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| A tribute to Mount Rushmore by the members of Deep Purple |
Here they are! Georgie! Abie! Tommy! Teddy! Performing their greatest hits! (Seriously, it's amazing how much of this stuff there is.) I'm not sure why, but one day I decided to check YouTube to see if there were any videos which in which the giant heads on Mount Rushmore start singing. Boy, were there ever! Here are a few....
1. "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
What could be more all-American than... uh, this Scottish pop favorite? This clip employs a Clutch Cargo-type Syncro-Vox effect which works reasonably well, and the arrangement is charming. If nothing else, this gives us all a chance to think about Benny & Joon for a few seconds. Rating: 4 out of 5 Abes.
2. "Sing"
Ah, "Sing" by the Carpenters... I can remember when I thought it was a huge freakin' deal that an actual POP GROUP on the RADIO was singing a song from Sesame Street. I don't know what any of this has to do with the American Presidents, though. The limited animation is both creepy and effective. The eyes kind of weird me out. Rating: 3.5 Abes.
3. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Crude but entertaining and to-the-point, this clip focuses just on the "Scaramouche" part of BoRap, which I think is pretty much everybody's favorite part anyway. This is the first clip in the collection to feature those flapping, South Park-style cartoon mouths. Rating: 3 Abes.
4. "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
The audio from this is taken from a Family Guy cutaway gag in which Peter Griffin performed as part of "The Four Peters." I barely remember this particular joke, but it's spawned probably a dozen YouTube clips, including this one. Go figure. Cute, though. More South Park mouths here, too. Rating: 3 Abes.
5. "The Longest Time"
Boo! One of those "gotcha!" clips. And it was going so well, too. Rating: 2 Abes.
6. "Dancing With Myself"
Yikes. This one is a bit of a mess, technically speaking, as it switches from one kind of footage to another. And poor Thomas Jefferson looks like Jacob Marley in the 1980s TV movie version of A Christmas Carol. ("I wear the chains I forged in life!") Still a good song, though. Rating: 2.5 Abes.
7. "God Bless the USA"
Meh. I've never been a huge fan of this song (sorry!), and the Presidents are doing Lee Greenwood no favors with this arrangement. C'mon, guys, you have ALL THE TIME in the world! Practice a little, why don't ya? Rating: 1 Abe.
8. "Hail to the Chief"
Now this is what I'm talking about! Not only do Abe and the boys kick things off with a (great) song, but they follow it up with a very funny skit. Muchacho! Rating: 5 Abes!
9. "Bohemian Rhapsody" (again!)
Less is sometimes more. Case in point, this clip includes (I think) the whole song. I don't know. I haven't gotten through it all the way. Not that I have anything against the song, of course, but I don't think I want five minutes of this animation. Rating: 2.5 Abes.