I was going to post the results of the Ol' Skool vs Digital contest but I needed another day +1 because there's a birthday tomorrow.
Okay...I'm really not a John Mayer hater. Sometimes I think he's a bit egocentric... as in he thinks he's the shit and lets everyone know it... and as in he's really intelligent and has to prove it. But other than those small character flaws (we all have 'em right?), he's pretty much okay.
Now, I will ask you to check this out...John Mayer singing Glad To Be Unhappy on Jay Leno. Someone brought it to my attention and we stood here and watched/listened to it. I'll be honest. I said, "You know, John Mayer does have a certain quality to voice." And he does. There's a lot of his songs where I really like his singing.
Go ahead and take a look and listen to it now...
When it was about a third to half the way through, I asked to see if the 'other' version of the song was on youtube...the person found it and hit the play button...go ahead, you do it too...
One line in, we looked at each other...I uttered a little "ummm...". The second line in the person said something to the effect that 'John Mayer pretty much sucked on that song.'
Oh, did I mention he did this exercise more than once?
I can tell you right now, these two songs would have had John Mayer kicked off American Idol in the first Hollywood round. Simon Cowell would have had a hay day..."John, John, John...If you insist on doing Ol' Blue Eyes can you at least take a shot at making it your own? That was nothing more than a piss poor karaoke version of a great singer that you have no business trying to aspire to."
Hey John...we've heard/seen you imitate Jimi Hendrix. We let you get away with that. We even let you play with Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and most recently, Jeff Beck. But going on stage thinking you can imitate Frank Sinatra is unthinkable.
Sorry, man, but these really sucked. Hopefully you are up in your new castle on the hill recording an amazing album - make that an amazing ORIGINAL album...rock and blues, okay? - of songs within your wheelhouse, so you can redeem yourself from rolling poor Frank over in his grave.
Please, everyone, feel free to agree or disagree in the comment section. There's nothing like a good debate.
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5 comments:
Someone should send that video to Don Rickles and let him critique it...haha. He is a good guitar player, but his singing style seems more suited to the "Body is a Wonderland" type songs of his first few albums. Just my two cents...;)
I would never have watched his performance and thought, "holy shit, he's amazing." I DID watch it as a Mayer fan, and thought, "That was cute."
:)
Oh please. Just because it's not to your taste doesn't mean it's not good. Personally, I think John sounded great! By comparing him to Sinatra you are trying to make a purposeful dig into him. John has a different quality of voice and style all his own and they worked well for this song. By the way, this was a Botti arrangement, you can't fault John for the song interpretation.
and ps. John is not on AI
Hey Anon...thanks for your comment.
I'm not dissing John Mayer or his talent. He definitely has a ton of it. I'm just saying, if he was going to do a song[s] made famous by Frank Sinatra he should have made it his own.
I love his song "I'm Not Going To LA Anymore." Don't know if he ever put it on a studio album. I heard it when he played it during an in-studio interview on an LA radio station, just him and his acoustic guitar. It was really great. Better than the live version that's out.
He does a lot of stuff really great. However, Frank Sinatra is not one of his strong points. Comparing him to Sinatra is not a personal dig...him singing a Sinatra song warrants the comparison. I wasn't comparing him singing one of his own songs to Frank Sinatra's singing.
I've done the same thing when I see youtube versions of people imitating John Mayer (although not on my blog) where I've clearing said, "That guy butchered that John Mayer song."
and ps. I know John isn't on AI. And I'm guessing you're not a regular reader of my blog...I'm into sarcasm and sardonic humor, a lot of tongue-in-cheek and all that sorta stuff. What can I say? I was born in Canada.
Frank Sinatra singing is fucking terrible, if you can call it singing!
Same as those other couple of twats - Tony Bennet and Sammy Davis.
How the fuck can people call that singing?
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