My second post (way back in November) was entitled “What Were They Thinking?” Not many people read that post, so I’m recycling the idea. What we have here are particularly inept musical choices. Some by really talented musicans and singers.

Ethel Murman “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (Irving Berlin)
Did you know that Ethel Murman recorded a disco album? Don’t you feel better now that you do?

Muddy Waters “Let’s Spend The Night Together” (Rolling Stones)
Muddy must have had a mortgage payment due when he agreed to record an album of “psychedelic” music entitled Electric Mud. The record mostly features recordings of his classic songs played by drug-addled studio musicians who wank furiously away, oblivious to Muddy’s musical gifts. Muddy, for his part, has no feel at all for this long-haired suburban mutation of his music but gamely gives it his best shot.

Strangely, this sonic train wreck has become something of a touchstone for the hip-hop crowd. It’s been rather extensively sampled, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend.

Mrs. Miller “Up, Up, and Away” (The Fifth Dimension)
Mrs. Miller was something of a celebrity in the Sixties, even appearing on the Tonight Show. She didn’t realize at first that everybody was laughing at her. When she did she stopped recording and the world was left a little less interesting. From the album Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing. Because she’s the only one who could do that thing she did.

Balsara and his Singing Sitars “Strangers In The Night” (Frank Sinatra)
Some songs naturally lend themselves to the sitar. This one doesn’t.

Toy Dolls “Tocatta In D Minor” (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Totally Spinal Tap. Where’s my codpiece?