Beast of Burden... Bette Midler style

I have never been a particular fan of Bette Midler's brand of music.  I love her as an actress and a comedienne, but her singing doesn't do it for me.  I kind of rank her singing with Celine Dion's and Barbra Streisand's... very talented, but kind of annoying.  The other day, my friend Joann reminded me of a long ago forgotten memory.  Bette Midler once covered The Rolling Stones' hit, "Beast of Burden", which is one of my favorite songs by them.

I watched the video, which I had seen ages ago, but long ago forgotten about.  This song was released in 1983.  Look how young they both are!  I was young then, too.

I had forgotten how funny this video is.  Bette does alright with this song and Mick is funny getting a pie thrown in his face.

You never see this kind of silly shit anymore.  I guess this just proves that Mick Jagger has a sense of humor and fun.  I'm not sure he should give up music for an acting gig, though.

Still, I much prefer the original!

 

This song doesn't age.  Neither does Mick Jagger.

Mick Jagger and David Bowie and their homoerotic video...

This song brings back so many memories.  Yes, I am very familiar with earlier versions of "Dancing In The Street", but this 80s version is the one that pops into my head when someone mentions that classic song originally made famous by Martha and the Vandellas.

Van Halen also did a well-known cover of this song…  this live version sucks, though, and it looks like David Lee Roth mooned the audience, as he was known to do back in the day.

This is a better sounding version, though you don't get to watch Eddie Van Halen in this video.

The other day, I was writing a post for Pop Rock Nation about egotistical rock stars.  One of the artists who popped into my head was Mick Jagger, who is known for his swagger.  I went looking for an appropriate YouTube video and found the 1985 incarnation of "Dancing In The Street" starring Jagger and Bowie.  As I watched these two legends cavorting, dancing, looking silly and… dare I say it?  Flirting!  

I posted it on my Facebook and a rash of comments ensued.  My former accompanist turned music prof confessed a love for both artists but said that video made her skin crawl.  Another friend said that in the 80s, you could slap any ol' mess up and call it a video.  Frankly, the one effect it had on me was make me laugh.  These two guys look like they're having a lot of fun… and they don't care how utterly ridiculous they look.  

I did some checking because the YouTube comments inferred that Jagger and Bowie had once had an affair.  According to Snopes.com, the rumor is only partly true.  I will say that they look pretty fond of each other in their video.  Mick Jagger reminds me a bit of my dog Arran at suppertime.  Check out the similarities in this video I made…

This video has Van Halen's "Jump" on it, making it marginally more entertaining.  I was new to making videos at the time.

In all honesty, I think David Bowie and Mick Jagger looked like they were having a blast, which isn't a bad thing…  But now I think I have to read Christopher Anderson's book Mick, which supposedly has the lowdown on this duo…