Tainted Song

So I realize that I've been a little erratic with the posts of late, but that's not for lack of enthusiasm. I've actually been busy. I was out of town skiing for the long weekend, out enjoying a post-President Bush cocktail on Tuesday, and at my first Knicks game in about four years on Wednesday. Don't worry, I got free tix. I didn't pay to watch that "rebuilding" project, aka "pray for LeBron."

As I said, I was out of town over the weekend, and as I was driving back from Vermont, "Tainted Love" came on. I think we can all agree it's a great song, and it got me thinking about that amazing Levi's commercial from the 1990s that featured a guy in ER, and how all the sounds of the ER came together to form the melody to that song. And then everyone notices it, and they all start singing. Fortunately, and not surprisingly, it is on YouTube, and it's an even better commercial than I remember.



Pure genius. And since it's directed by Spike Jonze, it's not surprising.

Anyway, this commercial got me thinking about a few things. First off, wide-leg jeans. Not to get all nostalgic on you, but remember those? I sure as hell do, as that was in style when I was in high school. The Levi's wide legs were about as wide as I would go, but then there were the JNCO jeans, which were particularly popular among Asians, ravers, and Asian ravers. I was never ballsy enough to consider rocking those absurd dungarees, but I always admired those that did because even though I was not willing to make that kind of fashion statement, I respected those who would. Because those jeans were cool during my formative years, it makes me look down upon the now fashionable skinny jeans. As far as I'm concerned, they're dumb. Long live JNCOs! (I bet you didn't think you would ever see that written.)

As is my custom, seeing that Levi's commercial got me doing a little research on "Tainted Love," and I discovered something that blew my mind. It's a cover. This is normally the trivial type of shit I am able to wow my friends with, so I was blown away. It was written by a guy named Ed Cobbs, and performed by a British soul singer named Gloria Jones. Check it out, it's pretty awesome.



Additionally, I learned that Jones had a son with Marc Bolan of T. Rex (you know, "get it on, bang the gong, get it on"), and she even sang back-up for the band. In fact, when Bolan died in a car crash, she was driving the car. How did I not know this?

The thing is, I knew that the extended version of "Tainted Love" included a cover of "Where Did Our Love Go?" by The Supremes, which had been the B-side, and I always thought that it was a nice touch. If you don't know what I'm talking about, compare the following two videos (and yes, I'm really getting a kick out of embedding videos today).



Fast forward to about 4:50 to get to The Supremes part. According to Wikipedia, "At the peak of the song's popularity, many radio stations opted to play the full medley, utilizing their own edits to shorten the 9-minute track."



Now that I know that "Tainted Love" is just a conglomerate of two covers, it makes me reconsider my feelings for it. I mean, at least it's a different take on "Tainted Love," but it's barely a new take on "Where Did Our Love Go?" I typically hate when artists get famous on a cover, but Soft Cell did it with two disguised as one. However, I just can't bring myself to hate their version of "Tainted Love." It's just too damn good.

Also, as I learned from further internet research, an artist releasing a cover version as a single would usually write the song that appears on the B-side, as this would still entitle the artist to some songwriting royalties stemming from sales of that single. However, since Soft Cell wrote neither "Tainted Love" nor "Where Did Our Love Go?" (the B-side), they lost the opportunity to make any songwriting royalties stemming from one of the most popular songs of the '80s. Suckas.

If nothing else, this discovery explains why Soft Cell never had any other hits. They didn't know how to write any songs.