Favorite reimagining of a show song?

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:24pm

The posting of Yoko Ono's reinterpretation of "Music and the Mirror" made me think... What is your favorite reimagining and reinterpretation of a show song?

 

I love the Motown slow-jam version of "Tomorrow" from Annie by The Manhattans, personally. And I've been trying for years to get an arrangement or transcription of the Joel McNeeley swing arrangement of "The Sadder but Wiser Girl" that Seth MacFarlane sings.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:28pm

Janis Joplin's rendition of "Summertime"

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:34pm

Does Nina Simon's soulful quodlibet version of "Little Girl Blue" count?

 

If not the disco remake of "Stranger In Paradise."

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 4:47pm

Ann-Margret's rendition of "How Lovely To Be A Woman" from the 1964 Lp, "3 Great Girls", (the other two girls being Kitty Kallen and Della Reese) reeks of sex. I love it.

 

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:26pm

I can tell you my least favorite:

Glee's Rock n' Roll rendition of "The Rain in Spain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd8lRyzCfs4

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 5:29pm

That one always made me think they had wanted to do a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes arrangement and didn't get the rights.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:39pm

Glee did a version of Not the Boy Next Door that has to be the worst imagining of any showtune ever on the show. So shrill.

Updated On: 8/25/15 at 06:39 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 6:53pm

Isn't that not so much a reimagining or rearrangement as just a straight-up performance of the song by a countertenor with a highly divisive voice?

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 8:27pm

I never understood why the show tried to sell Chris Colfer as such a fantastic singer. Sure, he could sing high notes. But I never thought he was terrific. (I guess season 1 tried to do the same to Cory Monteith, but at least they eventually noted how he wasn't that good)

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 9:36pm

JBroadway said: "I can tell you my least favorite: Glee's Rock n' Roll rendition of 'The Rain in Spain' " 

 

That remains one of the worst injustices to musical theatre. I sat with my mouth on the floor then had to shut it off.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 10:20pm

Folk Singer Phrank's "I Enjoy Being a Girl"

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 10:23pm

1. Nina Simone singing "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" From Hair

 

2. Jennifer Hudson singing "Easy To Be Hard" from Hair

 

and 3. The Peddlers rendition of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" - it was featured in it's entirety on a "Breaking Bad" episode.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 10:34pm

The inexplicable Latin pop version of "Till There Was You" by The Beatles is kind of charming.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 8/25/15 at 11:10pm

Is it bad to say I liked remix of Defying Gravity that Idina released a few years back?

[hork]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 12:24am

JBroadway said: "I can tell you my least favorite:

 

Glee's Rock n' Roll rendition of "The Rain in Spain"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd8lRyzCfs4

 

That was actually kind of awesome.

[TheBoyFromNC]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 4:59am

Jeremy Jordan did a terrific ballad-style arrangement of Under The Sea at a recent concert. (I can't find a link, sorry!)

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 9:06pm

The first one that came to mind was the multi-language "Popular" that Kristin Chenoweth did at her Coming Home concert. I thought that was a great way to bring some freshness to an overdone song.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's "I Won't Dance." That whole album actually is one of my all-time favorites.

I also do a mezzo-soprano rendition of the title song from Light in the Piazza- at Victoria Clark's encouragement, if you can believe it. I asked her if singing it down the octave was a cop-out, and she replied, "Not at all!"

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 9:34pm

"I also do a mezzo-soprano rendition of the title song from Light in the Piazza- at Victoria Clark's encouragement, if you can believe it. I asked her if singing it down the octave was a cop-out, and she replied, "Not at all!""

 

Wouldn't an octave down be more of a baritone rendition?

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 9:39pm

I hope not. Perhaps I just misused the terminology. A lower key, then?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 9:41pm

Nina Simone, Pirate Jenny

Harry Nilsson, Mary Me a Little

And I'm sorry, but for some reason I love the Bobby Darin version of Mame. His usual thing but it's fun with that song. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 10:05pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "I hope not. Perhaps I just misused the terminology. A lower key, then?"

 

Yes! I'm a high tenor and I sing it 2 steps down from the original key.

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 8/29/15 at 12:09am

I have two: Rosanne Cash's very slowed-down version of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" really gets that the song is about yearning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jma6_Twd2tk

And Michael Jackson's "Morning Glow" is sweet and lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYsCYUV8O6g