I know, it’s William Shatner. At a science fiction conference an awards show. From the Seventies. “Singing” an Elton John/Bernie Taupin hit.
But still. It can’t be for real, right? Like, irony? Please tell me it’s a joke. Seriously. (Via The Sports Guy, ultimately via Ed Brayton.)
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21 responses to “Rocket Man”
If you liked Rocket Man, you’ll love Shatner’s version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. His audio along with a neat little video can be found at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7258896287489458266
It’s from an awards show, actually. (SF cons couldn’t afford those production values, especially in the 70’s.) And yes, he is deliberately poking fun at himself.
Huh … all the sudden I now *finally* understand the episode of Family Guy that features Stewie Griffin in a tux, smoking a cig, and doing a really wierd spoken word version of Rocket man …
This is the true talent of William Shatner: forcing you to question whether we’re laughing with him or at him. Does he get it? Is he in on it? Is he even all there? Who knows?
And that is precisely his gift. William Shatner is inside your head now. Your only hope is to surrender to him, to give yourself to him, to love him. The alternative is madness, unending madness, as the boundary between art and reality, between fiction and truth, crumbles down around you, leaving you alone and naked in the icy void of your consciousness.
Face not this fate, Sean Carroll. Join William Shatner. He can make you more powerful than you could ever understand.
Shatner’s transcendence was his surreal cover of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man”:
http://www.penduluminc.com/cdart/shatner.htm
Too bad the miserable melodies site is down due to bandwidth difficulties and the costs involved. The following are my favorite ‘worsts’ that I collected for my friends a few years ago. I especially like John Ashcroft singing: “Let the Mighty Eagle Sour’ and William Shatner’s ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. Maybe some of you can help this person get the site back up.
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/
“Welcome to Miserable Melodies! Warning: Some material on this site has been known to disturb household pets and some reptiles.”
——-
Some Selected Miserable Melodies from the site (mostly in the worst rating category)
Ashcroft, John: Let The Mighty Eagle Soar SOURCE: CNN.com
“Ashcroft sings-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft ended a speech at a Charlotte, North Carolina seminary with a rousing rendition of a song he wrote called ‘Let The Eagles Soar’ (February 25).
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/ashkroft-eaglesoar.ram
Rating: Awful
Foster-Jenkins, Florence: Queen of Night
“For Madame Jenkins’ shortcomings as an artiste were nothing short of awesome. A dumpy coloratura soprano, her voice was not even mediocre – it was preposterous! She clucked and squawked, trumpeted and quavered. She couldn’t carry a tune. Her sense of rhythm was uncertain. In the treacherous upper registers, her voice often vanished into thin air, leaving an audience with its ear cocked for notes with which she might just as well have never taxed her throat. One critic dolefully described her as ‘the first lady of the sliding scale.’ Peevishly remarked another: ‘She sounds like a cuckoo in its cups.’”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/ffjenkins-queenofnight.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Iglesias, Enrique: Rhythm Divine
“This is a live performance of Enrique Iglesias where his microphone is isolated, much like the Linda McCartney Hey Jude auditory torture. I guess we know Enrique is human, after all.”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/iglesias.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Ono, Yoko: Don’t Worry
“The full name of this is “Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)” and what this means – I have no idea. This one really scares animals and be careful; it might make your head spin.”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/yoko-dontworry.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Portsmouth Sinfonia: Also Sprach Zarathustra
“This orchestra, made half of professional musicians, and half of amateurs, really slaughters this one.”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/portsmouth-also.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Reynolds, Burt: I Didn’t Shake The World Today
“He didn’t shake the world with this song or the album for that matter. ”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/breynolds-didntshake.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Shatner, William: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
“Picture yourself in a studio with an actor…this is another William Shatner classic. ”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/shatner-lucysky.ram
Rating: Auditory Torture
Zonk, Harry: For What It’s Worth
“This is pretty hysterical. A guy is tap dancing to an instrumental version of Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth.’”
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/ram/zonk-forwhatitsworth.ram
Rating: Really Bad
I love him as Denny Crain on Boston Legal. Even a better character than Capt. Kirk He is a comedic genius. If you haven’t seen it you should. Its a very funny show.
Nowhere near as cool as Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzVorpUUye4&search=stewie%20griffin%20rocketman
that’s the stewart griffin version, for all you fans 🙂
oh, my. And to think this piece wasn’t included in “Golden Throats” 1, 2 or 3! I must share with you that Jeff said he saw this on tv in 1978 (or so) and he was laughing then, too. His mom walked by, saw part of it and declared, “oh God, that’s nauseating!!” Rumors were flying at that time of a Star Trek movie, but luckily, Shatner didn’t sing for the movie…
I can beat all of those:
http://www.alteringtime.com/features/misc/?p=baggins
Try to beat that. You can’t. I win.
OK, maybe I can beat that. Have you heard Shatner’s latest album?
http://www.shatnerhasbeen.com/
Here’s the kicker—it’s actually quite good. Really. This is in fact more surreal than Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo Baggins.
It’s just as well someone is keeping Kate Bush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKbHs1LheA&search=kate%20bush
on her toes
I was looking for a church or a group that doesn’t believe in the virgin birth or the “risen christ.”
What is this? 🙂
Shatner’s is genius clear for all to see.
I have a Nimoy/Shatner compilation CD and in the liner notes there is a quote from Shatner to the effect of ‘music is one of the most important parts of my life; unfortunately, I can’t sing’. I think that he’s doing this stuff tongue-in-cheek.
He’s an interesting sort of guy. Apparently Takei and Doohan (and, I think, Koenig) hated his guts. Takei alleged that Sulu’s relatively slow rise in rank was down to Shatner (note to Mr. Takei; you may be taking this stuff too seriously).
There’s a futurama episode where Shatner does a spoken word version of Eminem’s Slim Shady. It’s hillarious.
After all, the acronym for “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is L.S.D. Doubtlessly, the bizarre artistry within this psychedelic drug is twistedly playing upon Shatner’s vocal cords! 😉
second the plug for Shatner’s Has Been album. His cover is Pulp’s “Common People” is so punk rock that the the sex pistols are begging for their crown back of punkest band ever.
[…] (via Cosmic Variance) Posted by Paul in Films Online, Movies, Art and Culture (8/6/2006 at 10:26 pm) […]
I was at this years ’06 Long Beach Grand Prix (a “sexy race”, where a lot of Hollywood stars & celebrities converge..Hugh Hefner was there), William Shatner was in the Pro/Celebrity race. A race-car driver?? He looks like a “shadow of his former self”, I got to get right up close to him (the benefits of having a Media Pass, courtesy of 1 of the wealthy co-owners of Champcar). He wrecked in Turn 1, & it was shown on Entertainment Tonight (the Monday after the race)
BTW, Leonard Nimoy can be seen on LA area local-channel KDOC 56 (4pm)..as Paris on “Mission Impossible”. That was his follow-up gig, after Star Trek. I’m digging the MI episodes, because that is the PERFECT metaphor for Science Research.
“Your mission, Jim..if you should decide to accept it [ take on Cosmology & String Theory ]..is to discredit all nay-sayers, & be the “Big Aristotle [ solve the “Theory of Everything” ]”
[ followed by a 30 sec video “flash” of ..//whateve//r ]
Shatner’s sense of humor about himself may have always been there, or may have developed late, but it’s definitely there now – and showed in flashes all along.
I’d also just like to note that George Takei took Sulu very seriously – as one of the few non-Europeans in a commanding role on TV. Having been in the internment camps for Japaese-Americans during WWII, he took very seriously any chance he could get to further integration into all levels, and saw Sulu as a prime opportunity. He was very frustrated with anything that got in the way of that, and if Shatner was holding Sulu back, I’m not surprised it would annoy Takei. (The fact that Takei is gay may have helped augment his desire for a genuine display of cultural/racial egalitarianism on ‘Star Trek’, I don’t know.)