Cast of "Across the Universe" on GMA

When I watched "Across the Universe," I complained about the pitch correction that I thought I'd heard. The second time I watched it, I was less convinced that I had heard any pitch correction at all.

Then I came across this online discussion of the movie wherein someone states exactly what I felt when I watched it: Jim Sturgess's voice makes some very sharply defined steps when changing notes -- sometimes when he changes notes, the transition from one note to the next is so sharp and clean that you'd swear it has to have been electronically enhanced.

Someone in the discussion pointed out this live performance on Good Morning America as proof that Jim Sturgess is accurate enough without electronic assistance. And, while I knows it's possible to do pitch correction on a live performance, I think it more likely that Jim Sturgess can just simply sing well.

I feel glad that it wasn't just me, and that someone else came to the same conclusion that I did. But I feel better about believing that the filmmakers did not need to pitch-correct their performers.

The movie, by the way, was way better than I expected it could be. They do not (for the most part) attempt to re-create the Beatles arrangements, but they also do not wind up desecrating any of the songs, either (you might take issue with some of the editing, but the interpretations at least honor the source material). And Julie Taymor's visual style is always stunning and original. The more I see of her, the more I admire her. Possibly the strongest statement of all is her statement that whenever possible, instead of pre-recording and then lip-syncing to playback during filming, they had the actors perform the pieces live in front of the camera. Which I find admirable.

[UPDATE: Here's synchronicity for you. After I posted this about two hours ago, I see that someone came to my blog because they did pretty much the same thing that I did: they Googled "across the universe" and "pitch correction." So I guess maybe I'm even farther from being the only person who wondered about this than I thought I was.]

[UPDATE: Synchonicity #2: via BoingBoing - The New Yorker's "Out Loud" podcast this week is about Auto-Tune, the pitch correction software.]

They Did It Their Way - D and E

If you're seeing this for the first time and wondering what this "They did it their way" thing is about, read here for the background and full listing of this personal game of mine.

D

Lea DeLaria - Donna
Depeche Mode - Route 66
Devo - Satisfaction (I Can't Get Me No)
Devo - Secret Agent Man
Devo - Working In a Coalmine
Donnas - Drive My Car
Doors - Alabama Song
Dr. John - Blue Monk


E

Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - I Am Woman
Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - Stayin' Alive
English Beat (aka The Beat) - Can't Get Used To Losing You
English Beat - Tears Of a Clown
Erasure - Can't Help Falling In Love
Erasure - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
Erasure - River Deep Mountain High
Erasure - S.O.S.
Erasure - Solsbury Hill
Erasure - Take a Chance On Me
Erasure - Video Killed the Radio Star
Melissa Etheridge - I Will Always Love You
Everclear - Brown-Eyed Girl


Lea DeLaria's version of "Donna" comes from the Actors' Fund of America benefit concert and recording of "Hair". Again, in theory, you could either take every track from this album and include, or you could exclude the album because it's a complete recording of all the songs from the show. I took the middle path - include a few numbers, but not all.

Depeche Mode's "Route 66" is more a completist inclusion, as I'm not terribly fond of this track personally.

The Devo covers of Satisfaction, Secret Agent Man and Workin' In a Coalmine are there, well, just because.

The Donnas version of Drive My Car comes from "This Bird Has Flown," a tribute to "Rubber Soul" on the 40th anniversary of its release. Again, I only included three or four of the tracks off this album in the collection. The one track that drives me up the wall is what Fiery Furnaces did to "Norwegian Wood."

The Doors didn't do many covers, so you have to take 'em where you can get 'em, and "Alabama Song" is about all there is. You could almost fill up a CD with various versions of "Alabamasong," especially if you don't mind half of them being sung by Lotte Lenya.

Dr. John's version of "Blue Monk" is from a Thelonius Monk tribute album from the mid-1980's called "That's the Way I Feel Now." This track, Joe Jackson's version of "'Round Midnight" and Barry Harris's version of "Pannonica" are staples of my iPod at all times. I don't think I ever delete these three tracks.

Jonathan and Darlene Edwards are one of the all-time greatest acts. They are, in fact, Jo Stafford and Paul Weston. To be able to play so technically nearly correctly, and to sing so perfectly out of tune requires an unbelievable amount of actual talent. Chip sums them up as "perfectly awful". Here's a video of a rather buff drag queen lip-syncing to Darlene's version of "Staying Alive."

The Beat's ska takes on Tears of a Clown and Can't Get Used to Losing You - again, 1980's staples.

Erasure do covers often enough that they finally just recorded an album of covers and called it "Other People's Songs". Some of these tracks are from that album, some aren't. The strangest thing they've done to any song is to make "Solsbury Hill" into a duple beat (if you don't know the original, it's almost entirely in 7/4, except for the occasional bar of 4/4).

Melissa Etheridge's version of "I Will Always Love You" is from a Dolly Parton tribute called "Just Because I'm a Woman".

Everclear's cover of Brown-Eyed Girl is from "Songs from an American Movie, Part 1".

In the beginning

This post is inspired by the way my improv class started last night. The instructor went around the room asking this question of everyone in class:

"What's the first thing you remember? "

My earliest memories, in no particular order:

• I remember seeing the orange and yellow swirl label on a Capitol Records 45 rpm single by the Beatles (I'm pretty sure it was "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"). I think the reason I remember it so well is that it looked different when it was still than it looked when it was spinning on the turntable. When it was spinning, it sometimes looked like one color, sometimes like two colors. I remember that this happened in my aunt's bedroom in south Georgia [but my sister informs me that I remember incorrectly and that the single actually belonged to her]. My aunt introduced us to Sonny and Cher, the Beatles and "Last Kiss."
  

• I remember hitting my head and having to have two stitches. I don't remember the actual fall, though. What I remember is my parents explaining to me what had happened and trying to describe it to me. It was on the back of my head, and I was frustrated that I couldn't see the stitches. Every time I moved to try to look at it, the back of my head moved, too.
  

• I remember seeing the Boogie Man (aka "the Booger Man") outside my second-story bedroom window. He looked kind of like the Grinch, only a darker green and with longer hair. My parents tried to convince me that it was just a tree branch, but even to this day, I know better. I also remember being confused, because it seemed logical to me that the Booger Man should be made of boogers, not of hair.
  

• I remember sitting under the ironing board while my mother was ironing. I was playing with a ball or some blocks, something simple like that. My mother was ironing a smock that was decorated with different styles of clocks showing different times, with ribbons weaving between them reading, "Haste makes waste" and "He who hesitates is lost" (or some such similar sayings). I was watching the clocks move up and down and from side to side as my mother ironed the smock. I asked her, "We're moving in three days, right?" She answered patiently, "Yes, that's right. Three days." "How much is three days?"
  

• Right after we moved, I remember meeting the little girl from next door. She came running over happily to introduce herself. I threw a rock at her and hit her in the head. I don't know why I did it, and I felt horrible for having done it immediately after I did it -- partly, I think, because I had intended my throw to miss her, so actually hitting her was an accident. Although this must have made for a terribly awkward introduction into the neighborhood, my parents' friendship with those neighbors continues to this day.

Otherwise, my first few years of life remain a closed book to me.