Actually, apart from sharing a title, a riff, a vocal sample and the same basic tune, there's very little similarity between these two songs - at least lyrically. They're so different that the words Mary and, umm, Mary (that'll be Mary, then) are about the only ones (one) that the two versions have in common.
Anyway, I don't know if it's just because I knew the Run DMC version first, but this is one instance where I prefer the cover to the original. How about you?
Run DMC - Mary Mary mp3
The Monkees - Mary Mary mp3
Mildly Interesting Pop "Fact": I'm sure I remember once hearing that Run DMC had decicated their version to joyless anti-smut TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse (right). Don't quote me on that though - I can't find anything to this effect on Google so it's entirely possible that it was all some bizarre dream I once had!
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10 comments:
Shame little girls aren't being named Mary anymore. (All that Chardonnay, Apple, Destiny, Pumpkin seed, etc).
I may be wrong, but consider it highly unlikely that Run DMC would have been aware of Mrs Whitehouse's existence on planet moral. However, she may well have spun early Raising Hell hip hop with the Reverend, Jam Master et al whilst traipsing to Waitrose in her Adidas.
It's an awe-inspiring image, for sure. (I bet she went right off the whole genre when Gangsta rap came along, mind.)
Well I know I did Kips old lad.
Ich auch.
Oh gawd, does this mean she was right all along?!
I had, until this moment, completely failed to notice the absence of 'Marys' amongst the young folk, despite being a teacher. There are several Nikitas where I teach, though, do you think we can praise Luc Besson or blame Elton John? I worked as a divorce court issue clerk for a while in the early 1990s and virtually every family splitting up had a Kylie, Jason, Scott or Charmaine amongst their kids, and several had a set. Fact.
Charlene. I mean charlene, obviously. Arse. That Mary Whitehouse factoid is brilliant, anyway. I would add that I find kids now tend to have heard of Ms Whitehouse (and I'd like to think that's the sound of her spinning in her richly deserved grave as she is labelled 'Ms') and view her with an appropriate mixture of scorn and derision.
Oh Elton John, definitely. Unless the parents of the kids at your school are terribly middle class (or fans of the man Khrushchev).
The only modernish Marys I can think of are Pierce, the tennis player, and J. Blige, the R 'n' B warbler. I s'pose they'll have had the name for ages, though.
(gets coat)
Our smallest daughter (7) has grown up in the company of little boys with names like old men - Frank, Sid, Harry, Fred, Tom, Charlie: champion domino players and stout drinkers each and every one.
Meanwhile, there seem to be no boys at all these days called Peter, Chris, Andrew, Paul, Michael....or David.
I am very fond of the original, having obtained a copy of "More of the Monkees" at the tender age of 4 (my first pop album!). Third track, side one, my parents said I used to play it constantly. Still one of my favorite albums.
I got my first Monkees Greatest Hits album in about 1987 but this track wasn't on it, alas. So the Run DMC cover in '88 was the first I ever heard of it. Probably didn't hear the original till well into the 90s actually. Such a slacker!
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