Today is the first day of the A2Z Challenge, so if landed here in search for today’s alphabet prompt, you’ll find it one more post down but I welcome you to cast your vote for your favorite artist while you’re here. For everyone else I just wanted to point out that I’m doing something new with my BoTB posts. I’m pinning it to the top of my blog. I hope this generates more interest from others to play along while not over whelming folks with a long combined post. We’ll see if that helps or just confesses people. What do you think, is this a good idea?
You Only Live Twice (1967) is the fifth James Bond film. The self-titled opening theme song sung was written by John Berry and lyricist Leslie Bricuisse, sung by Nancy Sinatra but only after her father passed on the offer to record it. Mentally, I’m plugged into a female doing this song but I wonder how I’d like a male cover? My task was challenging. The biggest problem was the selection and the ones I did find I had trouble getting into but I persevered finding three acceptable versions, all of which are new-to-me.
Contender #1 I noticed the YTer who uploaded the video referred to the guy as ‘legendary’. I thought, he can’t be all that legendary if I haven’t heard of him. I guess he can. According to Wikipedia this fella started the heavy rock band, Chirmaira. Heavy rock isn’t music genre of choice but I will listen to it on occasion if put before me. Billboard reports their highest ranking song, The Infection, #30 in 2009. After sampling the songs on the self-titled album there is no way I would connect the lead singer as the same dude covering this James Bond song on his 1990 Night and Day album. I give you Marc Hunter!
Contender #2 is sorta like the first except his music endeavors have been with less heavy metal sounding bands. He formed Screaming Trees in 1984 and was part of the grunge band movement in Seattle along with some bands I do know by name Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, … Grunge like heavy metal isn’t my thing generally speaking but this singers scratchy vocals has such character that it drew me in. Some folks compare him to Leonard Cohan and Tom Waits. If you’re a fan of their style of singing then you’ll enjoy, Mark Lanegan!
I debated if I should even include my third pick. This fella’s version sounds like what you expect a James Bond theme song to sound like. Contender #3 was a Filipino singer turned actor killed. Unfortunately, he was killed in an auto accident at the peak of career in 1977. I give you Eddie Peregrina!
Who gets your vote, Marc Hunter, Mark Lanegan, or Eddie Peregrina?
I invite you to visit BoTBers with showdowns going on today.
- ailovemusic (Amy) — 1st only
- The Doglady’s Den (Debbie) — retired member, active voter
- Jingle Jangle Jungle (Mary) — 1st only
- Mike’s Ramblings — 1st & 15th
- STMcC Presents BoTB (Stephen, BoTB Manager) — retired member, active voter
- The Sound of One Hand Typing (John) — 1st & 15th
- Tossing It Out (Lee) — 1st & 15th
Polls close noon (EST) on April 6th
Next week, same time slot I’ll be back to announce the winner in this round, so be sure to mark your calendar to see if your favorite artist wins in this showdown. Before you scoot off, you may want to stick around to catch my first entry in this month’s A to Z Challenge in 5-4-3-2-1! 😉 X💋X💋, Cathy