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rfmcdonaldOne great thing about YouTube is that it lets me catch up with all of the music videos I'd not seen for a while, and all of the music videos that I'd missed entirely. It's nice to be able to be reminded of things now past. As an example, the video of Romeo Void's 1981 "Never Say Never", apart from invoking the earliest days of the medium, reminds me of the band's front woman Debora Iyall, who (as I found out myself) is a rather kind person willing to respond to unsolicited fan E-mails. Similarly, the video of the Scissor Sisters' cover of "Comfortably Numb" reminds me that this song is a nice musical moment that manages to miss the irony at the heart of the song. ("No," he says as he hugs his arms against his body, "I feel fine. It doesn't hurt.")
And then, there's Neneh Cherry's "I Got U Under My Skin" video. The video is striking, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino in the style that one interviewer identified as "erotically charged surrealism," full of smooth surfaces and stylized shadows and, among other images, a shot of vibrating speakers that formed part of the opening sequences of the long-running CHUMCity music show The NewMusic. This video was filmed for a song, a cover version of Cole Porter's "I Got You Under My Skin," that was Cherry's contribution to 1990's well-reviewed album Red Hot + Blue. This million-selling assembly of Porter covers was one of the first prominent pop music projects aimed against HIV/AIDS. Cherry's song is unique in this collection in that her song's lyrics have accordingly been radically reworked from Porter's original.
I like the song. I don't think that the song has dated musically quite in the same way as her 1989 hit single "Buffalo Stance" (video here). The quality of Cherry's voice appeals to me whether she is singing or rapping, and the sinuous electronic instrumentation works. This, and Mondino's somewhat unsettling video, do combine to produce a decided effect that give the lyrics extra heft. Not that they need it, mind.
In Cherry's version, the lyric "I've got you deep in the heart of me/Down so deep in any part of me/I've got you, got you, got you under my skin" takes on unsettling new overtones. "I Got U Under My Skin" is a well-constructed song, but I can't say that I could ever feel entirely comfortable with it.
And then, there's Neneh Cherry's "I Got U Under My Skin" video. The video is striking, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino in the style that one interviewer identified as "erotically charged surrealism," full of smooth surfaces and stylized shadows and, among other images, a shot of vibrating speakers that formed part of the opening sequences of the long-running CHUMCity music show The NewMusic. This video was filmed for a song, a cover version of Cole Porter's "I Got You Under My Skin," that was Cherry's contribution to 1990's well-reviewed album Red Hot + Blue. This million-selling assembly of Porter covers was one of the first prominent pop music projects aimed against HIV/AIDS. Cherry's song is unique in this collection in that her song's lyrics have accordingly been radically reworked from Porter's original.
I like the song. I don't think that the song has dated musically quite in the same way as her 1989 hit single "Buffalo Stance" (video here). The quality of Cherry's voice appeals to me whether she is singing or rapping, and the sinuous electronic instrumentation works. This, and Mondino's somewhat unsettling video, do combine to produce a decided effect that give the lyrics extra heft. Not that they need it, mind.
I had a friend once by the name of Mary Jabe
Out with the guys and getting high was her only game
And now the tears in her eyes, there she lies
It drove her crazy, all the boys say that's it
In Cherry's version, the lyric "I've got you deep in the heart of me/Down so deep in any part of me/I've got you, got you, got you under my skin" takes on unsettling new overtones. "I Got U Under My Skin" is a well-constructed song, but I can't say that I could ever feel entirely comfortable with it.
