Comments on: Did you listen to NPR today? Were you paying attention?

Question: Did you listen to NPR today? Were you paying attention?

NortonDC — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:12:56 -0800

Who was the artist covering Ain't Misbehavin' on NPR today? Heard around 4 pm eastern on WAMU. Female. Mena something?

By: annathea

annathea — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:15:04 -0800

Nina Simone? I was just listening to her cover of it. I wasn't listening to NPR this afternoon though, so I could be wrong.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:24:41 -0800

Found: Mina Agossi (temp link?)

I searched NPR and Google, but didn't check the station's own site. ehp.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:25:36 -0800

P.S.--It sounded fantastic.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:27:14 -0800

Ah, permanent link: Mina Agossi

By: liam

liam — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:48:17 -0800

Ain't Misbehavin' mp3 clip by Mina Agossi.

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:32:01 -0800

i'm curious--it's not really a good enough question for ask.me, so i'm plunking it here--is it appropriate to refer to a recording of a standard or a song that's not particularly associated with any artist other than the composer as a "cover"? isn't it more properly called so&so's "rendition" or "version" or "recording"? i know we had a big long thread about whether or not "cover" was racist (because it originally referred to song re-recorded by white artists so that they would have commercial value), but it seems to me that "cover" has now moved completely to a realm where it's pop/rock bands doing one another's songs and doesn't really apply to something like ain't misbehavin'. is this just some weird personal opinion?

(also, thanks for sharing this)

By: liam

liam — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 10:18:49 -0800

I think you're right about standards in general, crush-onastick, but there are some that are closely enough identified with one artist that any subsequent version may be referred to as a cover. I tend to think of "Ain't Misbehavin'" as a Fats Waller number in the way that I think of "Fever" as a Peggy Lee number. Speaking of the latter, those partial to Agossi's "Ain't Misbehavin'" may well enjoy a version of "Fever" retitled "Tumour" (as in " You give me tumour...") by the late french no-wave chanteuse Lizzie Mercier Descloux.