I'm guessing we all have songs that whenever we hear them, we have to play them a dozen times more because we can't believe how brilliant they are. This is one of mine -- the desperation you feel when listening to "Whispering Your Name" is so palpable I get chills each and every time. Although I'm a big fan of -- and have even spent some time with -- Jules Shears, I actually first learned this song via Alison Moyet's sublime 1994 cover, which gave it a haunting lesbian twist. (Certainly not the first time the public learned about one of his songs via a gender-flipped cover, what with the Bangles recording "If She Knew What She Wants" and Cyndi Lauper doing "All Through the Night"!)
But what I didn't realize until recently is that the first version ever released wasn't even by Jules, but rather by Filipino-born Aussie Ignatius Jones, whose cover peaked at No. 100 on the charts Down Under back in 1983. Check 'em both out below and let me know which one you like best. The Jules video -- in which he seems to be teaching a classroom full of children the art of falling apart -- is epic!
Jules wrote and recorded it for his 1983 solo debut, "Watch Dog," which also included the aforementioned "All Through the Night," later a top 5 hit for Cyndi.
Belinda Carlisle has nothing on this guy's dance moves!
No comments:
Post a Comment