Children's Choirs In Pop

"We Don't Need Another Hero" - Tina Turner

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Rolling Stones

"Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" - Pink Floyd

"Ooh! Stick You!" - Daphne and Celeste

"I'm Free" - Kenny Loggins

I've now forgotten if I was supporting or refuting the assertion.

hey, what about 'you can't always get what you want'? or was that ruined by BIG CHILL nostalgia?

YCAGWYW is suet-y homily pop, made worse by the fact that the Stones circa. 1970 could always have got pretty much anything they wanted. It is funny when you're drunk, though, but not as funny as "I Don't Know Where It Comes From" by Ride.

Re. "Panic" - it was Top 20 here. But is that a children's choir or a load of people shouting?

My first post. What fun.

Good, anyway.

Death Of A Disco Dancer: That was Morrissey's vocals speeded up (used on Bigmouth Strikes Again) too.....didn't ever think it sounded like children!

Phil Paterson: Yes, I know it's you. Strange how we cannot go anywhere without encountering each other!

"Dear God": Someone on Usenet said recently that the kid singing the intro is a "mid-80s Harry Potter". No he isn't; you can listen to it without wanting to punch the smug little 50s throwback, for a start :).

It's your fault for linking here and my fault for being awfully bored.

I couldn't fail to link to Freaky Trigger because I wrote some of it :). It's writing this amount of stuff that keeps me from being "awfully bored" ...

I might as well use the real name now :)

Kris.

Oh and Phil, will you ever update your blog again :) ?

And "Dear God": no Kris, it's wonderful, though it should really be called "Dear Human Race", because it isn't asking anything of God, rather it's asking the rest of humanity why they continue to fool and delude themselves that God can save them. It's a redemptive, brilliant song.

The blog? Ohhhh, I don't have the time, I'm afraid. I'm too busy working on a secret project which should land me with a nice job in sunny N. Ireland. But don't tell anyone yet.

It's a good song, I think. Is it the end-all, be-all of childrens' choir songs? Absolutely not. It's kind of the epitome of the overrated song. I'm not saying it's bad; merely that it isn't as good as everyone says it is. That type of rapture should be reserved for songs like "We Don't Need Another Hero", which, if it weren't for dome unfortunate lyric choices, would be recognized s brilliant by every right-thinking individual on the planet.

BTW, that is an honest opinion and not a blatant attempt to generate controversial discussion.

Dan, I've loved the unloved many times, and struggled to explain it. That said, I just can't work out how anyone could see anything in "We Don't Need Another Hero" which *evokes* something horrible to me (even above sounding pretty horrible in itself).

Oh and "Dear God" (which Partridge considered substandard enough that he insisted it was only released as a B-side, though it was added to later pressings of "Skylarking") isn't a children's choir song; it's one young boy. That's the difference between the two songs; "Dear God" recognises the individuality and diversity of humanity, while "...Hero" assumes that we're all the same, pompously attempting to unite us all.

I was going to mention 'The Living Years' too. I like that record.

x0x0

Two further footnotes on this: a) Damian Anderson (note that his first name is 'Damian'-- coincidence? :) ) later blossomed into a young adult who tried to make it as a rap artist. He released the CD single 'Close To the Hype' (or 'Close 2 the Hype', depending on how much you can take of this), recorded with his dad. This is unquestionably *far* more awful than the already awful "Circus of Heaven" (though also, I must begrudgingly admit, far more unintentionally entertaining to listen to). Plus, I have a soft spot for it because I found 3 copies of it for cheap here in Seattle and sold them on eBay for a lot of money. :) True, Tormato is the worst Yes album that 'counts' (i.e. the albums they made in the 70s); but they've managed far worse overall. As a long-time fan of the band, I can categorically declare OPEN YOUR EYES (1997) is easily the worst album they've ever made.

b) The 'children's choir' is somewhat of a trademark for Jon Anderson's solo work. You can find on nearly every solo album he's ever released a chorus of little lads and laddies mewling away at some point. I wish he'd find a better trademark...

Not of course a top 40 single or even a single, but we can't not mention "Berlin" by Lou Reed.

http://returntotaste.multiply.com/music/item/123

So there you go.

God, this song plays in the trailer for "Legend of the Guardians" which gets screened at every movie I go to these days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMX3qv1N37s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8RKCmkOyB4

Also, P.O.D. "Youth of the Nation".

wanted to rename this thread "goddamn children's choirs in the choruses of things".

Can we expand this to other kinds of choirs (e.g., "I Want to Know What Love Is")?

Three in the spring of '91!

Rick Astley - Cry For Help
Luther Vandross - Power of Love/Love Power
Gloria Estefan - Coming Out of the Dar,

*Dark

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Aeroplane"

Has anyone mentioned that Carly Simon song from Working Girl? Let the River Run or sthg?

Has anyone mentioned that that isn't a childrens choir on "You Can't Always Get What You Want" Rolling Stones

However, Komar and Melamid's "Most Unwanted Song" contains...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHtIXnBgTQ8

We Don't Need Another Hero" - Tina Turner

This was the first one I thought of and the more I think about it the more I think it is by far the best.

Even better, if this is true:

In 1985, as a 13-year-old chorister in the King's House School choir, Dallaglio and 20 other choristers sang backing vocals on the song "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner. This only became known in 2005, when the Musicians' Union, having realised that the choristers had not been paid royalties on the record, attempted to track them down.

Mark G, if there isn't a children's choir on "You Can't Always Get What You Want" what is it? Jagger speeded up???

Wikipedia says it was the London Bach Choir:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can't_Always_Get_What_You_Want#The_song

Yes.

Worked really well when Harry Nilsson used a boys choir on the "Knnillssonn" album

"Excerpt From A Teenage Opera" is poignant in the context of its time, a rueful farewell to Old England, but not really a great single unless you're an absolute retro-maniac. For the rest of us, it's an enjoyable relic, the epitome of Britain's childlike, nostalgic pop-psych.

nonsense. it's a fantastic song, full stop

Alone Together by Fall Out Boy. Not sure how I feel about this one.

I think what this reminds me of most are 80s horror movie soundtracks.

I Shall Love 2 on the new Julia Holter album Aviary. Great poppy song on a monumental experimental album.

the end of "the real thing" parts 1 and 2 by russell morris has a children's chorus. a NAZI children's chorus.