Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - Max Raabe & Palast Orchester



Andy, one of my faithful readers, has been educating me in the world of German Disney cover songs. When it comes to foreign language Disney covers I only really have a lot of Japanese and Portuguese covers due to the number of Japanese cover albums and bossa nova discs out there.

However, there is a whole world of covers out there and I am just beginning to scrape the surface! Andy was good enough to send me this cover of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf by a German orchestra called MAX RAABE & PALAST ORCHESTER. Here is what Andy knows about the group:

The Palast Orchestra with its singer Max Raabe usually plays German hits of the 1920's/1930's in (probably) its original style, but in the last years it tended to include also foreign-language hits from that era to its repertoire.

Actually about ten years ago, they also hooked up on (then) prominent pop-songs [Britney Spears' Oops...I Did It Again, for instance]. Their popularity started to rise immensely some years ago, so they now performed all over the world including Italy, Japan an L.A. and New York, where their last tour started.

Apparently, they also played at Marilyn Manson's wedding in 2005!

The recording you will hear is taken from a live recording from their most recent Berlin tour, however the same song can be found on their latest North American release, HEUTE NACHT ODER NIE, a live recording from Carnegie Hall in New York.

Labels: heute nacht oder nie, max raabe, palast orchester, showtunes, three little pigs, who's afraid of the big bad wolf

  ¶ 7:27 AM 2 Comments Links to this post

  Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - Henry Hall & the BBC Dance Orchestra feat. Les Allen
Mrmunkeepants wanted to have a villains week and I think this week would be a great week to spotlight some of the greatest Disney villains and the songs about them!

I'm kicking off the week with a look at one of Disney's oldest villains: The Big Bad Wolf from the 1933 Silly Symphony, The Three Little Pigs. This film is often said to be one of the first animated films to bring unique characteristics to characters that look the same (the pigs).

The Wolf, also known as Zeke Wolf in the Dell published Disney comics in the 40s, was seen as an allegory for the Great Depression and the pigs represented the way people reacted. Later in the 40s, the Wolf represented Hitler and the Nazi movement. Many other animation studios of the time also characterized Hitler as a wolf.

This version of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf was recorded shortly after the film was released by the famous British bandleader HENRY HALL and the BBC Dance Orchestra. Another British musician, Les Allen, provides the vocal work.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf Henry Hall & the BBC Dance Orchestra feat. Les Allen 1933

Labels: bbc dance orchestra, henry hall, jazz, les allen, oldies, three little pigs, who's afraid of the big bad wolf

  ¶ 9:05 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - LL Cool J
LL Cool J has had a remarkable career. Since 1984, he has had multiple platinum albums and number one hits, he put Def Jam on the map, he launched the FUBU clothing line, acted in numerous movies, has his own record label, and he's still going strong!

In 1991, Disney put together a series of music videos in a direct-to-video/soundtrack album package called SIMPLY MAD ABOUT THE MOUSE: A MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF IMAGINATION. The videos are all acts who were top acts of the time and LL's contribution to the album is one of the more interesting renditions.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf from the 1933 film Three Little Pigs was Disney's first hit single. People loved the Frank Churchill song because of the allegory to the Great Depression, and later to Nazi Germany. But above all, people loved the song because it was a great song. It has lasted generations and it is still loved all over the world. LL adds rap verses that tell the tale of the Three Little Pigs and place you right in the action. This isn't so much a cover song but a rap song that samples the Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf chorus.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf LL Cool J 1991

Labels: ll cool j, rap, simply mad about the mouse, three little pigs, who's afraid of the big bad wolf

  ¶ 9:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

 

Labels: ll cool j, rap, simply mad about the mouse, three little pigs, who's afraid of the big bad wolf

  ¶ 2:20 PM 1 Comments Links to this post