― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:20 (nineteen years ago) link
I liked "Somebody Told Me" last summer, but it always seemed a bit too novelty, like a retread of Blur's "Girls and Boys" -- and not just in the gender juggling, but also in the vapid indie-gone-Euroclub spirit. "Mr. Brightside" is more affecting: it's sprightly but yearning, stately but smudged, with an almost baroque feel at times (okay, so they rip off "Ode to Joy" at the three-minute mark). It just works. I wish I could recommend the Jacques Lucont remix, considering how much I liked what he did with Gwen Stefani, but his ethereal rendering robs the song of its urgency -- in the original the fake-out non-rhyme of "sick" with "chest" coincides with a desperate tug forward, but in Lucont's hands it just floats there.
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Monday, 2 May 2005 15:29 (nineteen years ago) link
I was able to get synth-phobic indie rock college students to dance to this track! I love dancing to it, and I know lots of people who love it as well, people who i would consider "popists" in the sense that they like to listen to the radio. And I like the original too! w/ all respect edward o., i don't think people are "afraid" of short pop versions; for a long time I liked the original mr. brightside more than the remix.
The JLC remix is just like a New Order song; I'm honestly not sure which version I like better (of "mr brightside") although now I'm leaning towards the epic grandiosity of the remix; it just seems like a better fit for the bombastic (in a good way) emotive qualities of the original (which might be what tim's saying? I'm not sure).
― deej., Monday, 2 May 2005 15:41 (nineteen years ago) link
I love it, and never liked the original, because I guess I am not emotionally moved in the slightest by the original, which just has that crappy 2 cent indie sardonicism thing going on, making it unclear whether you're supposed to hate the singer or like him.
The remix whitewashes this nicely.
― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link
(okay, i guess not.)
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:10 (nineteen years ago) link
now "Somebody Told Me", there's a song whose lyrics all the catchiness in the world can't make up for.
― lemin (lemin), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
This is the main problem with the remix, I agree, but you could argue that the remix isn't about being dynamic--to me it's the epic album-closer to the original's gate-crashing album-opener, and as such doesn't need to do anything except just lie there, being epic and whatnot.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:41 (nineteen years ago) link
i still haven't heard this remix, can someone gmail it to me?
― Aaron Zanders (AaronHz), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― jellybean (jellybean), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― lemin (lemin), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link
The slow buildup of the 'I neverrrrrr' bit until the bass comes back in blows the original out of the water.
― Fergal (Ferg), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― jellybean (jellybean), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― elwisty (elwisty), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― stephen morris (stephen morris), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:22 (nineteen years ago) link
No. This song nicks Beethoven, that song nicked Pachelbel.
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:23 (nineteen years ago) link
I agree with Ronan, the 8min version at least is not "dahnce" music really. My reference points when I heard it were The Cure's "Plainsong", Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", The Blue Nile's "Headlights On The Parade", New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle", and generally speaking extended mixes of 80s pop songs (not to mention prog rock what with the shiny keyboards).
One of the clinchers for me in terms of why the remix seems to work better is the way that the changing backing music for the two verses (identical lyrically and almost identical vocally) seems to give totally different meanings and/or resonances to those lines: the first verse being angry and the second being winsomely wounded stiff-upper-lip fragile.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― stephen morris (stephen morris), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Monday, 2 May 2005 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 13 June 2005 14:52 (nineteen years ago) link
The chorus is awful - it sounds so thin and reedy, the OC version of danceable or something - but I really like the verses (excellent adolescent emo tripe) and the overall production isn't quite as edgeless and annoying as the first single.
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 28 August 2005 07:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― joe schmoe (joeschmoe), Sunday, 28 August 2005 14:31 (nineteen years ago) link
I still like this song, but man, talk about overexposure..
― billstevejim (billstevejim), Sunday, 28 August 2005 15:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 16:06 (nineteen years ago) link
having now heard it at a minimum of 200 times, i BEG to differ.
― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 28 August 2005 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― richard wood johnson, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― jxnx (jxnx), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link
I increasingly find the singer hottt, though.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 22 September 2005 04:58 (nineteen years ago) link
One music industry source who's had sneak preview of the cover told NME.COM: "It's a fairly faithful cover, but McFly's version strips out the synths, adds some rather weedy vocal harmonies and is more pop punk-lite than The Killers' stomping 80s-tinged arrangement."
They added: "Killers fans will probably cringe, and it won't fill indie disco dancefloors as efficiently as the original."
'I Wanna Hold You' hits the shops on October 17.
― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 6 October 2005 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 6 October 2005 14:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in Baghdad, Friday, 5 May 2006 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 6 May 2006 00:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:22 (seventeen years ago) link