Saturday, February 10, 2007

ONLY TWO LITTLE CHILDREN, BUT I DO HAVE KIND OF A COLD THIS WEEKEND: Of late, the Cosmo family has been seriously in need of a little hey-remember-when-we-used-to-eat-at-restaurants-that-don't-serve-chicken-fingers time. So tonight we enjoyed Danny Meyer's riff on barbecue at Blue Smoke. (Interestingly, Blue Smoke is about as kid-friendly a restaurant as they come, but that is perhaps a topic for some other blog.) One of the great things about the restaurant, other than the seriously yummy pulled pork and Memphis ribs, is that they have really gotten the music right. Kinda bluesy, kinda jazzy, kinda R&B oldies standards -- and played at exactly the right volume. Towards the end of our meal, some version of Stagger Lee that wasn't the one you usually hear came on, and while Cosmo Girl was rocking out, Mr. Cosmo and I drove ourselves nuts trying to remember who sang the version you do usually hear.

When we got home, I checked iTunes, and discovered two things: (1) the standard version of Stagger Lee is sung by Lloyd Price, and (2) do you have any idea how many people have recorded this song?? Everyone from Wilson Pickett to Nick Cave to the Dead to Bobby Rydell to Neil Diamond to Bob Dylan to Ike and Tina Turner to Professor Longhair to Huey Lewis to Fats Domino -- it's insane. The only song I can think of off the top of my head that's been recorded as often is Amazing Grace, which is sort of cheating. Got any others?

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