Peer Validated

Pictured:  Franco Battiato is ready for the old, angry, Italian man barbeque.   

Franco Battiato kind of looks like your dad.  He has been alive since 1945.  He’s from Italy.  He has a song on the Children of Men Soundtrack.  According to wikipedia,

 ”His collaborations (from 1994 onward) with the nihilistic-cynical philosopher Manlio Sgalambro have added further depth to his apparently nonsensical lyrics, with references to Emil Cioran, Friedrich Nietzsche and other anarchistic and problematic thinkers.”

 I say, “Whatever.”  All this stuff doesn’t matter if his music sounds like a dog throwing up in the middle of air raid sirens, which I think is typical of “anarchistic and problematic thinkers”.  Fortunately for us, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

 Battiato’s version of “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones is a work of art.  From the subtle, weird fake flute sounding things in the background to the tasteful piano, to the weird way he actually says, “Ruby Tuesday” Battiato gives the song an innocence that Mick Jagger never could; probably because Mick only took 15 minutes out of his day to record this song in between snorting heroin off of super models and throwing axes at wooden things.  One look at Battiato and you realize, wow, this guy would never do that… because he is old and ugly. 

Snarky comments aside, this is a well done, tasteful cover.  I wish there were more like this and less like, “Walkin’ on the Sun” as performed by Smashmouth or the infamous “Iron Man” as performed by The Cardigans.