Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA" vs. Cyndi Lauper's "Money Changes Everything"

#shotsfired at The Brains!

but it's a great song either way

I gotta think about this.

Greil Marcus' essays help too.

tbh did a better job with it than The Brains.

Cyndi did, rather.

jesus, love "born in the USA", but cindy lauper in a heartbeat. the springsteen song is like a billboard or headline, bold caps and exclamation points, but "money changes everything", for all its synth & drum bombast, seems to come from a much more personal place. it's an anthem built around a slogan, but it doesn't feel like sloganeering, it's more seductive than instructive.

odd how they both use a simple, harsh, almost bagpipe-like tone to drive the point home, springsteen w that ear ripping synth riff all the way through, lauper w the harmonica on the bridge.

Brains "Money Changes Everything" > Cyndi "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" > Bruce "Born In The USA" > Cyndi "Money Changes Everything"

oops, "cyndi"

anyway, i like cyndi's version more than the brains' original (and certainly more than the rerecording), heresy or not. can't get on board w marcus here.

Actually, maybe somebody should poll Cyndi's vs Bruce's Arthur Baker remixes too (which is actually the "Girls" version I like the most.)

jeez, yeah, "dancing in the dark" is hard to beat

Love "Born," especially with the John Sayles video. Just thought of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZhNQhl6qUQ

^<3^<3^<3^

aren't enough o_0s in the world though

cindy:cyndi :: harmonica:melodica

De Palma video, actually...

Oh WTF am I saying, Dancing/Dark was De Palma.

I've tried to listen to the Brains' version of "MCE" but can't get through it without wishing I was listening to Cyndi's. Mostly the singer's fault.

anyway, i like cyndi's version more than the brains' original (and certainly more than the rerecording), heresy or not. can't get on board w marcus here.

i can't find the full essay (and it's been a long time since I read it), but wikipedia suggests he prefers cyndi's version too. "[The original] was hard, it hurt, and Cyndi Lauper's version makes the original sound compromised. She makes you wonder if Brains composer and singer Tom Gray even knew what he was talking about."

Aside from vocal strength, it's also a cool move to switch the perspective of the first verse from the innocent (she left me cuz I'm not rich!) to the guilty (I left you because you're not rich). Makes the second verse seem less self-righteous, more dark.

Wasn't that why Marcus preferred Cyndi's? OH LOOK IT REPRESENTS THE EIGHTIES TO A T

jeez, 0 for 3 here...

had the idea that marcus preferred the original, brane fulla holes

weird thing is that lauper's version, with it's obviously expensive production and star singer, makes the original sound (perhaps naively) uncompromised. plus, it pulls a nice trick in making the song address itself: a little money and celebrity really DO change everything, y.

...you can hear the difference.

otm. That was the implication from Marcus' essay too.

Not my comfort zone, but this thread sent me to Grooveshark to listen to the Brains' original for the first time ever. (I've got a Brains album that came after "Money Changes Everything.") Much prefer Cyndi Lauper's remake--the music is fine on the original, but the singer isn't.

did you listen to the album version on mercury, or the indie single that preceded it? difference isn't vast, but the gray matter 45, with its rawer, thinner production, does a much better job of getting the tune & hooks across:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWbp3w2eqM

vs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPSq4PyYDD4&feature=related

...
and the psychedelic furs' "pretty in pink" is a partial rewrite, rite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aK5mwVI7fc

I think it's the single that's on Grooveshark...Not sure which of those I like better, they seem pretty close, but both have some of that growly rock thing in the vocal that seems out of place if you're used to the original.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ha

we think we know what we're doing
we don't pull the strings

cyndi's performance one of my 5 favorite vocals ever, possibly

love this song

love cyndi but might actually like the brains' version even more (the gray matter version anyway)

the 2nd verse :'(