Stereothematica

Ever hear a song and say, "Yeah, this is nice. But what would it sound like in French/Spanish/Greek/Swahili/Urdu?" Well, then, friends, you're in the right place. This week we take songs that are already good in English and some how get even better in a foreign language. And the best news? No one picked "Yesterday"!

SONGS:

Freedom Fry: Stayin’ Alive (Cover 2021) (Bee Gees 1977)

Mikel Erentxun: Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagara (Cover 1992) (The Smiths 1986) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Other Covers of Popular English Songs in Another Language

Rachid Taha (Arabic): Rock the Casbah (The Clash)

Karel Gott (Yiddish): Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones)

Eileen (French): These Boots Are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra)

Selena (Spanish): Fotos y Recuerdos (The Pretenders)

David Bowie (Italian): Space Oddity (David Bowie)

Seu Jorge (Portuguese): The Life Aquatic (David Bowie Tribute)

Marta Kubišová (Czech): Hey Jude (The Beatles)

Albert Pla (Spanish): Walk on the Wildside (Lou Reed)

Lena Lovich (Japanese): I Think We’re Alone Now (Tommy James and the Shondells)

Nina Hagen (German): Sonntagmorgen (Velvet Underground)

From Pluribus

Maro (Portuguese): Era de Aquário/Deixa o Sol Entrar (The 5th Dimension)

Kit Sebastian (Turkish): People Are Strange (The Doors) 

Murat Evgeen (Turkish): Nobody Told Me (John Lennon)

Vince Gilligan Talks Pluribus Soundtrack (Brooklyn Vegan)

Learn More

About Freedom Fry

About Blondfire

Duet Between Two Nationalities: A Conversation with Freedom Fry (Atwood Magazine, 2016)

Freedom Fry Covers (Spotify)

610 Foreign Covers of Popular English Language Songs (Spotify User James Haardiing)

Beach Boys’ Fans Talk Foreign Cover Versions (Endless Harmony)

Readers Recommend Foreign Language Versions (The Guardian)

Multimodal Refractions of Bob Dylan in French Covers (Jean-Charles Meunier, Ph.D. thesis)

Pushing Aside Stayin’ Alive: New songs to keep the (heart)beat during CPR

The Office CPR Scene

Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” Drum Loop from “Night Fever”

Mikel Erentxun (All Music)

Duncan Dhu - En Algun Lugar (YouTube)

Naufragios (1992), de Mikel Erentxun (Efe Eme)

Todo es igual siempre (YouTube)

Gotcha Covered: “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”

Unsolicited Advice

Radio France: FIP

FIP: Curious Radio and More

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Happy Pride Month! Queer and LGBTQ music is incredible for ALL audiences, every day of the year (not just Pride month, of course!). This week we share some under the radar gay anthems and celebrate the queer musicians who made them.

SONGS:

Lavender Country: "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears" (1973)

Elton John: Philadelphia Freedom (1975)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Hundreds Turn Out for Wisconsin High Schoolers’ Performance of Banned LGBTQ Song (truthout)

'Don't Sneak': Dad's Unexpected Advice To His Gay Son In The '50s (NPR)

Sissy Podcast: Lavender Country 

50 years of Lavender Country: the radical history of the first queer country album

Philadelphia Freedom Isn't Just a Gay Anthem. It's a Pride Anthem (NYT - Allyson McCabe; Please note: Christine ACCIDENTALLY mispronounces Megan Rapinoe's last name when quoting from this essay.)

Billie Jean King Talks About Philadelphia Freedom (EltonJohn.com) 

Billie Jean King was told not to come out 45 years ago. She did it anyway. (Outsports.com)

Elton John performing Philadelphia Freedom on Soul Train (1975)

Elton John Comes Out as Bisexual In Rolling Stones' 1976 Cover Story

Elton John Aids Foundation

Billie Jean King: “I don’t think people have any idea how hard it is for trans people” (Diva)

Whip-poor-will (All About Birds)

Best LGBTQ Anthems of All Time (Billboard)

BBC Soul Music - Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Shortest songs don't always yield the shortest episodes, but they do pack a punch! And while this isn't technically our shortest episode, it does come in second, after our SECOND episode Pump Up Songs. Enjoy the brevity and levity, and please share your favorite shorties on Instagram. 

SONGS:

¡Ay, Paquita! (Performed by Rosalía) - Paquita Salas (2018)

Dang Me - Roger Miller (1964) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Paquita Salas Soundtrack Seasons 1-3

Season One Opening Credits - Sung by Alberto Jiménez y Miss Caffeina

Season Two Opening Credits - Sung by Rosalía

Season Three Opening Credits - Sung by Isabel Pantoja

Rosalía Canta la Nueva Cabecera de Paquita Salas

Vanity Fair piece (en español) on the Season Three Theme Sung by Isabel Pantoja

Rosalia’s acting debut in Euphoria

La Bola Negra 20-Minute from Overjoyed Audience at Cannes (Deadline)

Los Javis call Glen Close

60 Years Ago: Roger Miller Revolutionizes Country with 1:42 Song

Roger Miller: Country Music Hall of Fame

Roger Miller performing Dang Me on American Bandstand. July 11, 1964

THEATER; Roger Miller: King of the Rhyme (NYT)

UNSOLICITED ADVICE:

Cloud Appreciation Society

CloudSpotter App

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

The Seattle sound. Flannel shirts. Rejecting conformity. Embracing dirty hair. What is "grunge"? Join us this week as we dive into a couple of grunge songs (and make some interesting connections to musical influence on the grunge scene). 

SONGS:

Silverchair: Tomorrow (Australian version, 1995)

Nirvana: Turnaround (1990)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Hey Millennials, Grunge Was Never A Movement. It Was Never A Genre. Get Over Yourselves. (Thought.is)

Silverchair - Tomorrow - Live on MTV Awards 1995 (YouTube)

Why Nirvana’s label originally hated ‘In Utero’ (Far Out)

Tomorrow music video - U.S. version (YouTube)

Silverchair – Tomorrow: the song that blew open Australian rock (The Guardian)

Devo: Turn Around (1980)

Turnaround Live (1990)

Flashback: Nirvana Cover Devo's 1980 Obscurity "Turn Around" (Rolling Stone)

LiveNirvana (Everything you never cared to learn about Nirvana)

The Lost Interview Guitar World (1993)

Musique Plus Interview (1991)

Devo: Clockout (1979)

Nirvana: Stay Away (1992)

We Are Legend: Devo (The Guardian)

Pitchfork Review of Incesticide (2018)

BBC Peel Sessions

The Folk Roots of Nirvana: Kurt Cobain's Love of Lead Belly and Beyond

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Forget “please allow me to introduce myself” or “my name is….” What if your introduction were a song, or a mesmerizing opening credit sequence, or maybe even a reference you can’t stop thinking about? This episode is about the art of introduction through music, because before a single word is spoken, music can tell us exactly who we’re meeting and what kind of world we're about to enter.

SONGS:

Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World Opening Title Sequence (2001)

 The Adventures of Pete and Pete Intro (1993) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Freaky Friday Title Sequence (1976)

“Jaan Pehechan Ho” from Gumnaam (1965)

Noir Meets Nawathe: Close-Up on "Gumnaam" (Bedatri D.Choudhury)

Stereothematica Get Up and Dance Playlist

Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood (David Novak)

Three Things You Never Knew About Ghost World (Dazed Digital) 

Why a Fake Band From a 1990s Kids' Show Decided to Tour This Year (Wired)

Critic’s Notebook: Polaris rising: Mark Mulcahy’s ‘Pete and Pete’ band comes to town (LA Times) 

Catching Up with the Cast of The Adventures of Pete & Pete (Consequence of Sound)

The Adventures of Danny and Mike (podcast)

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Ever feel like skipping ahead to see what's in store for the next chapter?Understandable, but it's probably best to let your next chapter unfold naturally. That's what we're doing this week--embracing next chapters and the music we listen to as we mentally settle into a new path. Welcome to Season 3, friends!

SONGS:

Broadcast: Before We Begin (2003)

Canned Head: Going Up the Country (1968 / 1970 Performance)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Broadcast Wants You to Stay Inside (Medium)

Untold Stories (Part 1) - The History of the Birmingham Music Scene in the 1960s (YouTube)

Broadcast Singer Trish Keenan Dies (Rolling Stone)

A true artist: The legacy of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan (Far Out Magazine)

Distant Call - Collected Demos 2000-2006 (Bandcamp)

Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Bandcamp)

Henry Thomas: Bull Doze Blues (1928)

Henry Thomas: Honey, Won’t You Allow Me One More Chance (1927)

Bob Dylan: Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance (1963)

Henry Thomas: Fishing Blues (1928)

Lovin’ Spoonful: Fishing Blues (1965)

Henry Thomas: Don’t Ease Me In (1927)

Grateful Dead: Don’t Ease Me In (1966)

Tommy Jones: Canned Heat Blues (1928)

Son House: Father of Folk Blues Album (1965)

Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson Website 

Alan Wilson: The Bridge Between Woodstock and the Delta Blues

Five Reasons Alan Wilson Remains a Guitar Legend

HAPPENINGS:

Devo: The First 50 Years! (Until June 20 at MutMuz Gallery)

ADVICE:

Download the Merlin Bird ID app

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Memorable melodies. A theatrical flair. A note only a Broadway star could hold. It's showtime, baby! This week we're puttin' on the ritz and singing along to our favorite showtunes. Join us in the chorus line, won't you?

SONGS:

Big Spender from Sweet Charity (Original, Broadway cast 1966) 

Cats Memory Reprise (Original Broadway cast 1983) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Big Spender Scene from Sweet Charity Movie (1969)

The Rich Man’s Frug from Sweet Charity Movie  

Beverly D’Angelo performing Big Spender in National Lampoon’s European Vacation  (1985)

Shirley Bassey: Big Spender (1967 - Live Performance: 1971)

Peggy Lee: Big Spender (1966)

Queen: Big Spender Live (Night at the Odeon - Encore - 1975)

Cy Coleman talking about Collaboration with Dorothy Fields on NPR (1999)

The Fosse Woman: Analysis of Femininity, Aesthetics, and Corporeality by Dara Milovanovic (2018) 

Missy Elliott: Big Spender (2002)

Freeway Ft. Jay-Z: Roc-A-Fella Billionaires (2007)

'Memory' Elaine Paige | Cats The Musical (1999)

Echoes Phantom of the Opera Comparison

CATS: The Jellicle Ball Broadway Montage

Paris is Burning (1990)

Chasity Moore Ballroom Wiki 

NYT: I Was Broadway’s First Grizabella. I Couldn’t Have Imagined the New ‘Cats.’

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

"Not knowing is the most intimate." We might not be Buddhists, but we can definitely get behind this logic. Join us as we lay bare our ignorance and learn some really cool stuff along the way (to enlightenment???).

SONGS:

Flying Burrito Brothers: If You Gotta Go (1970) 

Minnie Riperton: Lovin’ You (1974)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Bob Dylan - If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night) (Studio Outtake - 1965) 

Manfred Mann: If You Gotta Go, Go Now (1965)

Si tu dois partir - Fairport Convention (1969)

If You Gotta Go, Go Now. Dylan being light-hearted and spooky (Untold Dylan)

The many cover versions of If You Gotta Go + Bob’s rarest single! (Untold Dylan)

Hermit Who Lives In Literal Cave Learns About Pandemic, Gets Vaccinated 

Lovin’ You Live Performance on Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special Live (1975)

South Park - Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride  

Minnie Riperton: Les Fleurs

Maya Rudolph on Questlove Supreme

Minnie Riperton’s Lovin’ You Gives a Voice to the Whistle Register  

Amazing Moments in Timbre

Magic Flute, Queen of the Night Aria 

Best Singers of All Time: Which Singers Have the Best Vocal Range

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

What makes a perfect road trip song? That depends on countless factors and combinations, it's really its own sort of equation. And while we don't go through all the possibilities, we do talk about a couple of our favorite tracks for trippin', and we hope you'll share yours on Instagram.

SONGS:

Ana Tijoux: 1977 (2010)

Steely Dan: Reelin’ In the Years (1972)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Breaking Bad  - Shotgun - 1977 Clip 1 (Jesse and Mike)

Breaking Bad Shotgun - 1977 Clip 2 (Walt)

Broad City - Abby’s and Ivana’s Divergent Days  - 1977

Roland Shaw and His Orchestra: From Russia with Love (1966)

Matt Monro: From Russia with Love (1963)

Anita Tijoux: Despabílate 

Words Like Hails of Bullets (Norient)

For Ana Tijoux, Hip Hop is Home (The Harvard Gazette)

NPR Tiny Desk (2024) 

Makiza: La Rosa de los Vientos (1999)

Dhakabraka: Sonnet (2020)

Deep Cuts Lost & Found Podcast

The origins of Steely Dan (Entertainment Weekly)

America's Finest Maybe‐Rock Non‐Band (NYT)

Steely Dan’s Induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

Footnote to Statement:

Toxic Confidence is Everywhere (NYT)

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back! 

Natural beauty can be ephemeral. Take wildflowers, for example. They bloom and often quickly disappear, leaving you wishing it were springtime again. How do you capture that feeling of fleeting beauty? Maybe with a song. And that's exactly what we attempted this week.

SONGS:

Hot Chip: Colours (2006)

Dina Ögon: Undantag (2021)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

How Did the Bluebonnet Become a Symbol of Texas?

Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center - Texas Bluebonnet

California Super Bloom

Poppy Cam Live Feed 

Reaction Video for Udantag (Neon Mushroom)

Pri on Dina Ögon’s new album Människobar

Tyler, The Creator Shares His Favorite Songs of 2022 

Dina Ögon Might Be the Brightest Band on the Planet (Pop Corporation, 2023)

Dina Ögon’s guest Dj set on KEXP

Dear listener, please take a page out of the book of wildflowers and grow where you want. Be delicate, and resilient. Exceed expectations (if you feel like it). And take care of yourself, and those around you.

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at [email protected]! We will write back!