Bizarre

Gopher Mambo - Yma Sumac

First time I saw it in Ohad Naharin's "Anaphase" for the Bat Sheva Dance Company when I was twelve - performed (lip-synced) by an apparition by the name of Ebony Williams: half Indian and half African, standing on stilts, made up like a drag queen, in a thong framing a marvelous muscular behind. The second time, in the Cirque du Soleil's Quedam (on DVD). You can find the CDC act on YouTube, but it pales in comparison to the Naharin act, at least as I experienced it.

Yma Sumac (who recently passed away) was a Peruvian diva whose voice spanned 5 octaves. I've been searching for this song for years! Finally contacted somebody from Bat Sheva dance company who happily gave me the above info.

Credits!

Thanks to my duck friend for sending me Shuv Hi Kan ("She's Here Again") - Yoni Rechter/Ali Mohar (lyrics)
By the end of the day I got half my classmates singing it to themselves.

Many "Pieces of My Heart"

I've been obsessed with the Janis Joplin song for days now. Tuesday night I looked for to cover versions on YouTube. Found a few really good ones, lots of ho hum ones, and a good deal of presumptuous or downright blasphemous stuff.
A Britney Spears wannabe trying to do the virgin/whore voice while flicking her hair and pouting at the camera.
An 11-year old rocking it out on TV with absolutely no libido.
A heavy metal band whining and stretching out the tempo and succeeding in turning it into just another annoying heavy metal song.
A country version, well performed and well meant by a talented girl, but much like comparing a daisy to a rose.
A speeded-up version ("caffein") that was just silly but why DO that to a song of this caliber?
The original version by Erma Franklin (Aretha's sister), sort of anticlimactic.
Countless American Idol (or some such show) versions, all equally professional and boring.
I found both the most annoying and some of the best versions were by those who tried to imitate Janis Joplin down to the last throaty interjection. Annoying if they just weren't good enough singers, good if they felt at home truly throwing the reins to the wind. Pink did a pretty good job.

Found a satisfying genre crossover to R&B, from Jamaica - Shaggy feat. Marsha.

And I found some that I loved:

Beverly Knight - She manages to give it the "sweet longing" flavor of R&B/Soul singers without stubbing the edge.

Melissa Etheridge - Really the same style as Janis Joplin, but she is the rare one that manages to make it her own.

I wanna be...

Piece of my Heart - Janis Joplin

And how could I forget,
Layla - Eric Clapton
I know I posted it twice before but the old link is broken and it's one of the most touching love songs I know.

Brains be damned, I just want to listen to music

It's been hard to take off the earphones to listen to Organic Chem.

It's a Long Way - Caetano Veloso, marry me.

Like a Wheel - Matti Caspi (low quality sound here though)

Violin Phase - Steve Reich. The music oscillates between fascinating and intolerable. Watching the dance makes it more tolerable.

Berekeke - from the soundtrack of "Woman on Top"

Road Trippin' - Red Hot Chili Peppers. Daydreaming hard.

Pretty Straightforward.

I Can't Be With You - The Cranberries

I remember the album came out when I was in grade 7 and had a massive crush on Paul McCartney.