Erykah & My Morning Jacket Make Me Eat My Words
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Damn it! Damn it to hell! I HATE when I have to eat my words. But at least I'm man enough to admit when it's happened. And Erykah Badu & My Morning Jacket make the words at least taste great.
I had told a certain someone, mainly Amber & the Coachella crew, that I didn't care much for MMJ after the rave-a-thon over their live set. In fact, I went so far as to nickname them My Morning Jackoff, hehe. But then Ms. Badu & MMJ had to go & change the game, being the movers & shakers that they are, damn them!
So, I found out on Erykah's fansite I belong to that Erykah showed up at a MMJ concert in her hometown of Dallas(8/23/08) at The Palladium to sing the lead vocals to their rendition of her great song Tyrone. So here's the video:
Awesome version & they all just nail it! But then I found out that MMJ's lead singer had done their own cover version of it which I found through Okayplayer.com which had a link to Imeem:
Kind of an eerie, laid back version but I like it alot. I love that they don't change any of the lyrics at all. You know how some artists will say 'she' instead of 'he', etc.? Not here. Which gives it a whole different perspective on the song. What do you all think?
Comments (24)
Ohhhh to be a fly on the wall of that concert hall, but the irony is not lost on me, you wouldn't have been there anyway given you previous feelings about MMJ. Glad someone captured this bit o' gold for you.
I love this kind of crossover stuff. Sweet.
For the record...I hate to be wrong too.
thanks for this.....i love it!
MMJ covers several musical bases these days. of course i've loved them since they floored me at SXSW 2002, but they've grown quite well in my opinion and i love their adventures. hearing them backing Erykah on this track sits good with me as well. they're not a bar band backing her up.....it feels great.
sorry you didn't dig the Coachella show. i did, but i can see where everything they do might not be your favorite. maybe this video will open you up to a couple of other tracks that you might not have paid attention to before.
one thing's for sure. she wouldn't bother if she didn't see something she dug. that's part of what i love about her. she does what she wants and it's pretty awesome. i think MMJ does what they want as well and i dig it.
I am just now exploring MMJ's music. I'm astounded by their musical breadth.
One should always strive to keep one's words short n sweet....You know why.
well, I am in the old boat you were in. Still not sold on the band but Erykah rocks my boat on a regular basis
*Annie*, I would've liked to be a fly too even though I wasn't into MMJ previously. I love crossover toons if they are done well. There's been some crappy ones & because of the sheer talent & musicianship of these artists it succeeds admirably. And being wrong SUCKS!
*Robin*yvw. Being in the biz you would be hip to MMJ from way back. For the record, I didn't see their Coachella show since I was busy seeing Spiritualized & Love & Rockets(but everyone I went with did), both of whom I'd not seen before, had been a longtime fan of both but not seen either of them live, so I HAD to see them. Btw, L & R KICKED ASS they rocked so hard. Spiritualized was underwhelming unfortunately. I'd only heard a few MMJ songs in the past & they sounded too Grateful Dead for me so I didn't bother to check them out further.
And that is so true 'she wouldn't bother if she didn't see something she dug.' True talent recognizes true talent.
*Deadman* Agreed. I'm discovering their breadth w/in the past week & it's humbling.
*Kev* I think seeing them in person might be the difference that it would take to make me into a full fledged fan. They are one of those bands that on their recordings underwhelm, imho, but seem to be far warmer, alive & exciting in a live venue.
and for the record I love bands like that. I have a few favorites that did little for me on record, but after seeing them live I saw them in a whole new light
10,000 Maniacs were like that for me. Saw them before I heard their first lp & was BLOWN away by them live. When I finally got the album I was so underwhelmed, it didn't capture their full sound & performance. A mark of great musicians/artists who can't be captured fully on a recording.
havent been able to get into mmj. but badu sounds saucy as ever!!
Yup, she's a saucy one, that girl!
interesting direction on the live/studio aspect. as a producer, i've gone three basic directions on recordings.
1. i've always hated when artists come out of a demo or CD saying about their own album "it's good, but you should see us live". no excuse for that. you can't lose what you love about the artist when you see them. i've done full albums with monitor wedges and live setups, bipassing my "best engineer" grammy for a kick ass disk rather than lose it. even with editing,overdubs and studio polish, you can't lose that energy.
2. the "work of art" project is a totally different approach that can be beautiful if it's the right choice. there's some pretty amazing stuff that can be created in a studio if that's the goal of the project.
3. the live album is actually what i approached MMJ about when i first met them. i felt that it would show them off the best for the material they had at the time. too bad they had already ventured into that territory. do i remember correctly that Erykah's second disk was live as well??
i think there are many bands that have a more "live" or "raw" reputation that have also written some great material meant to be recorded at various points. Wilco's another example. i think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot opened some ears in a different direction for them.
What the other Sam said.
What the two Sams said :)
Fistula & Anna, you two are funny!
*Robin* I had made a lengthy response to your comment but it disappeared. Anyway, I just said that I love recored music as well, I wasn't attacking the production side of things. Just cause a band isn't captured fully on a recording doesn't make the recording bad. Bands that this has happened to me with, I've ended up enjoying their albums anyway once I realized they couldn't be totally captured.
Yes Erykah's 2nd cd was live. And Wilco's YHF opened my ears to them since I'd written them off as alt. country & hadn't bothered to check them out. My local radio station at the time was playing songs off it & I fell in love w/'Heavy Metal Drummer'. So yea, I agree w/ your point there.
hey A1--sorry about that! my girl writes a long blog or comment as a Word.doc then pastes it. i've accidently deleted a couple that i loved and had to redo them.
don't know what my comment sounded like, but i never thought you were anti-production at all. i was just describing different directions.
i'd better post this before i delete it.......
Ah, ok, I've done that too! I usually copy before I publish anything, but don't always paste it elsewhere(which I should).
As for my anti-production comment, I just assumed you were explaining those directions to defend the production process, so my bad, sorry I jumped to conclusions! I did appreciate hearing that explanation though since it is fascinating to see your pov from the producers side.
love it! i have been an Erykah fan since day 1. Her vocals on "Stay" off that live disc are absolutely ill.
That's one of my fave tracks on her live cd Snorri. That Erykah just wails & nails! So how do you like her new disc 'New Amerykah: Part One, 4th World War'? It's such a visionary work yet pays tribute to her influences. Loving it!
Gosh I didn't get a chance to read all the comments. But I just want to say...I took it like a compliment when you called them "My Morning Jackoff", like they were so damn good and turned you on so much or something...!? That's just me thinking positivly I guess.
Ha! Ever the optimist Helen. Sorry but it wasn't intended as a compliment originally but I can see your point since masturbation is FUN! hehe
Hah!!!
I was mainly joking around when I made that comment just trying to get under the Coachella crew's skin since they were chiding me for not seeing MMJ (I was too BUSY seeing Spiritualized & Love & Rockets, thank you very much, heh).