BAD COVER VERSION 014: ALLES KLAH, HERR KOMMISAR?

We are running late, on account of I’m in Singapore now and I’ve had a busy day. No matter. I has Internets, so the show continues.

This week’s song has one of the more interesting and bizarre histories in Cover Song Folklore – not only was the original the first commercially successful rap record by a white artist, but both the original and the cover got radio airplay in the US at around the same time, even though the band doing the cover had already broken up. And then there's the Laura Brannigan Incident...

Let’s sort this one out, shall we?

THE SONG: “Der Kommisar”

THE ORIGINAL: Falco

COMMENTS: This was Falco’s first hit song, and as you can see, he was already channeling Teh Awesome. For he is Falco. Anyway, it’s a nice slice of rap-influenced Europop, although Falco would go on to greater things. Still, the video of him pretending to be chased by the cops is pure showmanship.

THE COVER: After The Fire

[ADVISORY: Contains gratuitous tarantula footage]

COMMENTS: A one-hit wonder in the US (and this is it), ATF went from prog rock to New Wave and registered a few chart hits, but this was by far the biggest, though only after they broke up. It’s pretty good as covers go, though apart from English lyrics and more guitars, it’s so straightforward as a cover that there was once a version making the rounds that interspliced the two versions as one song.

WINNER: Falco. Because he is Falco. To be fair, the ATF version is pretty good, and an argument could be made their version is better known in the US, but Falco’s is better known worldwide. Also, I deducted points for the gratuitous tarantula.

BONUS MATERIAL: Two years after Falco and one year after ATF, Laura Brannigan recorded “Deep In The Dark”, which is basically the exact same song with all-new lyrics, though it was never released as a single (or if it was, it never charted). It’s so wretched I can’t bear to embed it (hint: it’s from the same album as Michael Bolton's “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You”), but you can click here if you really need to know. I don’t recommend it, though.

Next week: Eddie Cochran vs The Who!

Don’t turn around,

This is dF

A PASSAGE TO LITTLE INDIA

As mentioned earlier, I’m in Singapore all this week, for the annual Big Ass Telephones Expo. It’s tradition in my line of work to come here once a year and write daily reports on the latest in telephones development. And take pictures of hot booth babes. Obviously.

As such, you won’t be getting much in the way of entertaining travelogue reports this time out – which is partly due to the fact that I’ve been to Singapore so many times in the past 12+ years that I tend to take it for granted.

Still, one item of note is that this year, they’ve stationed me somewhere different this time. Usually, I end up somewhere around Marina Square or Orchard Road. This year, they’ve put me up in Little India.

Which looked like this, yesterday.



I’ve been to Little India before – it supposedly started off as an enclave for Indian convicts, and then became a place to keep all the Indians back when Singapore’s idea of racial harmony was to keep the Malays, Chinese and Indians in separate enclaves. Nowadays, it’s a place for Indian migrant workers to hang out on their day off, which can be pretty lively, especially at night.

If you dig good Indian food and/or Bollywood, it’s a pretty interesting place. And I’m staying on the north fringes near Ferrer Park. Big fun.

Meanwhile, not much to report, except that I spent yesterday doing what I always do when I come here – cover every book store and CD shop in town looking for things I can’t get in HK. These things are important.

Developing. Bulletins when they happen.

Curry favor,

This is dF