4 June 2017

seedarklyxero: (Default)
Welcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.

Two things I haven't done on this blog: featured live recorded covers or spoken with any confidence about the overall direction of DC Comics and their films. On the latter point, I think DC TV has gotten far more right than DC films have, films which I have boycotted seeing in theaters. However, in a couple of weeks I'm going to give Wonder Woman a chance and I hope I'm not disappointed by it as I have been by the previous DCEU films. There does sound certainly like there's reason to be hopeful this time.
I only mention it at all because one fun promo for the film (now at the box office) featured members of the female cast of Supergirl (again, TV being what DC does well, I'm a fan) including Lynda Carter (TV's Wonder Woman circa 1975-9) as her character, President Olivia Marsdin. The song in the promo (in fact the promo's whole theme) focuses on this super-heroine's iconic footwear and that song has been covered in concert in recent years by someone we could call fairly the "Wonder Woman of Goth":

Siouxsie Sioux - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Nancy Sinatra)

Nancy Sinatra's debut album, Boots celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, having been released in March 1966. Its first single, These Boots Are Made for Walkin', was released just the month before. It was written by the album's producer, Lee Hazelwood, who originally intended to record it himself (and later did.) Sinatra convinced him it required a younger, more feminine approach. In later years she said "when a guy sings it, the song sounds harsh and abusive, but it's perfect for a little girl." (She was 26 when she recorded it.) Hazelwood thought of it as not much more than "a party song" and "a joke" but in her voice it went on to be an international smash hit. In the 70's Sinatra said she regretted the success of this bit of psychedelic country go-go pop because it tied her to the "hard" image of its lyrical story and she felt that "wasn't her" because she was "as soft as they come."
Nevertheless, she inspired over 200 different covers of These Boots Are Made for Walkin' by a wide array of artists, including the likes of Boy George, Crispin Glover, David Hasselhoff, The Fixx, Kon Kan, Megadeth, Operation Ivy, Nick Cave with his first band The Boys Next Door, Former Bad Seeds members Anita Lane and Barry Adamson, and KMFDM.

Siouxsie Sioux, a post-punk amazon in stature by way of her legacy more than her size, began her solo career apart from the Banshees in 2004. Her 2009 concert DVD release of Finale: The Last Mantaray & More Show was recorded live on September 29, 2008 at KOKO in Camden Town, London. As the name suggests, it was the last show of her tour in support of her 2007 album, Mantaray. While not on any album, Sioux's adoption of Boots into her live performances may well have been inspired in part by her 2007 divorce from former Banshees band-mate, Budgie, but other than the coincidental timing, there is little on which to confirm that theory. It is also possible that she may have been sitting on the idea of doing the song from when she and Morrissey collaborated on a single in the 90's. Morrissey had sent Sioux a tape containing tracks by female singers he was considering they cover for their duet. It's said several songs by Nancy Sinatra were on that tape but it's not clear which. (They ended up picking Interlude by Timi Yuro instead.) Sioux is reportedly working on her next album so there's the chance it could include a studio recording of the cover.
Sioux, who turned 60 last weekend, and Sinatra, who turns 77 later this week, both happen to be Geminis - the priestess and the princess, sisters under the sign, immortal inspirations to generations of musicians, and all while wearing bad ass boots!:

The Cover:
(this recording may not actually be from the DVD or where it claims either, but it's the only source available for now.)



The Original:



Next week:
I'm far more a fan of Scarlet Witch and I've been, ahem, "spellbound"... in a manner of speaking. So for a special person and a special occasion I'm swapping the weeks of the usual Second Sunday Slowly and Third Sunday Throwback features this month to bring you some shock-goth from the 20th century.

Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! (You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)

I spin twice this month but the info and links to get details and RSVP will be updated on my schedule in the next day or two, for those local enough to join the fun.

Make Mine Marvel, d(^_^)b
-Xero

Previous DisCOVERies

May 28 - :wumpscut: - All Cried Out (Alison Moyet)
May 21 - Sisters of Mercy - Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
May 14 - Torso - Nijinski [Nijinsky] (Daniel Darc)
May 07 - Faderhead - SexyBack (Justin Timberlake)
Apr 30 - Forevel - It's No Good (Depeche Mode)

Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies

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seedarklyxero: (Default)
DJ Xero, Operative of SeeDarkly™

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