Multiple Versions Monday: Femme Fatale
Six versions of this classic. Which will be your favorite?
Happy Monday. I’m hoping today marks my “real” return to my publishing schedule. April was rough, and May’s already off to a sketchy start, but music matters. Music fuels. Music soothes. Music invigorates. Music can do it all!
Multiple Versions MONDAY!
This week we’re diving deeper into “Femme Fatale.” Composed by Lou Reed, this ode to model and actress Edie Sedgwick was written at the request of Andy Warhol. Apparently lead vocalist Nico hated the Americanized pronunciation of the title and chorus. Lou Reed didn’t care! Sounds about right!
Six Renditions
I love each of these six versions of “Femme Fatale.” While varyingly similar, each has version has its own standout bits. There’s something to love in each.
Listen with Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/multiple-versions-monday-femme-fatale/pl.u-DdAN0kas0Ver3pR
Listen with Tidal:
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/a4680351-e034-4a90-a59a-ab1d0a5fe4fc
There they are! Six versions of this iconic song. Each one just that little bit different from the others, while still embracing and embodying the underlying message and meaning. Which is your favorite? I’d love to know!
6) Big Star. Oof, this one triggers my Inner Beavis. "This sucks, change it."
5) REM. Marginally less suck than Big Star, I guess?
4) Sharon Van Etten. +Points for having the arrangement that's most faithful to the original. And I think the song works better with a female vocalist, generally. But I just can never get into her sound, and I've tried. It's not you, Sharon, it's me.
3) Duran Duran. I liked this one more than I expected. (Did someone else say that already?) It would have been a great soundtrack for an 80s style teen romcom. Dorky Guy unexpectedly starts getting attention from Hot Cheerleader. Nerdy Female Friend From The AV Club warns that she is only using him because she is failing trigonometry and doesn't want to have to take it in summer school. Dorky Guy remains blindly smitten, until the inevitable letdown at the prom when Hot Cheerleader ditches him for Jocko. Crestfallen, Dorky Guy sees Nerdy Female Friend From The AV Club across the room. She takes off her glasses, tosses her hair and is magically transformed into Hot Girl Who Aced Trigonometry. Cue Duran Duran. They dance the night away.
2) Girl In A Coma. I really like where they go here, rocking the song up. Its the only one that doesn't sound like an obvious knockoff. The vocalist sounds like she's snarking about another girl from the lunch table. You can almost hear "That bitch" in the subtext. This version is Nerdy Girl From the AV Club's theme song. It's on the movie soundtrack too, right after the obligatory Kenny Loggins track.
1) Velvet Undergound.
Pssst. Nico is the Femme Fatale. She sings it so convincingly because she lives it. I know this going in, and yet she lures me in every time anyway. My only nitpick is Lou Reed's terrible backing vocals on the chorus.
I didn’t realize there were so many versions of this! I liked the Duran Duran version more than I thought I would, but if I had to pick would go with R.E.M.’s version.