Cultural Tourism Showdown - Joni Mitchell's 'Furry Sings the Blues' vs. Marc Cohn's 'Walking in Memphis'

I vote Elvis Presley's Hound Dog

this are the 2 best songs ever so i fp#d you anyway just in case

Beach Boys - Kokomo

the lion sleeps tonight ftw

The two songs are only superficially similar IMO - really "Furry Sings The Blues" is about how the "message" of "Walking in Memphis" is BS.

well, they're both about tourism. mitchell's much (much) more pointedly bitter about the unbridgeable gap, but cohn at least seems to admit that it exists.

does Cohn really sing "I was walkin' with my feet and feet off a beer" in the chorus

well, they're both about tourism. mitchell's much (much) more pointedly bitter about the unbridgeable gap, but cohn at least seems to admit that it exists.

― describing a scene in which the Hulk gets a boner (contenderizer), Tuesday, February 24, 2015 3:00 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Perhaps that's implied by the question in the chorus. Otherwise it's all "Yeah I got a first class ticket / But I'm as blue as a boy could be".

Whereas I think Joni really skewers her own tourism as being part of the problem - her limo shining on Furry's shanty street, the way that even Furry's open dislike of his audience gets co-opted into part of the spectacle.

It's weird to me that both songs invoke WC Handy at the precise point where the singer acknowledges their own wealth: it's almost as if Joni is reaching into the future to ironically reference the Cohn lyric - at any rate I hear her line "WC Handy / I'm rich, and I'm fey / and I'm not familiar with what you played, but...I get such strong impressions of your heyday" as being in quotation marks, something her character says which is both dubious and sincerely-felt.

I really want to hear Old Furry right now. Walking In Memphis is such a big hoary karaoke staple (my MOR-loving singer friend can really belt this one), so ingrained in my history of music listening, that I never clocked it as anything more than an Elvis tribute, which I now realise is a common misconception. Have grown to love 'Tell me are you a Christian child?/I said MA'AM I AM TONIGHT'.

I associate "Walking in Memphis" with that period in spring '91 when other songs with choirs grazed the top 15: Rick Astley's "Cry For Help," Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark," Luther Vandross' "Power of Love/Love Power."

Also, I remember WiM being played on the radio in the UK in '91 but had assumed it was an older song that had been reissued for some reason as there had been lots of successful reissues around that time.

i associate it with raving

Raving I'm Raving did a LOT better in the charts than WiM did. Number 2 vs number 22.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

she said "tell me are you a Christian child" and I said "no I am Jewish singer-songwriter Marc Cohn"

"isn't W.C. Handy the 'Thrill is Gone' guy? I'm pretty sure I have one of his CDs"

"no, Mr. Cohn, this is actually tilapia"

"God, you people are so soulful!"

HOOS, was it you who once described the song "Walking in Memphis" as "a love song to black people"? if so, thanks :)

― Remember! The cormorant is a big brrd. It has got a long neck. (unregistered), Saturday, July 13, 2013 4:56 PM (5 months ago)

i am pretty sure i once said something like this, yes

― i like HOOS but this took the cake off my table (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 10:04 AM (1 year ago)

So Marc Cohn was the industry idea in a pre-Nirvana landscape, eh? VH-1 loved this guy and this album; he had sensitive cred, liked black people, served the need for a Winwood replacement pronto.

i hate this song so much

"walking in memphis" that is