In the interests of widening my cultural horizons and engaging with modern pop culture, I've just been browsing through the multiple spin-off albums from the US TV series Glee (on Spotify). They were exactly what I'd expected from a bunch of enthusiastic stage-school kids: enthusiastic stage-school renditions of pop and AOR radio fodder, mostly from the 70s and 80s, sung with pizzazz and permanent smiles. My mum would probably like them, and you wouldn't leave if you heard them in a restaurant, as long as they weren't too loud.
All that pizzazz is dutifully channelled into a cover of the Beatles' 'Hello Goodbye'. Elsewhere the kids tackle a song of (arguably) more import: 'Imagine'. And imagine my surprise: the entire first verse, the one which asks people to envisage the non-existence of heaven, is (ironically enough) non-existent. As in 'omitted', or - not to beat about that cliched old bush - 'censored'. So remember, everybody: heaven exists, and so does hell. Don't even consider imagining anything else. And smile!
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Very popular with teens is Glee, at least teenager daughters as I can vouch, including the music. Not all 80s and 90s. They used a recent Beyonce to good affect also.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for Imagine - I was puzzled last year when the Liverpool Catholic Cathedral played it as well - maybe they left out the first verse. Does anyone know?