Anyone heard William Shatner's hilarious rendition of LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS? (1 Viewer)

This has got to be the "musical" equivilent of movies like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and THE GIANT CLAW. Shatner was so incredibly full of himself back then (he seems to have developed a welcome sense of humor and self-deprecation lately) and this spoken performance (with backup chorus) is astonishingly Wagnerian and ridiculous. He's done a few others like it, but this is the one to get if you haven't heard it yet.

Any other suggestions for jaw-droppingly bad vocals by noted actors?

I thought Shatner's rendition was a pretty well known guilty pleasure on the Vocal scene. There are plenty of others from that era including

"On The Ponderosa: Lorne Greene And His Western Classics by Lorne Greene"

I have a couple of CDs from RHINO called Golden Throats Volumes 1 & 2. They contain some of the worst vocals ever including Leonard Nimoy doing Proud Mary, Sebastian Cabot singing It Ain't Me Babe and two Shatner songs, Mr. Tambourine Man & Lucy In The Sky.

Very funny and awful at the same time.

Oh yes, "Golden Throats" CD!!

Come on, the versions of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles and Elton John pale in comparison to Shatner's. Dare I say this....Shatner's version is the definitive version of this song, IMHO.

Clips from Shatner's the "Transformed Man" were celebrated on the Capt James T. Kirk Sing-a-long page. It was one of the funniest things on the world wide web in early to mid 90's. Paramount eventually killed it off I think.

I just checked out the Golden Throats CD on ebay. WOW.

Like a Rolling Stone by Sebastian Cabot?
Try a Little Tenderness by Jack Webb?
House of the Rising Sun by Andy Griffith?
Twist and Shout by Mae West???????

Damn, I almost want to buy it!

Jon

His "performance" of Elton John's Rocket Man at a sci-fi awards show in 1978 is sure to make your sides split in laughter.

Jon: You don't "almost want to"....you HAVE to!

Actually there were FOUR Golden throats compilations put out by Rhino. They are all safely sitting in my collection.

One collection that was not intentionally meant to be bad...but has its moments was a disc released in 1998 by--of all people--George Martin (the Beatle's producer)! It's called "In My Life" and is a collection of Beatles songs by various artisits. Among the tracks:

In My Life - Sean Connery
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - Billy Connolly
I Am the Walrus - Jim Carrey
Here There & Everywhere - Celine Dion
A Hard Day's Night - Goldie Hawn
Come Together - Robin Williams & Bobby McFerrin

Good? No. Bad? Very!

Another collection of note is Hollywood Hi-Fi which features songs by Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Ted Cassigy (Lurch), Raquel Welch, Joe Pesci, Jerry Mathers, Danny Bonaduce, Dennis Weaver, Joey Bishop & Anthony Quinn.

Oh. I also own a CD by Fabio called "After Dark". It, too, is a classic.

Does that have a song where he says, "I like to suppress my lady." Really, he says, "Surprise," but it comes out as suppress.

Edit: Heh. It sure enough does.

http://www.daveamason.com/april/mp3/...urprises%2Emp3

Hoo boy. I decided to listen to some clips at the AMG, and I was shocked when the actual Stylistics came up for "Let's Put It All Together." The cheeseball just made a compilation with talking between tracks! At least that means the music is good. NOT that I will be joining you in ownership, Mike!

Actually, Greg...it alternates between music tracks by various artists and tracks of Fabio talking over "romantic" instrumental music. Another of Fabio's tracks features the classic "take a wok on da bitch" (or, maybe, "walk on the beach").

I love this "bad" stuff!

Check out Shatner's "Has Been" recording, it's actually quite good. Ben Folds does the musical arrangements.

While on the subject of Shatner, ST fans should note that Leonard Nimoy has recorded his share of "bad" tunes as well.

One that immediately comes to mind is that rare track that links trekkie with hobbit: Nimoy's rendition of "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"!

Lucy
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2670057

with Joe Jackson
http://www.joejackson.com/lenowm.htm

O...M...G! Is there ANY way to nominate that clip for an Oscar? Or nominate the guy responsible for a Nobel Prize? Just terrific!

You did see Shatner's version of "My Way" at the George Lucas tribute, right?

If not, here it is.....

Here it is...

Shatner singing "Rocket Man" in 1978 (before even he was in on the joke and became a self-parody):


Stewie from Family Guy singing "Rocket Man" Shatner-style:

If by "hilarious" you mean awesome then yes, I've heard it.

Thanks, Dave. You beat me to the punch.

William Shatner's Has Been is--no joke--one of the best albums I've heard in years.

That said, I of course immediately embedded the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" video on my MySpace page...

You can watch the video on YouTube:

Warning! This link may cause your head to explode!

Don't say I didn't warn you!!!