Tag Archives: music

Today’s Repurpose: From Del Shannon to Numa Numa

Some of you have heard the Tom Petty song “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” a guitar-heavy tribute to Del Shannon with an excellent closing solo by Mike Campbell.

Tom Petty (technically a solo song, but…).

Petty of course is no longer with us, but the song lives on in covers, including this cover by Mike Campbell himself, with his band the Dirty Knobs.

Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs.

And this one by Marty Stuart, with acoustic stringed instruments.

Marty Stuart.

Well, it’s been covered again; recorded a few years ago, and released on an album in 2025.

Without any stringed instruments at all.

Gary Brolsma.

If you don’t recognize the artist name Gary Brolsma, I only have to say two words. One is “Numa.” And you can figure out the other one.

If you like electronic music, you’ll love this. And Brolsma has a pleasant singing voice.

And Petty’s estate, co-author Campbell, and additional co-author the ever-present Jeff Lynne make money off every one of these covers.

Speaking of Jeff, here’s an early live performance of his. He’s the guitarist in the gown. The lyrics were subsequently reworked for album release.

Electric Light Orchestra.

As far as I know, Brolsma hasn’t covered this song…yet.

(And if THIS post goes viral, I’m in trouble.)

Surfin’ Identity

Imagine if Capitol Records employed age verification in 1963.

Some musicians reach superstardom in their early 20s, feeling tremendous pressure at a young age. 

But sometimes they’re younger: when “Surfin’ U.S.A.” hit number 3 on Billboard and Cash Box, surf guitarists Carl Wilson and (soon to depart) David Marks were 16 and 14, respectively.

Of course, Capitol Records would face a bigger problem—Know Your Composer. Brian Wilson did not write the song alone.

Step Into Christmas: Deepfake?

Deepfakes are not a 21st century invention. Take this video of “Step Into Christmas.”

But here are the musician credits.

Elton: Piano and vocals

Davey Johnstone: Guitars and backing vocals

Dee Murray: Bass guitar and backing vocals

Nigel Olsson: Drums and backing vocals

Ray Cooper: Percussion

Kiki Dee: Backing vocals (uncredited)

Jo Partridge: Backing vocals (uncredited)

Roger Pope: Tambourine (uncredited)

David Hentschel: ARP 2500 synthesizer (uncredited)

The video doesn’t match this list. According to the video, Elton played more than the guitar, and Bernie Taupin performed on the track.

So while we didn’t use the term “deepfake” in 1973, this promotional video meets at least some of the criteria of a deepfake.

And before you protest that everybody knew that Elton John didn’t play guitar…undoubtedly some people saw this video and believed that Elton was a guitarist. After all, they saw it with their own eyes.

Sounds like fraud to me!

Remember this when you watch things.

Avoid Typos (Papa Kegba)

One of the oddest movie song juxtapositions is the pairing of Pops Staples’ “Papa Legba” and John Goodman’s “People Like Us” in the David Byrne movie True Stories. While researching the former I accidentally typed Papa KEGBA. Which resulted in this.

Papa Kegba.

If you’re curious about the Google Gemini (Nano Banana this week) prompt used to create the first picture, I documented it in the Bredemarket Picture Clubhouse Facebook group here.

We Know All About You, Music Lover

This is the week that we celebrate how much companies in Sweden and elsewhere know about us.

Including estimated ages.

Which may or may not (I’m not telling) be as accurate as software that analyzes your face for age estimation.

And the companies gathering the data can then sell it to advertisers and others who use it in all sorts of ways.

It will be interesting to see the corporate messaging that I and other Spotify users will receive over the next few days.

“If you listen to Depeche Mode, perhaps our Medicare plans may interest you.”