Why Don't You Understand That You're The Voice?

I am Celine Dion! I am the Voice, not you, but I!!!

David Archuleta's recent performance of "You're The Voice" on American Idol got me thinking about the sometimes facinating life of pop songs. It's interesting to me how some songs get covered by multiple artists thinking they have a hit on their hands only to have it rejected by the public. Sometimes its a mystery why these songs don't become hits (or become hits years later for Celine Dion), sometime's not. Here's a couple that I can think of that fall under this category, let's start the obvious one-"You're The Voice"

Song: "You're The Voice"

In A Nutshell: The wrong kind of cheese

Archuleta's fave was a monster hit in the 80's for John Farnham, a singer I was a fan of due to his work with the Little River Band in the early 80's. Farnham had a powerful voice tailor made for belting out corny anthems like this one. Despite the momentum built up from having an international #1 hit, America has always been resistent to Farnham and this song. Producer David Foster did a version of the song for his River of Love solo album to nil effect. Heart covered the song in the early 90's and despite the significant changes (no more bagpipe solo and slap happy electronic drums) and a single release it was still ignored.

The bottom line is that America and Europe have some differences in the type of cornball cheese its willing to accept. We like a dose of sentimentality with our world saving cheese ("That's What Friends Are For", "We Are The World") and regard bagpipes as strictly Scottish keeping this song regulated to unknown status here. I thought Archuleta's performance of the song was mediocre but definitely in line with his socially conscious approach to pop music.

John Farnham "You're The Voice"

Song: "The Power Of Love"

In A Nutshell: The power of chest thumping Celine

Another song with a windy border crossing history, "The Power of Love" was written and performed by American Jennifer Rush. Songs with a heavy Opera influence that is not "Bohemian Rhapsody" don't fare well on the pop charts and this song initially was not an exception. A huge hit in the UK, Rush's epic ballad was ignored here. Austrailian Adult Contemporary gods Air Supply covered the song (which was the first time I heard it) and couldn't get away with it either. The late Laura Branigan got a little attention for her version, making the Top 20 in the late 80's. But it is Canadian Celine Dion that made the definitive version of the song finally pushing it to the top of the pop charts. As much as I don't enjoy Celine Dion's shrieky overemoting, if you can make "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" a hit you can pretty much sell anything. It took a Canadian to make a hit song out of a European ballad by an American. That's some power!

Jennifer Rush "The Power of Love"

Song: "Rock Myself To Sleep"

In A Nutshell: ...and sleep they did.

Written by Kimberly Rew and Vince De La Cruz of Katrina and the Waves, the first time I heard this was on Starship's Knee Deep In The Hoopla album. Sung by Grace Slick, this hard rock anthem about self love was not released as a single but stood out because on the record it was the first song on after the hits ("We Built This City", "Sara", "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight"). I don't believe Slick even liked the song. But apparently Myles Goodwyn did, because the song re-appeared as the lead single to April Wine's Walking Through Fire album. Despite an unintentionally hilarious video, the song didn't receive any, um, action. Eventually Katrina and the Waves recorded their own version to no avail, the song remains unknown (except for people like me who bought these records out of fits of temporary insanity).

April Wine "Rock Myself To Sleep"

Song: "You've Got The Touch"

In A Nutshell: Marky Mark's musical legacy?

"Touch" was written and recorded by AOR artist Stan Bush for the soundtrack to the Transformers movie (not the recent movie, the animated movie in the early 90's aka the last movie Orson Welles was ever in). The song caught wind (intentional pun) with AOR fans like me who couldn't get enough of the 80's style "go for it" attitude though it wasn't a hit beyond that. In the mid '90's, the song got a surprising revival when Mark Wahlberg delivered a version of the song in the film Boogie Nights meant to underscore the deluded self ambition of his character. This is arguably the most memorable musical moment for Marky Mark, just edging out his equally self deluded "Good Vibrations" (Yeah! C'mon, C'mon! Feel It! Feel It!).

Stan Bush "You've Got The Touch"

Dirk Diggler "You've Got The Touch"

Well, that's all the songs I can think of to feature for now. I could do a post tracking all the times Celine Dion has made big hits out of other people's little hits ("I Drove All Night" comes to mind) but why begrudge her the success she's had? Because I can't stand her singing? That is a pretty good reason, but still I won't bother. Despite her Pygmalian upbringing and sheltered sense of royalty she doesn't seem to be an evil person so I won't bash her too much more. She understands that I am so poor that I may not have touched a pair of jeans before. Let me touch those things for once!