Tuesday is normally the seconds worst day of the week after Monday. But I got the cure for those Tuesday blues with an awesome remix of Ben E. King’s classic, Stand By Me. The video was produced by Playing For Change and I got tell ya, if it doesn’t bring a tear to you eyes, then you are one heartless bastard.
This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Ellitott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley’s base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz’s added some metal percussion to it.
And from there, it just gets rock ‘n’ rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video.
Don’t you just love technology? All this was done with just a simple laptop, a camcorder and few microphones. Enjoy the video and look on the bright side. It’s only three more days until the weekend! At least that’s what rat racers tell me.
Source: Gizmodo
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{ 23 comments }
One of the best songs ever. This was a really great rendition in my opinion. Great post JC!
Aman@BullsBattleBears’s last blog post: Freebie Monday #21 – Free Birthday Deals!
Thanks a lot for bringing this song and video to our attention!
BB
Best CD Rates’s last blog post: ING $25 Bonus with Electric OrangeSM checking
John,
Great song, and cheered me up, I’m still not making any money…
Been enjoying the Flip Mino HD camera I won on your site recently. Picture quality and storage are good enough for the web. On a 32-inch TV set the resolution is a bit ‘crackly’ but the first generation codecs are always in need of improvement.
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
http://www.twitter.com/nachase
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Nicholas Chase’s last blog post: Guy Kawasaki’s New Book – ‘Reality Check’
*hums along to song..*
Nicholas, you should post some video using the flip mino soon..:)
Melody’s last blog post: My Ideal Unconventional Home(s)
Just doesn’t work for me, but I don’t think I’m heartless. Bastard? Well, maybe.
Jake Stone’s last blog post: Identity theft at John Chow
I don’t get what is so emotional about this video…
What a refreshing catchy remix! It didn’t make me cry though… Thanks for sharing John!
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very good clip thanks for the share john
wisdom’s last blog post: Real Time Swine Flu Map
I just saw this on Gizmodo. Awesome!
@stickycarrots
That is bad ass. Nice find – totally retweeting that bad boy. (that never sounds quite right when i say that…)
J. Money’s last blog post: Whatcha Know About Kids Allowances These Days?
I’m not digging the remix so much. Thanks for sharing though, John.
Awesome Song John ..!!
Recently while doing some research i found that on Gizmodo ..!!
Ricky Peterson’s last blog post: Tips for Curing Blogger’s Block
Great song, I really love it
Thanks for that song JC. It bring us back to whats important in life that we often take for granted….people. Everyone needs someone to stand by them.
Nice to see something out of the norm thrown in the mix.
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Its better to love what you do, otherwise it feels quite pinchy.
This is real awesome technology. They are real professional in Video and audio editing. Great song. It makes me to remember the movie “Stand By Me”
Marketing Business Review’s last blog post: How I Got 250 Twitter Followers In 40 Minutes And Reach Over 2000 Twitter Followers
You like this kind of music ? Nice kind ,thanks for share
Zen’s Twitter
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What kind of question is that!? Obviously he does other wise he wouldn’t have posted it! Great music is great music, does not matter the genre or culture is comes from.
Michael Zhao’s last blog post: End of Second Week.
This is a great Video clip. Thanks for the background info. I was looking for the story behind that video. The first ime I heard the remix of Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole singing “Unforgettable” I knew technology was going to give us some great things.
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That’s pretty cool man…good talent!
Michael Zhao’s last blog post: End of Second Week.
So this is a new series from you. Sorry but I am looking at this first time …
Certainly good one.
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog’s last blog post: Oprah reaches 1 million followers on Twitter
Cool video
I love Stand By Me.
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