18 Comments

For clarity:

'In 1977, Plastic Bertrand started his solo career as the credited artist of the international hit single "Ça plane pour moi", though in fact the song had been sung and produced by its composer Lou Deprijck with the engineer Phil Delire for RKM/Vogue at Studio Morgan in Brussels. Plastic Bertrand received only 0.5% of the song's royalties. A few months earlier, Deprijck had cooperated with Elton Motello (aka Alan Ward), who wrote English lyrics for the same track and recorded it as "Jet Boy, Jet Girl".'

So, while the backing track is much the same, the lyrics and intent are not, so I'm fine with not including "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" as another version.

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The algorithm Gods decided yesterday would be a good time for me to hear Thee Headcoatees, so I’m taking seeing them here this morning as a sign to dig a little deeper. Also, this was my fave version of the lot, with SY not too far behind.

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Thanks for chiming in, Kevin! And I always appreciate the share. Hope your week is off to a terrific start!

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Ooh! I’d love it if you did Be My Baby by the Ronettes, but with the stipulation that you include versions by We Are Scientists and Glasvegas. There are also plenty of others to choose from!

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I can certainly make that happen, especially since you know Glasvegas is one of my Scottish sweeties!

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Ha, this is priceless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi2Djs7n_gk

Plastic Bertand in the left channel, Alan Ward in the right channel.

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Thanks for sharing!

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I love this song! I don’t think anything else gets anywhere near the original this week but I really enjoyed listening to them all

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Thanks, Lou. I always appreciate your listens and hot takes!

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Haha! I don’t generally think of my takes as hot but I always enjoy these. They are a lot of fun.

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HOT, like lava. Sizzle. LOL!

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Are the French lyrics as dirty as "Jet Boy Jet Girl" ? Woohee that song is surely banned in a few states.

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Nope. It's nonsensical and pretty tame!

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En anglais, "That Plane For Me". Probably equivalent to saying "that's my plane" in English ? I hardly know any French. I know I'm going to be singing the chorus on a loop the next time I'm sprinting to the gate at an airport.

I've never heard any of this before today. No idea there was a crossover French pop singer named Plastic, or any other synthetic solid material for that matter.

To the countdown:

5) The Presidents Of The United States

I just can never get into this band. That's all.

4) Thee Headcoatees

It sounds like an old fashioned bootleg copy of a copy of a copy of the original. Give it an updated remaster and it might be something

2b) Nouvelle Vague, Leelou

I really like how this one has some different production elements. It isn't just a carbon copy of the original but still holds faithful to the original spirit. I didn't Google the artist or anything, but it's the only other version that sounds authentically French to me.

2a) Plastic Bertrand

This one was fun, old timey rock. Sort of sounds like 70s era Meat Loaf aka "Pain de Viande". Gets the half point bump over Nouvelle Vague for being the original.

1) Sonic Youth

Now this one is it. It still totally sounds like SY, and also like the original, but not too much. Right in their wheelhouse of weird and fun. MOAR FUZZZZZ!!!!

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Actually, it translates to something like "it's all good for me."

As usual, I love your complete breakdown!

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Thx. Google translate really fails with idiomatic expressions.

Wikipedia describes it as "That glides for me" which makes complete sense how that gets you to "I'm cool with that" or similar

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I'm hardly familiar with Ca Plane Pour Moi, although I have heard it. Living in Toronto in the late 70's, Jet Boy, Jet Girl by Elton Motello was in constant rotation at CFNY, The Spirit of Radio. Of the two, Jet Boy, Jet Girl was the first, although not by much. Any multiple versions list of one should probably include the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Boy,_Jet_Girl

https://open.spotify.com/track/2NC6VnEyAlmtPbfzazlULX?si=2ba2b49597264627

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Jun 24
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Would not have expected that one, Thomas! Thanks for sharing!

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