Run Joey Run, by David Geddes...

Over the past week, I've been watching the first season of Glee.  A few days ago, I happened to see the episode in which Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele) sang a song with the late Mark Salling entitled "Run Joey Run".  That song was a hit for David Geddes in 1975.  Somehow, I never heard it when I was growing up.  It's pretty awful, although it was apparently popular at the time it came out.

Original version.

As performed by the Glee folks...

"Run Joey Run" was a cheesy story song about a girl, who sounds about twelve or thirteen", begging her dad not to kill her lover, Joey.  But the girl, name of Julie, is unsuccessful in convincing her dad not to get out his shot gun.  As Julie pleads with her dad not to shoot, he opens fire and kills his daughter.

That song seems horribly dated and unbelievable-- at least for its time-- and also doesn't age well, because so many people have died due to gun violence.  The 70s were kind of a magical time, though, weren't they?  We had some real gems of shitty songs that somehow became hits.  I miss those days for a lot of reasons.  I was a little kid in the 70s, so it wasn't such a bad time for me, personally.  The 80s and 90s were more traumatic for me, although those days were less traumatic for the world at large.

I'm not sure anyone will want to cover "Run Joey Run", even for a show like Glee.  Actually, I think Glee is a bit cursed, so I'd be surprised if anyone tries to revive that show.  Sad that they lost three cast members who played students...  even Mark Salling, who was busted for having child porn and was about to be sent to prison when he hanged himself.  I don't rejoice in his suicide, even as I don't condone his crimes.  Very few people are all good or all bad.  I think that's true for Salling, too.  

Anyway, hopefully no one will copycat "Run Joey Run", in any way.

Watched lots of Glee yesterday...

The Oxygen Network was showing a marathon.  The episodes I saw yesterday were ones I had seen when I still watched Glee regularly.  As I watched, it occurred to me that most of the people on that show have voices that are very similar or have, in some way, been altered so they sound the same.  Granted, I have sung in ensembles before and when you sing in a group, it's best that everyone blends.  So I guess in that respect, it makes sense that all the people on Glee sound so similar.

But I noticed that all the actors on that show, when they sing, have very similar sounding vocals.  It's very accurate, with no texture or character.  Just straight, pure pop.  But if you were to blindfold me, I might have some trouble determining who's singing what.  It sounds like a sound engineer totally stripped their voices of any distinguishing characteristic so that it's pure bland pop magic.

This video is from the show's premiere in 2009, which I happened to see on iTunes in Germany, where it was offered as a free download.  I notice as the show has continued, the very refined, ultra perfect vocals have continued... It reminds me of the airbrushing done to models for magazines.

I actually really like what they did with Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream".  In fact, I like it better than the original.  The above episode aired yesterday and I was enthralled anew.

I lost interest in Glee sometime in 2012 or so... I just quit watching.  I was sad to hear about Cory Monteith's death over the summer.  Maybe I'll find Glee's tribute episode to him.

It is an entertaining enough show.  I wasn't involved in music when I was in high school.  Kind of wish I had been.  It might have changed the course of my life.   I wish the folks on Glee would show a little vocal diversity, though.  Might be more interesting.

The many stylings of "I Will Always Love You..."

With all the talk about Whitney Houston this week, it may seem odd that I would bring up Linda Ronstadt...

But did you know that Linda also had a very successful cover of Dolly Parton's hit, "I Will Always Love You"?  I heard it for the first time this week and loved it...

I don't go to Linda Ronstadt for my politics, but man can that woman sing!  I love most of her music.  And I like what she did with Dolly's song.

When I hear Linda sing this, I hear her influencing Whitney's version on the chorus; while Dolly influenced the way Whitney did the verses.  Whitney sings the verses quietly and with emotion, then lets loose on the chorus the way Linda does.  Kevin Costner reportedly was familiar with Linda's version and brought it to David Foster to arrange for Whitney.  The end result was phenomenal...

  

And now even Glee is getting in on the act.  Sheesh!