Thursday, March 22, 2012

William Shatner--Rocket Man (1978)/Bohemian Rhaposdy (2010)

     Today William Shatner turns 81. I have to list myself as a fan since his days as Captain Kirk in Star Trek. There are many who consider himself a pompous, overblown bag of air, including those who worked with him. For some strange reason, his ability to project such a narcissistic persona, while making fun of it at the same time is one of the things I like about him. That and his ability to sing....
     Well...not really SING. It's more what I call "song as  dialogue". The genre isn't as full as it used to be, but it seemed to be prominent in the late 60's, as people attempted to make rock music, "serious". What it turned out to be was seriously funny as actors such as Leonard Nimoy, Telly Savales (a blog of his rendition of Bread's, "If" is found in our listings from last year), and probably the most sidesplitting of them all, Sebastian Cabot reading Dylan's, "It Ain't Me Babe" as if he were auditioning for a Shakespearean role.
     Shatner was late to this party, but when he chose to start, he was all in....the following was from 1978 as he chose to dis-assemble Elton John's "Rocket Man" 

     I've often wondered how much money Bernie Taupin was being paid to introduce this epic re-creation of his lyrics....
     Just last year, Shatner decided it was time to release an album of songs. Am not sure where the clamoring came from that led him to his decision, but one of the songs was made into a wonderfully funny video. Here he does a cover of  Queen's,  "Bohemian Rhapsody". Sit back and listen while you watch a master at work...

0 comments:

Post a Comment