Songs Out of Context

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 3:37pm

This is kind of random but I was listening to WNYC just a little while ago and to introduce a segment on the importance of care givers to the mentally ill and young children, they played a clip of "Not While I'm Around." In context, it's pretty disturbing and I have to assume was done unintentionally, which I suppose is somewhat funny.

It reminded me a bit of a story someone told me where at a fairtyale themed wedding, they played "Ever After" which is also quite ironic.

Anyone ever hear anything similar?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 9:05pm

I was horrified when my local radio station played an instrumental version of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"!

Not that it should matter, but Palm Springs is 50% gay and has 4 synagogues for a population of 47,000 people.

Granted, the words weren't used, but we all know them! I don't even understand why any band would record that song...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/25/13 at 3:25pm

I once saw an elementary school concert where they sang "Let Me Entertain You" from Gypsy.

It was sung by children at the beginning of the musical, but it still seemed a little out of place.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/25/13 at 3:49pm

One of my favorites was Dalia's performance of Send in the Clowns on Suburgatory during a funeral.
Marty in mid-air

[Fan123]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 7:03pm

WTF is this...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 7:56pm

There's a place for us
A BLT for us
Bread, tomato with Mayo to spare
Plain white toast and were almost there

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 9:19pm

Before using "In The Arms Of The Angel" almost exclusively, PETA used to run commercials with Tom Waits singing "Somewhere" from West Side Story.

[peerrjb]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 2:01am

A half-century ago, I remember my Dad being horrified that he'd been asked to sing "Stranger in Paradise" at a funeral in our home town. Thirty years later, I had the same kind of reaction when asked by the family of a Dear Departed Family Member to piano-play "Send in the Clowns" at the Funeral. "But it's so pretttttty!!!" At least I didn't have to sing the lyric.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 2:44am

OMG, Fan123.

That is equally disturbing and hilarious.

No, it's actually way more disturbing, like maybe 70/30.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 4:25am

Someone posted this in a similar discussion a while back.

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 9:50am

On a cruise I was on this summer, there was a show called "Around the World." They did numbers that represented different cultures. It was actually pretty good - they even did an instrumental version of "Remember" from a ALNM for Scandanavian countries. France was something from Phantom (I know) and England was a ripoff of Step In Time from Mary Poppins.

Anyway, it was all fine until the last number which, of course, was America. Of all the songs they could have chosen - they used "America" from West Side Story where they basically ripped out the Puerto Rican references and sung it like a hymn to the country. It actually bordered on offensive.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 11:52am

A ten-year-old girl in a talent show singing "House of the Rising Sun." Horrifying! She did have a terrific voice, but what were they thinking?

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 6:40pm

That happens all of the time with opera. "O mio babbino caro" is especially one--no one knows that it's actually a daughter pleading with her father.

[frankenleeestein]

Posted: 9/15/13 at 9:08am

"I Am What I Am" was played during the Republican National Convention once.

EDIT: I believe it was an instrumental version, but, still. Updated On: 9/15/13 at 09:08 AM

[lesmagicalmargs2]

Posted: 9/15/13 at 12:25pm

Somebody That I Used to Know in my friend's Alzheimer's project...

[jwsel]

Posted: 9/15/13 at 11:21pm

Ouch lesmagicalmargs2

That's almost as bad as my uncle's piano-playing at my aunt's wedding. As she walked down the aisle, he played "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)." (The irony was intentional, though.)

[PTOPhan]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 8:29pm

My synagogue has used "Sabbath Prayer" as a Sabbath Prayer - not really out of context, but it is life imitating art.

I can just imagine some doofus playing "Send in the Clowns" as a wedding processional - I've always wanted to write that into a comic novel or short story.

The one that I really think is weird, however, is "The Phantom of the Opera" as Halloween music - I know the original Leroux story is gothic, but the ALW version is too nuanced to fit with Halloween. Yet, GMA or Today featured Hugh Panaro on its Halloween show a few years ago ... and misspelled his name as "Parano."

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:25pm

The score to "Phantom" is not Halloween appropriate by and large, but the title song and the Overture are mainstays of many a Halloween playlist.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 2:25pm

Not exactly on point but I was listening to Sting's "Every Breath You Take" the other day. A song I always thought of as a relatively wholesome love song. But this time I actually listened to the words. Talk about possessive co-dependent stalker anthem hell! I doubt Sting could have written that song today without major political backlash.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 2:53pm

The Hardees commercial in Chewy's link features Debbie Allen.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 7:22pm

Not exactly on point but I was listening to Sting's "Every Breath You Take" the other day.

Huge Sting fan here. At the time the song was high on the charts, Sting expressed his surprise to the press, saying, "It's rather a stalker song; I always thought it was creepy, not romantic."

So your reaction is no accident. (And, yes, I still love the song.)

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 8:47pm

Sting almost always writes character pieces as opposed to literal and simple songs. His lyrics are typically to be taken with a grain of salt or with a touch of satire.

[PTOPhan]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 9:04pm

There was a 70s pop song called "Oh, Claire," which is a guy's ode to a little girl. It creeped me out, because I doubted it was meant to be innocent.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 9:18pm

I had to explain to a group of 8th graders today that we wouldn't be doing Miss Saigon as our musical because, despite the fact that it portrays an era in history my students are interested in, it's not appropriate for 13-year-olds to sing songs about being bar girls as a country falls to communism. Ever. Even in our ultra-liberal community, middle school kids talking about buying a girl is awkward.