DJ Xero, Operative of SeeDarkly™ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seedarklyxero) wrote2019-07-28 10:00 am
seedarklyxero) wrote2019-07-28 10:00 am
SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies: Don't Be Cruel
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.
So I've had a "hot take" of a theme running on stealth here this month. Didn't intend it but it worked out. But I didn't really know what I was doing with this week until a DJ friend post her playlist for a party she spun on one of the most unbearably warm nights of the season. She played the original of this new wave pop song from the 80's which made me curious to poke around and see what I would find. I am NOT disappointed with this darkwave remake by a band named after something you don't want to be wearing in this weather!:
Fur – Cruel Summer (Bananarama)
The all-woman trio Bananarama first released their single Cruel Summer in the UK in June 1983. It was included on their self-titled second studio album in April 1984. They had already attained several top ten hits in the UK before putting the single out in the U.S. in July 1984 after it was featured on the soundtrack of the film The Karate Kid. Popularized by the movie, it became their first success in the States. Vocalist and bass player Sara Dallin said in one interview that "the best summer songs remind you of your youth: what you did in your holidays, how it felt when you first kissed a boy, going away without your parents." Dallin continued that their song "played on the darker side: it looked at the oppressive heat, the misery of wanting to be with someone as the summer ticked by. We've all been there!" It's interesting to note this idea, contrasted with the song's saccharine dancy character, isn't the only indication of a darker meaning behind some of their music. There is a quote from a poem titled Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats in the album's liner notes: "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of heart. O, when may it suffice?" This quote follows a dedication to Thomas “Kidso” Reilly, a friend of the band who was killed by a Private in the British Army a couple of months after the song's initial release. Reilly's death inspired one of their next singles, King of the Jungle, which was released only in Japan. The success of that and the other four singles from the album were mediocre at best, leaving Cruel Summer to carry album sales so that dedication might be seen.
The song has been covered at least a couple dozen times. Some of the notable artists to cover it include Ace of Base, Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society, and Chino Moreno of the Deftones. (It's rumored that Taylor Swift may have covered it on her upcoming album but it's just a little too early to confirm.)
Fur is an all-male goth/darkwave trio from Michigan. They released their cover of Cruel Summer in August 2017 as a free download on their Bandcamp site, saying, "As a way of celebrating the end of the summer 2017, one that brought the three of us back together after a nearly five year hiatus, we thought it would be both fun and appropriate to record an end-of-the-summer cover song." Bananarama may have offered lyrical misery and yearning, but Fur goes a step further to vocalize that feeling with a deeper sense of loss while maintaining an infectious, if subdued and darker, synthy dance rhythm. If your season has been unrelenting from the torturous heat or extra normal social discomforts, I can't say this track will cool your spirit, but it certainly might make you "get up and go"... to the dancefloor that is.!:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
I don't mean to be cruel... but summer's not over yet and the sun just keeps on shining with this futurepop remake of another 80's new wave classic!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
(And if, after 4 years and 222 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, please click over to my profile and find out how you can leave us a tip if you like.)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Jul 21 - Stromkern – The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Jul 14 - Clavvs – I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
Jul 07 - 3Teeth – Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the People)
Jul 30 - Gaytron – Tora Tora [Tora!] (Depeche Mode)
Jun 23 - Blind Delon w/ HIV+ – Almost A Kiss (Throbbing Gristle)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
So I've had a "hot take" of a theme running on stealth here this month. Didn't intend it but it worked out. But I didn't really know what I was doing with this week until a DJ friend post her playlist for a party she spun on one of the most unbearably warm nights of the season. She played the original of this new wave pop song from the 80's which made me curious to poke around and see what I would find. I am NOT disappointed with this darkwave remake by a band named after something you don't want to be wearing in this weather!:
Fur – Cruel Summer (Bananarama)
The all-woman trio Bananarama first released their single Cruel Summer in the UK in June 1983. It was included on their self-titled second studio album in April 1984. They had already attained several top ten hits in the UK before putting the single out in the U.S. in July 1984 after it was featured on the soundtrack of the film The Karate Kid. Popularized by the movie, it became their first success in the States. Vocalist and bass player Sara Dallin said in one interview that "the best summer songs remind you of your youth: what you did in your holidays, how it felt when you first kissed a boy, going away without your parents." Dallin continued that their song "played on the darker side: it looked at the oppressive heat, the misery of wanting to be with someone as the summer ticked by. We've all been there!" It's interesting to note this idea, contrasted with the song's saccharine dancy character, isn't the only indication of a darker meaning behind some of their music. There is a quote from a poem titled Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats in the album's liner notes: "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of heart. O, when may it suffice?" This quote follows a dedication to Thomas “Kidso” Reilly, a friend of the band who was killed by a Private in the British Army a couple of months after the song's initial release. Reilly's death inspired one of their next singles, King of the Jungle, which was released only in Japan. The success of that and the other four singles from the album were mediocre at best, leaving Cruel Summer to carry album sales so that dedication might be seen.
The song has been covered at least a couple dozen times. Some of the notable artists to cover it include Ace of Base, Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society, and Chino Moreno of the Deftones. (It's rumored that Taylor Swift may have covered it on her upcoming album but it's just a little too early to confirm.)
Fur is an all-male goth/darkwave trio from Michigan. They released their cover of Cruel Summer in August 2017 as a free download on their Bandcamp site, saying, "As a way of celebrating the end of the summer 2017, one that brought the three of us back together after a nearly five year hiatus, we thought it would be both fun and appropriate to record an end-of-the-summer cover song." Bananarama may have offered lyrical misery and yearning, but Fur goes a step further to vocalize that feeling with a deeper sense of loss while maintaining an infectious, if subdued and darker, synthy dance rhythm. If your season has been unrelenting from the torturous heat or extra normal social discomforts, I can't say this track will cool your spirit, but it certainly might make you "get up and go"... to the dancefloor that is.!:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
I don't mean to be cruel... but summer's not over yet and the sun just keeps on shining with this futurepop remake of another 80's new wave classic!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
(And if, after 4 years and 222 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, please click over to my profile and find out how you can leave us a tip if you like.)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Jul 21 - Stromkern – The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Jul 14 - Clavvs – I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
Jul 07 - 3Teeth – Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the People)
Jul 30 - Gaytron – Tora Tora [Tora!] (Depeche Mode)
Jun 23 - Blind Delon w/ HIV+ – Almost A Kiss (Throbbing Gristle)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .