Love story

Apparently, I never mentioned that one of the most covered love songs of all time is, in a way, a cover itself. (And well covered itself, too, in its original form).

The words (Jean Paul Martini) and the arrangements (Hector Berlioz) go a long way back--18th and 19th century, respectively, to be exact.


Plaisir D'Amour (cover; live) - Nana Mouskori

This is the first version I recall hearing; my parents had the double LP album of the British concert she did two years earlier, which pretty much sounds exactly like this, and it was one of their (and later mine, especially as a little girl) favorite albums to play.

You could also argue it's the first version that I don't recall hearing even though I did, since my parents were at that 1972 concert, with my mom very much in full swing of her pregnancy with me.




My favorite use of this song anywhere is in the movie Love Affair, with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. Did you know Irene Dunne was a classically trained singer who had actually hoped to become an opera singer at one point, before becoming an actress? Now you do.

Plaisir D'Amour (cover) - Irene Dunne (from the movie Love Affair)



Did you know Charles Boyer committed suicide two days after the love of his life, his wife of 44 years, passed away from cancer? Now you know that, too.

The Lonely One

Great old song courtesy of Messrs. Harry Tobias and Charles Kisco.

It's A Lonesome Old Town - Rodman Lewis with the Dick Cherwin Orchestra



It's A Lonesome Old Town - McKinney's Cotton Pickers



It's A Lonesome Old Town - Frank Sinatra



It's A Lonesome Old Town - Les Paul and Mary Ford



This is actually my least favorite musically of the bunch*, but it's the first version I ever heard, watching Leaving Las Vegas and there is such a funny (not so much ha ha as much as oh dear god) association with it, that it gets an honorable mention.

It's A Lonesome Old Town - Sting
(It was either the pasta angle(?!) or a CSI fan vid)



*There obviously other version; these are just the ones I like best.

Just do it

I guess you could say this was the first cover song I recognized as being a cover song...even though it's that in a very loose sense (re-adaptation is probably a better way of describing it). I'd seen the movie 'Can-Can'--my parents were huge Shirley MacLaine fans, and whenever any of her movies were shown on Sunday afternoons or at a revival of some sort, you could bet we'd be watching it--so I was familiar with the tune. I admit, I was a little, perturbed, I suppose, that someone could take a song and just change it like that to suit their needs. It didn't seem... right. Granted, I had nothing against the product being touted, but it just seemed such an odd thing to me, doing that to a perfectly good song.

Can't Resist Them (Cadbury's Creme Eggs Advert) - based on Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)



Let's Do It )Let's Fall In Love) (cover) - Frank Sinatra and Shirley Maclaine (from the movie 'Can-Can')
(Song starts at 2:20)



It wasn't until the magic of the internets that I figured out Cole Porter had written this song long before the movie (and that, in fact, the song was not part of the original musical play Can-Can, but a completely different musical of his). That's also when I became aware of the lyrics that had been replaced from the original by the line "Birds do it, bees do it" in most of the later versions (you can pick out one or two that still made it to the Can-Can version). Interestingly, the more I heard this song as a cover, the more variations and liberties I heard taken with the lyrics--I suppose that's because, with it's witty double entendre, there is a lot of flexibility in adapting (there you go) it.

Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) (cover, with original lyrics) - B.A. Rolfe And Palais D'Or Orchestra



There's been a lot of covers of this song, but as a standalone song (i.e. not tied in to a movie or anything), this is my favorite one:

Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) (cover) - Eartha Kitt



But I really do prefer the covers that are from the movies, however. And, no, I don't mean the one by Kim Basinger from 'The Marrying Man'.

Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) (cover) - Alanis Morissette (from the movie 'De-Lovely')
Makes sense, no?



But, hands down, this is the best one. How can you not love Tank Girl and Cole Porter together?

Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) (cover) - Lori Petty and Ann Magnuson (from the movie 'Tank Girl)



Which brings me to my all time favorite cover, from the soundtrack of the best in-movie cover. What's not to love? Just do it.

Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) (cover) - Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg

Couldn't drag me away

Some nights, I want to French kiss youtube. Or the Internet. Or technology. Or just have a plain orgy with all of them.

Seriously, just pause for a minute and think about how amazingly incredible it is that you're watching this performance, by this artist, from almost 40 years ago, with such ease and freedom.

At least, I hope you are.

Koni Priviredliviye (Fastidious Horses) - Vladimir Vysotsky

***
For the movie buffs among you, the answer to did I first come across this song in White Nights is a resounding, unabashed yes. As always, due to not just my bilingual capabilities but also my ability to do almost simultaneous translations from English to Farsi, I got to see this, I think, about a year after it came out in theatres, back home on a black market video a friend of a friend had managed to get a hold of (really, some day I should do a whole post on how being bilingual was perhaps the best barter and currency for exchange in the war-time Iranian black market...).
You should check out the scenes with Gregory Hines--amazing dancing--and certainly the young Isabella Rossellini and youngish Helen Mirren just were the cherry on top of the dynamic dancing by Hines and Baryshnikov.

Fastidious Horses - Vladimir Vysotsky (from the movie "White Nights" featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov)

Do-over

I was already a fan of the song (although, the live version they did on World Cafe was hands down the best version), but now, with the official video released, the whole household are fans: the kid because he likes the little boy in the video, feeling an especial affinity with him because of his hair (hah!); and L. because the video's inspired by his favorite movie of all time (which, by the way, is not a favorite because it seems self-referential, although he'd much prefer be associated with that one for that reason, than the other very obvious movie choice, which he finds annoying, to put it mildly).

When My Time Comes - Dawes



(Those two lines are still...yeah.)

Atta girl

RIP Lynn--you fought it hard, too. You were always my favorite of all the Redgrave progeny.

Georgy Girl - The Seekers
Credits from the same named movie, which is a fun one to watch from the many excellent 60s era British movies. (I recommend watching back to back with Darling, starring Julie Christie.)

Oh, spoiler alert if you intend to watch the movie: closing credits start at ~3:09 and while you still can't tell from it everything that does happen in the movie, it can, well, spoil you to some extent for what doesn't happen as you are watching it, I suppose.




The opening always reminds me of this one (also from the 60s and similarly about a girl looking for love and a friend who seems to have better luck in love than she does and...the similarity ends there.)

Thoroughly Modern - Julie Andrews

In no hurry

Yes, there is nothing but utter and total sentimentalism, here.
More importantly, one of the best scenes ever in a movie.

(A., you were an idiot. But, I suppose, so was I.)

Come Here - Kath Bloom (from the movie Before Sunrise)

It takes more than two to tango

I have a secret desire. Well, two, if you want to be exact. Ever since we lived in Spain, I have wanted to learn how dance the flamenco properly (no, I did not get lessons while we lived there. Yes, my sister did. No, of course I'm not bitter that she got to do it because she was older and my mom thought it would be a good stress release from her studies for the Bacc. I'm no more bitter about that than I was about her going to LiveAid and seeing that fantastic performance by Queen.) So, anyway, flamenco. Desire to learn. Check.

More than the flamenco, though? I want--I mean, I really, really, REALLY want--to some day learn to properly tango.

***
I enjoy random dance scenes in movies. Even more, I like movies that are primarily about dance or have dancing as a main plot point. I'm also fairly lax about my standards when it comes to dancing in movies.

Not when it comes to the tango, though. I don't know why, but nothing infuriates me like a poorly executed or, worse, shammed up tango. So here, in summary, are my dos and don'ts of the tango's representation in movies, if you wish to be spared the pain of bad ones and enjoy the good (and even great) ones. Or, at the very least, if you want to know which movie(s) to never watch with me, so's not to have to listen to me talk back at the screen. Loudly and angrily.

***

First let's get these two pretenders out of the way. The majority of my peer age group (and some above or below) will, if pressed, recall either one of these--or, horrors, both--as a fine example, if not the shining example, of the tango in a film. Why? No, I mean, really, why? Why would anyone think that? All you have here is the impression of what the filmmaker thinks the tango is about--a blatant exhibition of sex and and attraction, of dominance and submission--through facial expressions and sharp exhalations and a few fast turns and sudden dips. Notice how the camera never really stays fully panned out for more than a few seconds, to show any actual real steps (a few leg entwines and drags are *not* exactly footwork to brag home about). I'm not a professional dancer but I have to believe real dancers do the same sort of dismissive eye-rolling, watching these scenes, that I do every time I watch a scene with someone playing the piano through excessive shoulder shrugs and much unbalanced lifting of the arms and wrists. It's annoying and it's insulting.

Tango from Scent Of A Woman
Yes, Gabrielle Anwar is very pretty and has a beautiful back. Still, that's no excuse.




Tango from True Lies




I suppose you could say Arnold and Tia did a tad bit better that Sean and Kim. But, let's face it, if your tango's emotion is in either case mostly based on what's happening from waist up? You are better off with a Sean/Kim combo than the other. Because, really, there's no contest when Sean Connery is in the mix. Especially if it comes to doing something overtly badly. Especially with the advantage of the Scottish brogue thrown in.

Tango from Never Say Never Again




***

Another favorite trick of filmmakers, when using the tango, is to up the ante on the whole sexual overtone (which, you know, if the tango is done right, is supposed to be almost incidental and private in display than deliberate and blatant--what I mean is, I've always thought a tango was a dance that was not a public show for the people watching but a personal exchange for the people dancing it. That the underlying sense of voyeurism wasn't a result of it being purposely presented but rather self-absorbedly available.)

I need to learn how to avoid long sidebars.

Anyway, what better way to do so (we were talking about upping the ante on the sexual overtone, in case you got lost back there) than by pairing same sex partners? Especially female same sex partners? It worked for me in Indochine. It didn't in Frieda. Because in Indochine the dance isn't a display of sexual tension between the characters, it's a display of tension--including sexual--in general and that is so much more provoking than the flaunting in Frieda.

Well, that and Catherine Deneuve oozes more hotness in arching a brow than most women do in baring their entire body.

Tango from Frieda




Tango from Indochine



***

Ah, musicals. By its very nature, a musical will have dance numbers and so it's not surprising that some of those will invariably turn out to be tango numbers. In fact, almost all will actually refer to the tango in the title of the number, so you are not confused. Which you well might be, say, if you were watching this:

Cell Block Tango (from the movie version of the musical Chicago)




Now, I admit I am a fan of musicals. I'm even a bigger fan of Rent. And while I appreciate what they did in the movie to make it truly more of a dance number, the reason I was able to accept this as a plausible tango scene on stage was because it was intended to be a metaphor for the relationship between Maureen and Mark, and Maureen and Joanne, and Joanne and Mark, and Maureen and whoever caught her fancy next, and it should've been left at that in the film version, too, without being causing us to be so visually hit over the head by it. Still, Traci Thom is too cute to pass up. So watch.

The Tango Maureen (from the movie version of the musical Rent)




Interestingly enough, this tango was never in the original movie, but rather in the stage musical version based on the movie. Shame, though, because I think it would've been marvelous to have had Julie Andrews and Lesley-Anne Warren perform this for the movie. (Lesley-Anne Warren has one of the single most amusingly delivered one-liners in that movie, by the way.)

The Tango! (from the stage version of the musical Victor, Victoria!)



It should come as no surprise to anyone, though, that I adore this particular tango above all those every done in any musical, stage or film. Adore may not be an accurate a description, but I wish to maintain some modicum of dignity when it comes to this movie.

El Tango De Roxane (from the movie Moulin Rouge)



***

So, by now you're wondering, is there anything she really likes? Why, yes. Yes, I do. Without further ado, feast your eyes on these:

Tango from Assassination Tango
I know, he's not exactly tearing up the dance floor. He's not even doing much. But...it's just that I get a sense that he actually enjoys it--and gets it--with whatever little dancing he is doing. Because he is doing it.
(And, yes, I have a soft spot for him. How can you not for Boo?)



Tango from Tango Bar
It's Raul Julia. Enough said. Find it. Watch it.




Tangos from Tango, No Me Dejes Nunca (also just known as Tango)
When you're good? When you're very, very good? You can just reference the dance by itself in the title, assured of your own success, and drop the qualifier when being distributed to a larger audience.




Tango from The Tango Lesson
The scene says it all. That it's partly autobiographical adds that extra level of personal touch that is so particular to the tango.



***

Finally, you should probably watch the one that start it all:

Tango from The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse



Updated to add:
I forgot to mention that when I do finally learn how to do the tango? I want my first real proper dance to be to this:

The Masochism Tango - Tom Lehrer

That's what friends are for

Yes, this is a twee. Suprisingly, it just stops short of making my eyes roll, esp. if I don't remember its tie-in to a movie I dislike with every ounce of my twee hating body.

Nice and Smart - Kimya Dawson

One year later

He never made it back to England. I call his parents to talk and reminisce. It still fucking hurts so much but there's no point in talking about it.

***
Here's a memory that makes me laugh.

It took M. a while to get used to the idea that I was past the years when my delicate sensibilities had to be protected (quite frankly, I think if he'd ever known how early on my sensibilities turned indelicate, he'd have been far more embarrassed than I would've been expected to be), and so it took a while before he decided it was appropriate for me to go to an R-rated movie with him. He went out of his way to pick a movie that he thought would be thought provoking, and worthy enough of discussion to offset any scenes that might prove uncomfortable (for me, of course. Because, he was cool as a cucumber, see?). After much discussion, he settled on a little picture that had been getting good word of mouth and supposedly had a twist to it and was, as an added bonus, set in England and included a joint favorite actress, Miranda Richardson.

He took me to see The Crying Game.

Unfortunately, the big reveal failed to be in anyway dramatic for me because I was trying so hard not to laugh myself silly at the absolute mortification I knew he was feeling; I tried to let him save face, there. I'm not an angel, though. I got a good couple of months run out of my faux-Victorian-I-can't-believe-you-took-me-to-that-movie-pass-the-smelling-salts-routine.

The Crying Game - Jaye Davidson (from the movie The Crying Game)



The original song. Very nice guitar; M. would've appreciated it.

The Crying Game - Dave Berry

Something old, something new, something borrowed (but not really blue)

T-Rex--the band, not the dinosaur (you have to make that distinction in our house, ever since the kid got a little older!)--is one of the very, very few bands that I have no recollection of when I first heard them or where. I do know it was not during the scavenging of family members' basements for old LPs from the 60s and early 70s. It definitely wasn't listening to my sister's music, while she lived in the house! Like Queen, it just seems to me that I've always known of their music and could identify their songs as theirs, ever since I've had a music recollection.

(My only guess is that the nanny I had for the first two years of my life--a 19 year old girl who was universally adored by the family, so I've heard--must've played their songs while we were together during the day. It's a farfetched guess, but it's all I've got).

***

Now that I am well over 30, it always gives me pause when I read (or reread) about someone dying before they turned 30. Not in the way, you might suppose, though--I mean, of course, I think wasted potential and all that, but I also mostly wonder (looking at my own life post 30), would it have made much difference for them, if they had lived? Would they have been any better, bigger, more influential--any happier?

Marc Bolan, who was the frontsman and inspiration behind T-Rex died in a car accident before his 30th birthday. No one knows for sure how the rest of his life would've turned out, but this much is true: he'll forever be a 20th century boy.

***

If I told you how many times I've watched Velvet Goldmine, you might look at me a little weirdly. In my defense, I've watched the movie in its entirety, in one sitting, only four or five times; mostly, I like watching bits and pieces of it, over and over. Mostly bits and pieces, of course, that includes actual singing. Which, well, is quite a bit.

If you're not familiar with the movie, it's the story of a rising glam rock star in the 70s, based somewhat on David Bowie (actually, his Ziggy Stardust persona) and also Marc Bolan. There's also a character based on Iggy Pop, and the third main character--the last person in the triangle--is a glam rock fan turned reporter who is trying to regain some of the headiness of his groupie days by trying to discover what happened to the idols of his youth.

It goes without saying that the music in this movie is really the fourth main character--or, really, the main character--as I've noted music is, for some movies. It's just...amazing. This movie was a labor of love and it shows in every frame and every note. (And perfectly portrayed by three very fit actors! Talk about a feast for the eyes as well as the ears (and Toni Collette, superb as always)).

***

I love, love, love all the performances, but Placebo's cover of 20th Century Boy, performed as the band Flaming Creatures in the movie, is one I always end on.

20th Century Boy - T-Rex




20th Century Boy (cover) - Placebo (from the movie Velvet Goldmine)



***

I've never seen The Truman Show from start to finish, but I have seen all of it, again in bits and pieces, over the years while channel surfing (TBS or TNT-I can never remember which--is very fond of showing it).

Actually, I thought I had seen all of it, until just a couple of days ago. I was channel surfing through our HBO channels and there it was--except that I didn't actually register it immediately as that movie, because it was a senior prom dance scene, which I guess I'd missed up to that point, and so didn't associate with The Truman Show. In the slight hesitation to bring up the menu and see what movie it was, my ear caught a snippet of the music from the scene, and I suddenly sat up and turned the volume up. Was it really? Yes, it was! Amazingly, I found the song on youtube, so here it is.

20th Century Boy (cover) - The Big Six (from the movie The Truman Show)

Second hand feelings and fights

In light of yet another remake of another highly 'artistic' movie from the olden days (aka 70s and 80s!), let's take a look at a couple of remakes of music from the movies of that time, shall we? (Both from the same album, Hollywood, Mon Amour; a collection of 80s movies' theme song covers, arranged and produced by well known cover band Nouvelle Vague's producer.)


Flashdance (cover) - Yael Naem
I think I still like her other cover better, but this is pretty good, too.



Eye Of The Tiger (cover) - Katrina Ottosen



(I can't mention Eye Of The Tiger and not link to this. See it AND read it, if you haven't already.

Comings and goings

They say hello...

Big Spender - Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly and cast (from Sweet Charity - the movie)



...she says goodbye.

Mein Herr - Liza Minelli and cast (from Cabaret - the movie)



(Fosse knew his stuff, that's for sure...)

Making a list

It's been a not good, very bad, horrible week at the casa del F.R.O.G. Honestly, I didn't think I could ever feel worse than I did after the news we got last Thursday, but then I forget the dark, sick humor of the universe. All I can say is I must have been some bad motherfucker in a past life or something and this is somehow me paying dues. Because, otherwise? It makes no sense.

***

So, I realized today that my last post was on the one year anniversary of this blog (and post # 250. How very neat and tidy). Woo-hoo, I guess? It's definitely the longest I've stuck to doing something online, if you don't count message boards, and even there my history's been spotty. Probably I stuck it through this time because this wasn't about me interacting with anyone nor was I out to capture an audience of any sorts for any reason (because I do love get on the soapbox in real life, if you give me half a chance.) There are loads of other blogs that are extremely better and more informative and funnier and wittier than I have been here--and I'm not talking about professional ones, either. I'm not trying to be one of them, I'm doing this entirely for my own amusement and, still, my own sanity, as I said in that very first post.

I suppose, though, a nod of some sorts to the past year is due, and there's definitely some things that I go back to from time to time and read and listen to, because I still find them interesting. To me. So, in the grand tradition of top X lists, here is the top 5 list of my current favorite cover song posts, and then my top 5 list of my current favorite general/other posts.

Oh, it's quite possible some of the linked videos may no longer be available due to the asinine practices of companies such as WMG and Sony Music. If so, I can assure you they were probably good vids.

Cover Posts

5- All 'Dolly'ed up and nowhere to go
4- Cover girl
3- Covet and cover
2- Tie: Girls on top and You can tell everybody, this is my song
1- The many faces of love

General Posts

5- Get me to the church on time
4- Tie: A little [light] night music and R+J 4EVAH
3- Catch them while you can
2- Call girls: Not just hearts of gold
1- Only the good die young

Pas de deux

When you're a young girl, the golden standard for acting out a duet with your BFF (that's best friend forever, not Big French/Friendly/Fierce Frog or anything like that) is this:

You're The One That I Want - Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (do I need to say what movie?!)



But then this came out and everything changed, me and E. had a new golden standard of our own:

Dead Ringer For Love - Meat Loaf (featuring Cher)



One thing that never changed, though, was fighting over who was going to sing the boy's part.

Highly animated

As a kid, where music and animation wer concerned, I thought this was the trippiest combination of the two I'd ever come across

Pink Elephants On Parade (from the movie Dumbo)



...and this was the spookiest (start from about 0:40 seconds to 2:30).

Are You Happy? (from the movie Jack And The Beanstalk)



But you know what? Neither of them can hold a candle to this classic.

Minnie The Mooch (featuring Cab Calloway-and Betty Boop and Bimbo!)

[Not] in the know

Why does no one tell me about people like Patricia Barber? I mean, she's only been recording for TWENTY years.

There is precious little of her on youtube, but to whet your appetite, here is her lovely cover of a Doors original (which you may recall is a favorite with a certain under 4 foot person around here). I've uploaded the album version, and a couple of other cover songs (that showcase her versatility) up to imeem because I like you that much. Now, like me back, too, and click on the imeem embeds (and sign up for an account and log in, if you are only getting the 30 second sample--I know it's a pain, but just think, there'll be much more cool music from me waiting for you!). And then buy her albums:at $7.99 a pop for some of them, it's a crime not to.

Light My Fire (cover) - Patricia Barber

Light My Fire - Patricia Barber




More [originals and] covers

The Beat Goes On - Sonny And Cher



The Beat Goes On (cover) - Patricia Barber

The Beat Goes On - Patricia Barber

Ode To Billie Joe* - Bobbie Gentry



Ode To Billie Joe (cover) - Patricia Barber

Ode To Billy Joe - Patricia Barber

And an original by her:

Touch Of Trash - Patricia Barber

Touch Of Trash - Patricia Barber

*P.S. I'm not the only person who saw the movie Ode To Bille Joe several times, right? I had quite the crush on Robbie Benson (aka the voice of The Beast in Disney's Beauty and The Beast. And if you are really curious, you can catch the whole thing on youtube. I'd advise against it, though; it only works if you have some nostalgic feelings for it, and--honestly?--not even then.)

R+J 4EVAH!

It's all good whether you go with Luhrmann and watch it as old love, new way:

Here

or prefer Zefirelli's and see it as new love, old way.
(I suggest watching the whole thing; was there ever a face more beguiling than Olivia Hussey's as she looks around? Don't miss the most excellent eye diss ever at 1:32 or thereabouts.)



I'm not sure there is anything to be gained from comparing these two versions. Olivia Hussey's Juliet is both precocious and naive, with happy wilfulness percolating and ready to brim over, while Claire Danes' Juliet is keenly insightful, with a slight air of weariness that's masking that youthful desire for something more (okay, so I prefer Olivia). Both Di Caprio's and Whiting's Romeo are gullible with their faith in friends, in family, and, ultimately, in the power of love (not to mention both are very pretty boys--a draw, in my eyes). The 1968 score is almost inseparable from the movie itself, since Nino Rota's theme is as famous as the movie (some may say it eclipses it). In turn, the soundtrack to the 1996 version is one of the best to come out of the '90s, and certainly one of the best movie soundtracks ever.

(Possibly the only clear winner in one over the other is Richard York's Tybalt over John Leguizamo's. Leguizamo does a nice job, rawly portraying Tybalt's anger as being for anger's sake, in a way, fueled by pointless inner demons. York, though, does a far more effective job with that petulant face that goes for spoiled displeasure stemming from a sense of being owed the world, for no reason other than just being.)

***

And while we are at the topic of old ways versus new with respect to Romeo and Juliet...well, the "old" obviously scores points for being the original in the first place, but the "new" does breath a different life into it, no?

Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits




Romeo and Juliet (cover) - The Indigo Girls (Amy Ray)



And talking of breathing new breath, and in keeping with the R+J theme:
(with much less cowbell...)
Don't Fear The Reaper (cover) - Gus

Sixteen going on seventeen

I love this girl, I really do. From 2007

My Manic and I - Laura Marling

"I find it dull when my heart meets my mind"



Going back thirty years: Janis Ian can do no wrong in my eye, either. First recorded when she was thirteen (thirteen!), it charted in 1967.

Society's Child - Janis Ian



(P.S. Check out the song At Seventeen by Janis Ian, as well. Then read 'The Virgin Suicides'. Then watch 'The Virgin Suicides.' Then write me a thank you e-mail. You're welcome.)

Covet and cover

What do you do when a decent song barely makes a ripple after you release its studio version in your own pond?

I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick (from the album 'In Color')



Take it across the waters, stir it up with some fans, run it a little faster and a little louder. Voila! Instant hit two years later.

I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick (from the album 'Cheap Trick at Budokan')



Great little cover of the more popular version:

I Want You To Want Me (cover) - Letters To Cleo



This one is oddly entrancing in certain parts:

I Want You To Want Me (cover) - Los Odio y Juan Son



And this? Well, it speaks for itself:

Quiero que me quieras - Gael Garcia Bernal


Now I really want to see the movie.

Update 05/19/09: Apparently, you can teach an old horse new tricks...again. Check out this NPR World Cafe appearance by Cheap Trick, and especially the first song they sing--an acoustic and, once again, different version of the song. Very nice!