed. Why? Because I was on the set for only about 3 hours, maybe 3.5 hours.

      Some days you could be told to report to a sound stage early in the morning and be there all day long. I was paid by the day, not by the hour.

      But apparently director Brian DePalma really knew what he wanted because, if I recall correctly, my reporting time was late morning (maybe 9:30-ish AM). I think I had to wait about an hour and a half for the crew to finish the shot they were working on before they started setting the stage and lighting for our “Mind-Reading” scene.

      The camera work was pretty simple: It was a dolly shot where the camera rolled back and forth a couple of times filming Amy and I from the profile as she “read the symbols in my mind” twice. Then Charles Durning tosses the flash cards as if to say, “This is just too easy for her”. And... CUT!

      I don’t recall DePalma wanting to shoot the scene from ANY OTHER angles or in any other way; no close-ups, no low-angle zooms, nuttin’ fancy like that. He knew exactly how he wanted that scene to look and wasted no time by shooting stuffs that would ultimately end up on a cutting room floor. I think we may have done only two takes of that dolly shot (the second as a safety measure) and that was it for me for the day. They cut me loose, and with a full day’s pay for maybe 3 hours of work, I was back home drinking beer with my buddies ‘The League Of Soul Crusaders’ before the day was even properly warmed up. Brian DePalma - that’s MY KIND OF DIRECTOR!

      Anyway, the “Amy Irving / Jessica Rabbit” connection played NO PART in my voting.

      I can’t help wondering if “Jessica Irving” would have gotten any more votes if I had posted her interpretation in the form of the ‘ROGER RABBIT’ Movie Scene in which she actually performed the song.

      But regardless, I wouldn’t want the images interfering with the voting outcome, which is supposed to be based solely on the music.

      In the final tally, my own vote for Jessica couldn’t quite win the contest for her:

      Peggy Lee & Benny Goodman = 7 Votes
      Jessica Rabbit (Amy Irving) = 6 Votes


      My thanks as always to everyone who participated! I hope to see you all back for ‘BOTB #23’ on July 1ST.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      ‘Loyal American Underground’

      Delete
  13. Ah, I think the fix was in. Youse know it, and I's knows it. The rabbit shouda got it on this one.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The Rabbit knew too much.
      She had to be taken out.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal Italian Business Association'

      Delete

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