Mariachis covering unlikely songs

There's a roundup of YouTube vids over at urlesque, but none so funny as this cover of Sade's "Smooth Operator." (Thanks, Stephen Lenz)

[#1 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 8:11 PM]

Señor Coconut cover of Riders on the Storm
tiny.cc/riderzondistorm

[#2 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 8:27 PM]

Truly, one of the defining achievements in my life was getting the mariachi at Casa Bonita to sing
Elvis's "Suspicious Minds"

truly a great day for mankind.

[#3 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 8:29 PM]

FYI: The performance starts at 1:22!

[#4 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 8:45 PM]

Funny? I'd buy this version in a second - it's a very musical and fantastically slick interpretation.

[#5 posted by dwdyer, July 22, 2009 8:47 PM]

This one's even more unlikely. Good Mariachi is great, and Mariachi Vargas are fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNTN00SHRIk

Yes, you're hearing Japanese.

[#6 posted by technogeek, July 22, 2009 8:52 PM]

Maybe it's because I don't believe there's only one appropriate way to perform a song, but the "Smooth Operator" recording sounds entirely reasonable to me. I don't think the slideshow actually adds anything to it, but it's not sufficiently awful to drive me away either.

No joke: Could you clarify what you find particularly funny about it?

[#7 posted by Antinous / Moderator, July 22, 2009 8:52 PM]

Nothing beats the Spanish disco version of Paint It Black.

[#8 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 9:00 PM]

I'm not sure why it's funny either. Sounds good to me.

[#9 posted by Yorgle, July 22, 2009 9:24 PM]

about 8 years ago, i heard a mariachi cover of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" which was wierd on many levels.

I've been looking for it ever since. Anyone know of any leads?

[#10 posted by virginiaplain, July 22, 2009 9:38 PM]

I have to agree with technogeek, I really don't see why it's funny. I think it sounds really great. It's probably an unexpected choice for a mariachi band, but a very enjoyable treatment.

[#11 posted by Mary Robinette Kowal, July 22, 2009 9:39 PM]

Hm. I actually prefer this to the original version. Sometimes I do get a cognitive dissonance that's amusing when two cultures meet in unexpected ways, but these two traditions seem to play well together.

[#12 posted by Citryphus, July 22, 2009 9:43 PM]

Not "funny," per se, but definitely brought a smile to my face.

[#13 posted by grikdog, July 22, 2009 9:55 PM]

Wise latina voices, there. Thanks, Strange Garden, whatever you intended by this.

[#14 posted by nosehat, July 22, 2009 10:00 PM]

As a world folk music enthusiast, bent/outsider music enthusiast, mashup enthusiast (and a dozen other applicable enthusiasms no doubt), I have to agree with the commenters. This is a good, creative, musically viable and well executed interpretation of the song. I find it delightful, not funny.

On how someone could find it funny:

This is pretty easy to understand. If you were very, very familiar with the original version of the song, then any genre-crossing interpretation would sound downright hilarious to you, no matter how well done.

I'm not particularly cozy with Sade's original "Smooth Operator". I recognize it and I could hum the melody if pressed, but I don't own it and I certainly don't listen to it on heavy rotation. Since I don't have that much invested in the original, I can hear the cover in a relatively unbiased way.

Give me a polka version of a Beatles song, I'd probably laugh though.

[#15 posted by Anonymous, July 22, 2009 10:09 PM]

@nosehat I bet you'l love this Songsmith take on Queen then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22AWPW5s4EA

[#16 posted by misterfricative, July 22, 2009 10:23 PM]

What Citryphus said. I thought this was delightful, so thanks for posting the video and links.

At its best, mariachi is like 'unplugged', but without the pretension.

When I grow up, I'm definitely going to be a mariachi player.

[#17 posted by Talia, July 22, 2009 10:27 PM]

Not sure if this falls into"mariachi" exactly..

but here's Banda Toro's 'La noche que chicago murio'.. aka, 'The Night Chicago Died.' :D

I love this version so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwpoKZY0IJc

[#18 posted by graphicsman, July 22, 2009 10:34 PM]

OMG. I. LOVE. IT. I may just move South O' The South O' The Border just to hear more like that!

[#19 posted by nosehat, July 22, 2009 10:43 PM]

@ #15 Anonymous: Thanks for the link. Actually, I'm not really a Queen fan, and to my ear once you've heard one "X on songsmith" track you've heard them all. So, I guess not my cup of tea.

(However, the Kleptones have a fantastic album-length Queen mashup which I do enjoy!)

[#20 posted by zikman, July 22, 2009 10:47 PM]

oh my god. this is the same song that is used in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JieDmKtQcc4
that's been my favorite youtube video ever since forever ago, yet I never bothered to look up the music in it (which is pretty uncharacteristic of me)
what a weird coincidence

[#21 posted by Sandrastasia, July 22, 2009 11:23 PM]

Mariachi El Bronx does a cover of Princes' "I Would Die 4 U". On Spin magazines Prince tribute album Purplish Rain.

[#22 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 12:01 AM]

I'm a sucker for mariachi. But this grated on my nerves after a minute, despite the obvious talent of the band. :p

[#23 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 12:15 AM]

How about this Norteño band covering pink ployd in a cantina? great or funny?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soEw2_PGBuQ

[#24 posted by yogi-one, July 23, 2009 12:29 AM]

I like it.

One of the things I have always noticed about the song is the way Sade keeps a very understated 'cha-cha' feel going through it (check out the opening drum lick on the original - a straight up club cha-cha rhythm). All they did was bring it out and give it a real latin feel.

Wonderful! It would have added the right touch to my margarita and enchilada!

[#25 posted by Robbo, July 23, 2009 4:30 AM]

Nothing beats Kai-Kai & Friend of Bonaire covering "You Are My Sunshine". Garbled phonetic transliteration at it's best.

[#26 posted by HPHovercraft, July 23, 2009 7:29 AM]

Funny? Not really. Indescribably awesome? Well yeah, now we're getting somewhere...

[#27 posted by dofnup, July 23, 2009 7:51 AM]

This is a directory of wonderful things, and this is a wonderful thing!

[#28 posted by Beverly Stayart, July 23, 2009 8:14 AM]

Mariachi is great music -- pure and simple!

[#29 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 8:17 AM]

The first minute and twenty one seconds should be surgically removed from this video. It is sucking all the awesome from the Mariachi portion, which is not funny in the least. I hope the band got a nice tip from the yahoos who filmed them.

[#30 posted by wsst1000, July 23, 2009 8:32 AM]

Mariachis don't have accordions. Mariachi music is very traditional especially when it comes to instrumentation. This is a nice rendition but it is not done by Mariachis.

[#31 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 8:51 AM]

Look up ' The lost fingers ' on youtube

two guitarists and a 'double-bassist' playing the worst songs fro the '80s you can imagine à la Django Reinhard ( i.e. touch me by Samantha fox or incognito by Céline Dion )

this seems silly but they sound great and it often takes a little wholebefore you manage to recognize the original song

[#32 posted by johnmcorg, July 23, 2009 9:51 AM]

This gels nicely with the idea I had a couple of years back for Kariachi - karaoke with music provided by a live mariachi band. It wouldn't be too difficult from a technical standpoint. Just run the karaoke machine with the sound off while the band plays.

[#33 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 11:17 AM]

The Norteño version of Pink Floyd is AWESOME! Thanks.

In Venezuela we have this music we call "Raspacanilla" (literally, shin-scratcher), and I hate it, but these guys make Raspacanilla covers that are really, really funny:
http://raspacanilla.com/discografia/

Their name is "Cachicamo con Caspa y Leyko el perro de la IV Dimensión", which means "Aardvark with Dandruff and Leyko the dog from the 4th Dimension".

I also love Eläkeläiset Humppa covers. I do not understand a word (well, now I can understand 'Perkele' and 'kiitos'), but I have a good time jumping to the sound of Humppa. I like Señor Coconut too. El Baile Alemán is one of my favorite albums.

[#34 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 1:50 PM]

Not sure why this is "funny".

I give them full credit for their interpretation! I would be thrilled to hear this on the street.

[#35 posted by gATO, July 23, 2009 2:13 PM]

On a slightly related note, puppet pac-man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uc5Z2ZzzSU

(the "slightly related" part comes at the end)