Does anybody remember she loves you?

December 19, 2007 11:40 AM

I Wanna Hold Your Stairway The Beatnix perform Stairway to Heaven... as the Beatles might have done it. Probably not much different than the Rutles might have done it.
posted by psmealey (43 comments total)

Wow. Takes the sinister feel out of it completely.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:52 AM on December 19, 2007

Wow - I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. They really nailed it. This might even stand up to a repeated play.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:00 PM on December 19, 2007

Okay--someone else is gonna have to decide for me if this is cool or not. Because I honestly don't know.
posted by sourwookie at 12:04 PM on December 19, 2007

Hopefully they're also working on "Fool in the Rain on the Hill", "All You Need is a Whole Lotta Love", and "Cry Ozone Baby Cry".
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:07 PM on December 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

If I recall, there was an Australian TV Show that ended with a different band covering "Stairway to Heaven" in different styles. There was a B52s-ish version that was especially droll.

That said, my favorite "Stairway to Heaven" related thing was the Butthole Surfer's album title, Hairway to Steven.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:11 PM on December 19, 2007

101 Version of Stairway to Heaven, including this one.
posted by SansPoint at 12:15 PM on December 19, 2007 [4 favorites]

There was a B52s-ish version that was especially droll.

From SansPoint's link, could it be this version by the Rock Lobsters?.
posted by mhum at 12:20 PM on December 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is dead on, yeah. Though I was hoping they had hewed closer to the Zepplin arrangement's tonality—something like a late-era, Lennon-driven opus, more White Album than Meet The Beatles.
posted by cortex at 12:24 PM on December 19, 2007

"Paul's" bass is on backwards.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:26 PM on December 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I heard if you play this backwards, it says "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine".
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:30 PM on December 19, 2007

Very enjoyable, thanks!
posted by languagehat at 12:40 PM on December 19, 2007

Not to turn this into a repeat referendum on that WFMU Stairway post, but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS IS SHIT HOT. I mean god damn.
posted by cortex at 12:45 PM on December 19, 2007 [7 favorites]

Not to turn this into a repeat referendum...

Holy shit.
posted by jquinby at 12:54 PM on December 19, 2007

Disappointingly formulaic, sadly. The intro, the outro, the harmonies, the rhythm guitar, the bass - everything was stolen from a Beatles song. If the Beatles had done Stairway to Heaven, they'd have been more original, more experimental, more radical with it, than just plundering their old tunes for ideas. This is exactly what it was - how a Beatles tribute band would do Stairway to Heaven...
posted by benzo8 at 1:07 PM on December 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

WELL THAT'S THE BEST WE'VE GOT
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 1:15 PM on December 19, 2007

Fake Beatles is better than no Beatles.
posted by Senator at 1:28 PM on December 19, 2007

Rofl Harris's version is definitive.
posted by meehawl at 1:31 PM on December 19, 2007

I love the washed-out video.
posted by rottytooth at 1:54 PM on December 19, 2007

The Rodrigo y Gabriela version (also available on that wfmu page) made me actually enjoy the song again.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:10 PM on December 19, 2007

Hopefully they're also working on "Fool in the Rain on the Hill", "All You Need is a Whole Lotta Love", and "Cry Ozone Baby Cry".

Would you believe "All You Need is Kashmere"?

/Rutles
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:23 PM on December 19, 2007

It's been a long time coming, but I feel I finally have a reason to put myself out there and say

meh.

(but the WFMU post is indeed awesome).
posted by ericbop at 2:27 PM on December 19, 2007

It's just the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" sung to an early Beatles pastiche. You could do that with any lyric. They could have at least done it in a minor key. Plenty of early Beatles songs were in a minor key ("Taste of Honey"). Not that I particularly want to hear "Stairway to Heaven" sung in the style of anybody, really, because "Stairway" is a tedious song, listening to which, is much like climbing a stairway in a parking garage when the elevator's broken.
posted by Faze at 2:28 PM on December 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

Kashmir

*slinks away*
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:32 PM on December 19, 2007

Two wrongs do not make a right!
posted by tkchrist at 3:23 PM on December 19, 2007

In any sane society, this would be a warcrime. I am not joking. This is why capital punishment was invented.
posted by Ryvar at 5:13 PM on December 19, 2007

cortex: Holy cats! Thanks for pointing that version out. Amazing.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:22 PM on December 19, 2007

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS IS SHIT HOT. I mean god damn.

You, sir, have just earned your moderator badge for the year.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:14 PM on December 19, 2007

If you ever needed concrete evidence to present to a jury to exonerate you from murdering those annoying South-American pan-pipe dudes on the streets of New York, well, here you go.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:26 PM on December 19, 2007

I kept killing those pan-pipe dudes, and they kept coming like zombies, playing El Condor Pasa in an infinite number of variations, and finally I gave up and left town.
posted by languagehat at 6:39 PM on December 19, 2007

That was the point, but thanks for thinking it was serious Captain Oblivious.
posted by spock at 7:03 PM on December 19, 2007

Rofl Harris's version is definitive.

Typonysterical.
posted by dammitjim at 7:23 PM on December 19, 2007

I'm giving this a big meh. musically, this version has almost nothing to do with the original. the basic melodic ideas of the zepplin version weren't stretched over Beatles-esque scales and movements, they were just tossed out and replaced. is it catchy? is it Beatlesy? sure.

but it could have been better.
posted by es_de_bah at 7:34 PM on December 19, 2007

Your favorite Stairway cover done in an alternative music style sucks.
posted by stargell at 9:11 PM on December 19, 2007

Joey Michaels: The Australian ABC TV show you are thinking of was Andrew Denton's The Money or The Gun.
posted by elphTeq at 10:05 PM on December 19, 2007

I liked, I liked!

Once upon a time, I realized that music from U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and the lyrics from The Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday" fit together quick nicely in the same fashion demonstrated here. Perhaps I'll get around to recording it someday.
posted by davejay at 11:07 PM on December 19, 2007

Damn, cortex, that's a mighty fine link you posted there. Mighty fine.
posted by davejay at 11:09 PM on December 19, 2007

Am I the only one who likes Stairway covers more than the original song itself?

I mean, sorry, but really. It is a tad tedious.

*slinks away*
posted by rossination at 11:51 PM on December 19, 2007

'The Chaser' musician did a McCartneyesque version of 'Imagine' a couple of weeks ago.
posted by emf at 3:45 AM on December 20, 2007

Considering Money Or The Gun was a weekly comedy show, the Stairway covers they did were pretty elaborate. Some others I found are a Lucy In The Sky style version, an Opera/Musical version and one performed by a Philharmonic Choir.
posted by CaveFrog at 4:39 AM on December 20, 2007

All I can say is that if the Beatles had done it first, Stairway would have been forgotten as a lame out-take to their early stardom.

(in other words..... do not want)
posted by Doohickie at 1:51 PM on December 20, 2007

Hey, this one is pretty decent too. Any mashup that kicks it off with some Laurie Anderson is okay in my book.
posted by cortex at 2:18 PM on December 20, 2007

FREEBIRD!

The Beatles were inspired. Good idea, bad implementation.
posted by ersatz at 4:13 PM on December 20, 2007

You know, the interesting thing culturally is that there's just nothing like the Beatles, or Elvis, or even Michael Jackson anymore. Can anyone imagine any band, today, with tribute bands playing in 2040?

Why this is, is an interesting question. I'd guess the combination of massive availability of music and the death of the free sphere (ClearChannel) is what's going on.
posted by effugas at 12:58 PM on December 21, 2007