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Jonathan Coulton, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Glee and Whose Baby Got Back?
I heard about the Jonathan Coulton v. Glee thing all day yesterday, last night and this morning. As usual the Hollywood Reporter account is the best. Coulton took Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back and transformed it into a much different composition. Coulton's radical revision is in the same league of radical revision as The Residents' The King And Eye in which they (The Residents) wildly re-imagined famous Elvis Presley songs. Here is one of the tamer re-imagines - The Residents' version of Don't Be Cruel. (I use the word, "re-imagine," so as to heap praise upon this practice which goes far beyond the normal, reserved arranging one often hears in popular music. Earth, Wind & Fire's take on The Beatles' Got To Get You Into My Life is another example but not as wildly reimagined as those by The Residents or Coulton.)