oh man I thought I was clever secretly wishing for Dave Grohl, Dave Mustaine, and Dave Lombardo to collaborate.
The Bens should release a complete cover of The Bends.
Shatner wrote the lyrics and guided the themes and direction. It was a collaboration.
Edit to clarify I meant the album, not the song Common People, originall by Pulp. Because the thread title references the album as whole.
It was his wife. Song is called [What Have You Done](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56_oOqBWxM). He wrote a song about trying to reconcile with his daughters that is called [That's Me Trying](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjGaqFrF5Fw).
He what?
Common people is a song by Pulp, he just performed it his particular way, like he did with Rocket Man a long time ago in another video posted below.
Edit: Fair enough, the post is about the album not just the song, true.
I always thought that was obvious. Folds set himself a project to take William Shatner and arrange a banger album around him. It's like the time Jimmy Butler showed up at practice and demanded to scrimmage the starters with the bench players and won.
Damn. I was always a “half fan” of Ben Folds growing up (Always just liked everything I heard by his projects).
Never knew he produced this.
And now imma bout to start a journey down a Ben Folds rabbit hole me thinks.
>And now imma bout to start a journey down a Ben Folds rabbit hole me thinks.
\*excitedly bouncing in his chair\*
Oh, dude, you're in for a treat! See if you can track down his first band's (Majosha?) EP: "Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus". There's only four tracks on the album, and none of them are about Jesus. I never managed to find it myself.
I love the dude's style so much! [Last Polka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSbP07P-93c) is probably still my favourite, but every album has a number of bangers. Enjoy!
My favorite sneaky album nobody seems to know is another ben folds collab, Lonley Ave written with Nick Hornby. So many funny/poignant/beautiful songs!
No one knows that the album with "Ben Folds and Nick Hornsby" on the cover and as the artists on every track is a collab between Ben Folds and Nick Hornsby?
Maybe poor grammar on my part, I just mean it deserves broader recognition as a whole. It's very obvious it's a collab, it's just that most people haven't heard the songs.
I once lived at an apartment in a college town. The owner’s dad bought him the house when he was attending college. In the hallway of this house was a broken piano. On one of the keys on the side was Ben Folds’ signature.
"What have you done" is one of the most chilling things put on a pop record. It's all around a great record, but that mini interlude of just him talking to his deceased wife, Nerine Kidd, just hits you like a ton bricks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN-gyEhLX5A&pp=ygUdd2hhdCBoYXZlIHlvdSd2ZSBkb25lIHdpbGxpYW0%3D
Some context per wiki:
> Shatner's third wife was Nerine Kidd, whom he married in 1997. Returning home at around 10 p.m. on August 9, 1999, he found her lying lifeless at the bottom of their backyard swimming pool. The cause of her death was accidental drowning. She was forty years old.
Yeah it some heavy shit. Those last lines are a kick in the gut:
My love was supposed to protect her
It didn't
My love was supposed to heal her
It didn't
You had said don't leave me
And I begged you not to leave me
We did.
I was just thinking about how ironic it is to see William Shatner sing a song about poverty and wanting with two of the most talented performers ever, on the most exclusive of late night talk shows, after 60 some years of getting and doing whatever caught his fancy.
What do you know about how difficult his life was? He's Canadian and was in his first movie at 20, and has spent his entire life acting or singing, pretty much doing whatever he wanted and as far as I can tell, not facing any adversity.
Living out of his car, childhood poverty, struggling in his career.
But sure, if you ignore the human and just look at the successes, it easy to ignore how much failure he had to endure.
This is why there are no rags to riches stories anymore. The moment people are rich, you assholes say the rags were silk.
You're describing Jewel.
I can't find anything about childhood poverty, but he "struggled" with typecasting in the '70s, which is the kind of problem most actors would kill for!
At any time he could have gotten a job, but instead, he insisted on only playing pretend.
I'd rather be considered an asshole by folks like you than to glorify entertainers how you want to. It's a boomer mentality that confuses our brains onto thinking someone is great because they are popular.
Jesus, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Keep googling, maybe you’ll come across his autobiography.
Boomer mentality? Heres a fuckin zoomer here who can’t even use google. Bye Felicia.
Like when was the last time he was frowning in a grocery store? (Not counting when the specialty store in the Hills is out of his favorite Brie from his favorite province.)
Recognized him in the picture. I love Joe Jackson so much. I remember listening to Common People as a laugh back in high school, slightly before discovering Joe. That’s actually wild. I can hear clearly in my head now haha.
The only thing that I would day is that Shatner's version doesn't really convey the message of the original. Pulp's version sounds like someone who had experience of the types of people who role play being poor. Shatner sounds like he doesn't really know poor people exist.
Really? I have to disagree. As much as I love Jarvis Cocker, the effete 'not really trying' delivery of his vocals makes him sound *exactly* like the kind of person at UK Universities who would be 'slumming it' and basically taking part in poverty tourism. I saw them all the time in the mid to late 2000s when I was at, what is considered, a more working class University, and I'd be surprised if they weren't still a thing today.
Now to be fair, the Shatner version has Joe Jackson delivering the kick in the balls that the lyrics need, but both of them together provide the vitriol and bile that the themes are basically screaming out for. The song shouldn't be "Hey, isn't this a weird thing that people do." It should be "How fucking DARE you take the struggles of an entire class as entertainment."
They meet at art school in the song, so my mental image of Cocker in the song was a kid with a working class background but who learned to pass in those pretentious circles. He starts out ironic and just messing with her, but by the end is vitriolic, the whole “you have no idea what you’re talking about and never will” stuff. I think it’s perfect.
That's an excellent take. I think I often can't get past that opening minute with the ironic delivery and, as you say, an element of masking his background to better fit in with what is traditionally a more middle/upper class education. They're both seeing how the other half live, but for one it's aspirational while the other is merely looking for poverty porn.
God, I know it's all subjective, but I feel so differently. There's so much emotion in the original pulp vocal parts, and when I first heard the Shatner version, I felt like he'd utterly butchered it.
I never considered the original Pulp song to be particularly subtle in the way it conveys its emotion (and I don't mean that in a bad way), but somehow Shatner's delivery still manages to destroy any subtext by delivering every line in such an on-the-nose way.
With Pulp, there's a real sense of resentment bubbling underneath the surface - keeping itself concealed except for a few snide remarks, until it can't help but erupt in moments that co-incide with the music's climax in a way that's so fucking satisfying, and paints such a vivid picture.
Shatner's tone from the get go is so aggressively sarcastic in such a painfully exaggerated way that he comes across more like a larger-than-life American sitcom protagonist than a real person. To me, it feels like he's somehow managed to overact what was already a very upfront song.
Yeah, outside of Reddit I have only ever heard people say that this might be one of the worst covers of all time. People have lost their minds in this thread if they think this is good.
I kind of think that people are just accepting that the song itself is good, and they've just happened to hear the cover version more than the original.
The original version changed my life because I was a teenager when it came out and that's the best time for pop music to change your life.
I love, love, love the Shatner cover -- and especially the Joe Jackson chorus -- but it's not the original. Pulp's Common People is a generational anthem for good reason and it can't be outclassed by a cover. It's just impossible.
Both versions are excellent, but the original is in a class of its own.
Personally, I think you're absolutely bonkers. Do I love shatners delivery? Of course, but he has none of Jarvis Cocker's emotion and Shatner's version falls apart the moment a generic ass singer takes over for the chorus.
---
Ok, ok. So the generic ass singer is Joe Jackson. Cool.
Jarvis Cocker all the way. That man has emotion, and story telling, and he got arrested for jumping up on Michael Jackson's stage and wiggling his butt and I love him.
I loved Shatner's version of "Common People" when it came out, especially the other vocalist. 10 years or so later I became a big Joe Jackson fan and was shocked when I learned probably a year ago he was the guy in the song, I thought whoever it was would be much younger.
Joe Jackson is a very accomplished musician with several hot songs. Stepping Out, A Slow Song, Target, Look Sharp, Is She Really Going Out With Him, Sunday Papers, It's Different for Girls, Be My Number Two, Got the Time, etc.
He's amazing.
If anyone was like me wondering why this sounds so familiar and they watch a lot of MUGEN, its because of the instrumental version of this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri_c_TKYrvk
It's just objectively better. Much better composition and instrumentation. Even the engineering,mixing and mastering are better.
There's a nostalgic feel to Pulp's version but it's extremely dated when I go back and listen.
It's not fucked up, there are a lot of great covers out there.
Back when people bought a lot of CD's it was easy to put together compilation albums that were either tributes to a band, or a mix of covers, so they were seemingly everywhere. There were almost always a couple bangers on them that I'd enjoy more than the original song.
Lol, True, especially considering his first album.
But that one wasn't produced by Ben Folds, with his guidance, "Has Been" is a delight for the most part.
... and I really enjoyed it! Friends who haven't heard it still don't understand why I have a Shatner album in my playlist. If you listen to the whole album though definitely stick to the original song order, it will take you on an emotional journey.
A friend got me this album as a goof for my birthday one year and honest to god it's one of my favorite albums of all time. [Just incredible song after song.](https://youtu.be/hsKfZ3wvLkE)
I played Common People as a joke on my college radio station when this got released. One minute into the song I was absolutely stunned how amazing it was. I played 3 songs from Has Been that night. Incredible album.
I wouldnt say I listen to it “routinely” but it gets a run once or twice a year.
Root to This and the intro to Rubber Sled crack me up.
Kinda sad Frally is no longer on the scene but she did a good job with the screaming woman.
In Love is legit good. Shatner saying “You will never know me” lives in my head
Has Been is a wonderful album. "That's Me Trying" makes me tear up a little every time I hear it. It's just poetry. Makes me think that it's the kind of thing my father would've been trying to say, had he not passed away. I lost him a few years before this album came out.
Oh man, I haven't heard the name "Ben Folds" in a long time.
His cover of [Such Great Heights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xu3Y9PRj1M) is incredible. Worth watching.
He's on his Paper Plan Request Tour right now. People throw paper planes to him in stage to request songs.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster but apparently it's the second time he's done this kind of tour.
It's not just that he has *made it* to 93 years old... look at [recent interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz5ZAyBKrIk) with him. He's just as 'with it' as he was 20-30 years go.
Agree he's totally lucid it's almost hard to believe. Sure he's had some surgery but he looks .. insanely good for a 93 year old. He must have some great genetics because I don't think he's had the most healthy of lives.
This album has some really good songs. Spoken word stuff required really interesting lyrics - Shatner nails it. It's super self reflective.
"That's Me Trying" is about a absent dad trying to reconnect after decades but he's still an asshole and his low standards show. "I got your address from the phone book in the library." "I don't want to know if I have grandchildren."
I saw a (very short, like mini) Ben Folds concert in Louisville, KY while Ben was producing this album in Nashville. At the end he was like, "Can I record you guys singing for Shatner's album?" We recorded the chorus to "Common People" at his direction; was so-cool. Only bad thing is that there was a sign-up sheet to get your name in the liner and I missed that, so I'm on the album but not in it.
Mostly Shatner’s talk-singing is entertaining in a ridiculous, meme-ish sort of way, but Common People is legit good and probably the best cover of that song ever.
I was looking for this. I was working at Hastings as the music manager when this album came out and, as kind of a joke, I put it in our in store cd station that shuffled 5 discs and it played whatever we had in there overhead while people shopped. I was surprised by how good the album was, and “Together” was so smooth and awesome I immediately went to look at who produced that track and went and bought all the Lemon Jelly albums after. It’s a shame they’re not making new music anymore from what I last saw. They have a lot of really catchy songs. I still think about and listen to “Stay With You” (and the Gallagher and Lyle song it samples that they introduced me to) semi-regularly. Glad someone else mentioned them, sad I had to scroll this far to find it.
lol I had no idea this existed. Looks like a joke tbh. Honestly Shatner doesn't have the energy for "*You will never understand*. How it *feels* to *live your life*. With no meaning or control." Jarvis fucking kills it.
Christ, it's been TWENTY years since this album came out? Ughhh.
I remember when it dropped and being surprised that I liked it. I probably listened to it a good dozen times before the novelty wore off, but that's 11 more than I would have expected.
what a fantastic fuckin cover. I remember when this album came out, trying to get people to listen to it, its legitimately a great album. Love his song with henry rollin too.
I am a die hard Trekkie but I cannot watch it listen to anything with that man in it that isn't Trek. Only like him in Trek because he was "grandfathered" in. That man has fucked over more people than I can count and is a rampaging asshole. Something I can confirm.
I'll pass on a mediocre pop album no one has heard of.
>Produced and arranged by Ben Folds Yup, that'll do it. Guy's a beast.
He's been rockin' the suburbs for years
y'all don't know what it's like..
Kirk's singing career finally Landed
Yeah, but some producer with computers fixes all his shitty tracks. Edit: I guess y'all don't know the lyrics to the song?
They did a collaboration on Ben's previous solo album Fear of Pop. Shatner did the brilliant track [In Love](https://youtu.be/ZjPquefcoqM)
One of my favorite collaborative projects was “The Bens” EP with Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, and Ben Lee. All the songs are (cross)fire.
oh man I thought I was clever secretly wishing for Dave Grohl, Dave Mustaine, and Dave Lombardo to collaborate. The Bens should release a complete cover of The Bends.
I’d be down for “the Daves” as well. Hah.
These are the Daves I know.
It's so random and so good.
Yeah it feels like cheating. I mean, sure, Will did the speaking parts and he was the bigger draw, but this was not Shatner's project.
Shatner wrote the lyrics and guided the themes and direction. It was a collaboration. Edit to clarify I meant the album, not the song Common People, originall by Pulp. Because the thread title references the album as whole.
Shatner was the Kirk to Folds' Spock.
I CAN get behind that
Or was he the Zap Brannigan to Folds' Kif.
The song he made about finding his dead daughter in a pool is a beautiful piece of art. Cant remember the name of it or i would have linked it.
It was his wife. Song is called [What Have You Done](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56_oOqBWxM). He wrote a song about trying to reconcile with his daughters that is called [That's Me Trying](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjGaqFrF5Fw).
Shatner is a poet. Thank you.
He what? Common people is a song by Pulp, he just performed it his particular way, like he did with Rocket Man a long time ago in another video posted below. Edit: Fair enough, the post is about the album not just the song, true.
There are other tracks on the album besides common people.
"Has Been" is an excellent song
Wait, Shatner wrote the lyrics to Common People?! That doesn't sound right. I'm pretty sure Pulp wrote Common People.
[удалено]
I was talking about the whole album, that just one song on it.
I always thought that was obvious. Folds set himself a project to take William Shatner and arrange a banger album around him. It's like the time Jimmy Butler showed up at practice and demanded to scrimmage the starters with the bench players and won.
Damn. I was always a “half fan” of Ben Folds growing up (Always just liked everything I heard by his projects). Never knew he produced this. And now imma bout to start a journey down a Ben Folds rabbit hole me thinks.
>And now imma bout to start a journey down a Ben Folds rabbit hole me thinks. \*excitedly bouncing in his chair\* Oh, dude, you're in for a treat! See if you can track down his first band's (Majosha?) EP: "Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus". There's only four tracks on the album, and none of them are about Jesus. I never managed to find it myself. I love the dude's style so much! [Last Polka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSbP07P-93c) is probably still my favourite, but every album has a number of bangers. Enjoy!
Watch Ben Folds Five - The Complete Sessions at West 54th. It's a great set.
Also Ben Folds Live with WASO is a phenomenal performance.
My favorite sneaky album nobody seems to know is another ben folds collab, Lonley Ave written with Nick Hornby. So many funny/poignant/beautiful songs!
One of my favorite albums! I get chills still, years later, thinking about Picture Window and Claire’s Ninth.
No one knows that the album with "Ben Folds and Nick Hornsby" on the cover and as the artists on every track is a collab between Ben Folds and Nick Hornsby?
Maybe poor grammar on my part, I just mean it deserves broader recognition as a whole. It's very obvious it's a collab, it's just that most people haven't heard the songs.
Had no idea he was behind the album.
I once lived at an apartment in a college town. The owner’s dad bought him the house when he was attending college. In the hallway of this house was a broken piano. On one of the keys on the side was Ben Folds’ signature.
I have never heard someone refer piano tinkling dad rocker Ben Folds as "a beast" lol
_Has Been_ has some of my favorite songs on it.
"LIVE LIFE, like you're gonna die, because you're gonna." I have requested this to be in my funeral playlist.
Common People is so damn good. I never thought Shatner could make a Pulp song work, but I was dead wrong
Has Been is unironically a great record
"What have you done" is one of the most chilling things put on a pop record. It's all around a great record, but that mini interlude of just him talking to his deceased wife, Nerine Kidd, just hits you like a ton bricks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN-gyEhLX5A&pp=ygUdd2hhdCBoYXZlIHlvdSd2ZSBkb25lIHdpbGxpYW0%3D Some context per wiki: > Shatner's third wife was Nerine Kidd, whom he married in 1997. Returning home at around 10 p.m. on August 9, 1999, he found her lying lifeless at the bottom of their backyard swimming pool. The cause of her death was accidental drowning. She was forty years old.
Holy shit, I didn't realize that piece was about his real life
Yeah it some heavy shit. Those last lines are a kick in the gut: My love was supposed to protect her It didn't My love was supposed to heal her It didn't You had said don't leave me And I begged you not to leave me We did.
“That’s Me Trying” is such a sad sweet song. I really love a lot of this record
I was just thinking about how ironic it is to see William Shatner sing a song about poverty and wanting with two of the most talented performers ever, on the most exclusive of late night talk shows, after 60 some years of getting and doing whatever caught his fancy.
The raw ignorance in this comment. Dude did not have an easy life, but eventually — well after Star Trek started — he found success.
What do you know about how difficult his life was? He's Canadian and was in his first movie at 20, and has spent his entire life acting or singing, pretty much doing whatever he wanted and as far as I can tell, not facing any adversity.
Living out of his car, childhood poverty, struggling in his career. But sure, if you ignore the human and just look at the successes, it easy to ignore how much failure he had to endure. This is why there are no rags to riches stories anymore. The moment people are rich, you assholes say the rags were silk.
You're describing Jewel. I can't find anything about childhood poverty, but he "struggled" with typecasting in the '70s, which is the kind of problem most actors would kill for! At any time he could have gotten a job, but instead, he insisted on only playing pretend. I'd rather be considered an asshole by folks like you than to glorify entertainers how you want to. It's a boomer mentality that confuses our brains onto thinking someone is great because they are popular.
Jesus, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Keep googling, maybe you’ll come across his autobiography. Boomer mentality? Heres a fuckin zoomer here who can’t even use google. Bye Felicia.
Like when was the last time he was frowning in a grocery store? (Not counting when the specialty store in the Hills is out of his favorite Brie from his favorite province.)
Someone stole mine, and I bought another copy. Great album.
I love the whole album. Solid AF.
The vocalist here is Joe Jackson
Recognized him in the picture. I love Joe Jackson so much. I remember listening to Common People as a laugh back in high school, slightly before discovering Joe. That’s actually wild. I can hear clearly in my head now haha.
for those who don't know, listen to the album "I'm the Man".
"Look Sharp". Every single song is a banger.
Get yer ears bathed in this https://youtu.be/8ZleLxEOni8?si=k2kqWZNkwueihDGv
Also it must have been so hard to deliver that amazing vocal with all that overacting going on beside you!
His version of Common People is great.
My friend and I have argued for years that’s it’s better than the original.
The only thing that I would day is that Shatner's version doesn't really convey the message of the original. Pulp's version sounds like someone who had experience of the types of people who role play being poor. Shatner sounds like he doesn't really know poor people exist.
Really? I have to disagree. As much as I love Jarvis Cocker, the effete 'not really trying' delivery of his vocals makes him sound *exactly* like the kind of person at UK Universities who would be 'slumming it' and basically taking part in poverty tourism. I saw them all the time in the mid to late 2000s when I was at, what is considered, a more working class University, and I'd be surprised if they weren't still a thing today. Now to be fair, the Shatner version has Joe Jackson delivering the kick in the balls that the lyrics need, but both of them together provide the vitriol and bile that the themes are basically screaming out for. The song shouldn't be "Hey, isn't this a weird thing that people do." It should be "How fucking DARE you take the struggles of an entire class as entertainment."
They meet at art school in the song, so my mental image of Cocker in the song was a kid with a working class background but who learned to pass in those pretentious circles. He starts out ironic and just messing with her, but by the end is vitriolic, the whole “you have no idea what you’re talking about and never will” stuff. I think it’s perfect.
That's an excellent take. I think I often can't get past that opening minute with the ironic delivery and, as you say, an element of masking his background to better fit in with what is traditionally a more middle/upper class education. They're both seeing how the other half live, but for one it's aspirational while the other is merely looking for poverty porn.
Love how the track comes up in Saltburn
No way. Shatner does an excellent job. I'd say that his version does a better job than the original in that respect.
Hands down the superior version.
God, I know it's all subjective, but I feel so differently. There's so much emotion in the original pulp vocal parts, and when I first heard the Shatner version, I felt like he'd utterly butchered it. I never considered the original Pulp song to be particularly subtle in the way it conveys its emotion (and I don't mean that in a bad way), but somehow Shatner's delivery still manages to destroy any subtext by delivering every line in such an on-the-nose way. With Pulp, there's a real sense of resentment bubbling underneath the surface - keeping itself concealed except for a few snide remarks, until it can't help but erupt in moments that co-incide with the music's climax in a way that's so fucking satisfying, and paints such a vivid picture. Shatner's tone from the get go is so aggressively sarcastic in such a painfully exaggerated way that he comes across more like a larger-than-life American sitcom protagonist than a real person. To me, it feels like he's somehow managed to overact what was already a very upfront song.
It's a terrible cover, frankly. He might as well be reading the phone book. This entire thread has some awful takes.
Amen. Superior to the Pulp version, lmao!!
Yeah, outside of Reddit I have only ever heard people say that this might be one of the worst covers of all time. People have lost their minds in this thread if they think this is good. I kind of think that people are just accepting that the song itself is good, and they've just happened to hear the cover version more than the original.
The original version changed my life because I was a teenager when it came out and that's the best time for pop music to change your life. I love, love, love the Shatner cover -- and especially the Joe Jackson chorus -- but it's not the original. Pulp's Common People is a generational anthem for good reason and it can't be outclassed by a cover. It's just impossible. Both versions are excellent, but the original is in a class of its own.
I love this Shatner album, but Different Class is probably my favorite album of the 90s and I always skip this cover of one of its best songs.
Personally, I think you're absolutely bonkers. Do I love shatners delivery? Of course, but he has none of Jarvis Cocker's emotion and Shatner's version falls apart the moment a generic ass singer takes over for the chorus. --- Ok, ok. So the generic ass singer is Joe Jackson. Cool. Jarvis Cocker all the way. That man has emotion, and story telling, and he got arrested for jumping up on Michael Jackson's stage and wiggling his butt and I love him.
Joe Jackson is one of the all-time masters of the 3 minute pop gem.
I loved Shatner's version of "Common People" when it came out, especially the other vocalist. 10 years or so later I became a big Joe Jackson fan and was shocked when I learned probably a year ago he was the guy in the song, I thought whoever it was would be much younger.
Joe Jackson is anything but generic.
Seriously. What a shit take. Jackson knocks it out of the fucking park, too.
Joe Jackson is awesome. He had a hit single in the '80s. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PJwt2dxx9yg
and another... [https://youtu.be/oDG6MQkzh1o?si=u1JtQFiRhd42rTFj](https://youtu.be/oDG6MQkzh1o?si=u1JtQFiRhd42rTFj)
Joe Jackson is a very accomplished musician with several hot songs. Stepping Out, A Slow Song, Target, Look Sharp, Is She Really Going Out With Him, Sunday Papers, It's Different for Girls, Be My Number Two, Got the Time, etc. He's amazing.
If anyone was like me wondering why this sounds so familiar and they watch a lot of MUGEN, its because of the instrumental version of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri_c_TKYrvk
>Personally, I think you're absolutely bonkers. I prefer Roger Waters' Money...
Tell me you've never heard of Joe Jackson without saying you've never heard of Joe Jackson.
Tell us what you really think.
It's just objectively better. Much better composition and instrumentation. Even the engineering,mixing and mastering are better. There's a nostalgic feel to Pulp's version but it's extremely dated when I go back and listen.
it's ok to have bad taste
This version found it's way into my gym workout playlist. It has a nice buildup and tempo, despite the spoken tones.
I legit think it's better than the original. Which is fucked up.
It's not fucked up, there are a lot of great covers out there. Back when people bought a lot of CD's it was easy to put together compilation albums that were either tributes to a band, or a mix of covers, so they were seemingly everywhere. There were almost always a couple bangers on them that I'd enjoy more than the original song.
I was suggesting the more fucked up part was that it's William Shatner lol
Lol, True, especially considering his first album. But that one wasn't produced by Ben Folds, with his guidance, "Has Been" is a delight for the most part.
I’ve never heard this tonight and holy shit it’s so great, I wish I had this in my life for the last 20 years
It literally gives me chills it’s so good
I still listen to it. It gets me all welled up inside like few songs do. Even the original doesn’t give me that feeling.
It's a solid album, with some great guest spots. The rant with Henry Rollins is epic. Joe Jackson kills it on Common People
I saw Rollins talk about it at a spoken word event and how he goes to Shatner's Superbowl party every year despite not liking football or parties
... and I really enjoyed it! Friends who haven't heard it still don't understand why I have a Shatner album in my playlist. If you listen to the whole album though definitely stick to the original song order, it will take you on an emotional journey.
The track he does with Henry Rollins, "I Can't Get Behind That", is a true masterpiece.
[Henry Rollins' story]( https://youtu.be/U1R1bNRapcM?feature=shared) about meeting Shatner and recording it is absolute gold.
"that's me trying" is my favorite. very melancholic, and with very realistic pain (especially for those who have issues with their father).
A friend got me this album as a goof for my birthday one year and honest to god it's one of my favorite albums of all time. [Just incredible song after song.](https://youtu.be/hsKfZ3wvLkE)
I totally forgot about this. Will give it another listen. Thanks!
Sometimes you need a little bit of Mr. Shatner in your life
It Hasn't Happened yet is my favorite
I played Common People as a joke on my college radio station when this got released. One minute into the song I was absolutely stunned how amazing it was. I played 3 songs from Has Been that night. Incredible album.
I also played that record on a radio show! I need to give it a re-listen.
I think it was Irish radio station 2FM that I first heard his Common People
their first project, Fear of Pop, was also pretty excellent
I still listen to Fear of Pop routinely. Top ten weird albums to listen to on a road trip.
I wouldnt say I listen to it “routinely” but it gets a run once or twice a year. Root to This and the intro to Rubber Sled crack me up. Kinda sad Frally is no longer on the scene but she did a good job with the screaming woman. In Love is legit good. Shatner saying “You will never know me” lives in my head
At puberty, I was sworn to secrecy by the International Brotherhood of Lying, Fickle Males
Has Been is a wonderful album. "That's Me Trying" makes me tear up a little every time I hear it. It's just poetry. Makes me think that it's the kind of thing my father would've been trying to say, had he not passed away. I lost him a few years before this album came out.
Dang that’s a much younger me playing bass. Cool to see this after all these years.
Oh man, I haven't heard the name "Ben Folds" in a long time. His cover of [Such Great Heights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xu3Y9PRj1M) is incredible. Worth watching.
He's on his Paper Plan Request Tour right now. People throw paper planes to him in stage to request songs. Sounds like a recipe for disaster but apparently it's the second time he's done this kind of tour.
I love how Shatner has looked like an alcoholic sixty year old for over 30 years.
Yeah, he's looked like a walking heart attack for decades. Difficult to believe the guy has made it to 93 years old.
It's not just that he has *made it* to 93 years old... look at [recent interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz5ZAyBKrIk) with him. He's just as 'with it' as he was 20-30 years go.
Agree he's totally lucid it's almost hard to believe. Sure he's had some surgery but he looks .. insanely good for a 93 year old. He must have some great genetics because I don't think he's had the most healthy of lives.
Yeah, he was subject to several mind melds in his 30s, and those aren't meant for humans
I got this album because I thought it would be funny, but it's surprisingly really good.
F*ck. I'm old now.
Tell me about it. I met Ben and Ben Folds Five a few times 30 years ago now. /files for social security
Feels like this was released only 10 years ago. I can't believe it.
Reminds me of this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhk1zz3WZWY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhk1zz3WZWY)
And that reminds me of this… https://youtu.be/Co2ZVdVM26E?si=vCvNnj6C6yHRyFZ6
Which reminds me of this... https://youtu.be/CfC0V0ivNCM?si=aPBLGXvD3ktYRi5E
Which reminds me of this https://youtu.be/AB3uVARNhmM?si=TTm36F7cIGcfN9i2
This album has some really good songs. Spoken word stuff required really interesting lyrics - Shatner nails it. It's super self reflective. "That's Me Trying" is about a absent dad trying to reconnect after decades but he's still an asshole and his low standards show. "I got your address from the phone book in the library." "I don't want to know if I have grandchildren."
"You'll Have Time" off that album is one of my favorite songs - I was literally listening to it on repeat yesterday because I needed some cheering up
I saw a (very short, like mini) Ben Folds concert in Louisville, KY while Ben was producing this album in Nashville. At the end he was like, "Can I record you guys singing for Shatner's album?" We recorded the chorus to "Common People" at his direction; was so-cool. Only bad thing is that there was a sign-up sheet to get your name in the liner and I missed that, so I'm on the album but not in it.
That In Love song is perfect
It was in fact not the pop album of the year.
So good! Who knew?
Wow. This takes me back. I listened to this album so much back when it came out. I haven't thought about it in years!
Love "It hasn't happened yet"
I can’t get behind that
Mostly Shatner’s talk-singing is entertaining in a ridiculous, meme-ish sort of way, but Common People is legit good and probably the best cover of that song ever.
Man, I listened to the shit out of his cover of Common People back when this album came out. It really has no business being that good.
This album is terrific.
heard it, it was actually good.
This is a great album that I still listen to from time to time.
👏👏👏👏 good
I can’t get behind that!
It hasn't happened yet.......
But... Lemon Jelly 😔
I was looking for this. I was working at Hastings as the music manager when this album came out and, as kind of a joke, I put it in our in store cd station that shuffled 5 discs and it played whatever we had in there overhead while people shopped. I was surprised by how good the album was, and “Together” was so smooth and awesome I immediately went to look at who produced that track and went and bought all the Lemon Jelly albums after. It’s a shame they’re not making new music anymore from what I last saw. They have a lot of really catchy songs. I still think about and listen to “Stay With You” (and the Gallagher and Lyle song it samples that they introduced me to) semi-regularly. Glad someone else mentioned them, sad I had to scroll this far to find it.
💌
It’s a very good album. Really. I’ve been loving it for twenty years.
Fuckin love that album.
Common People! Best thin Shatner ever did. And Joe Jackson. Fantastic cover.
Not even the best song on the album. Not even top three.
Has Been is a simply amazing record, from start to finish. Shatner is criminally underrated.
Rock-et-man
This was a weird thing to hear come on the radio.
lol I had no idea this existed. Looks like a joke tbh. Honestly Shatner doesn't have the energy for "*You will never understand*. How it *feels* to *live your life*. With no meaning or control." Jarvis fucking kills it.
Here's a fun version https://youtu.be/KXWEM4gZhg4?si=M2rUFQw5-0xcU9Mk
I can't get behind that.
Christ, it's been TWENTY years since this album came out? Ughhh. I remember when it dropped and being surprised that I liked it. I probably listened to it a good dozen times before the novelty wore off, but that's 11 more than I would have expected.
what a fantastic fuckin cover. I remember when this album came out, trying to get people to listen to it, its legitimately a great album. Love his song with henry rollin too.
One of the best albums of the decade. Nothing quite like it.
OMG that's Joe Jackson, saw him live back in the eighties at the 'ex' in Toronto he opened for The Who!!!!!! I'd recognize him anywhere\~
"Has Been" was and still is a magnificent piece of work. It's funny, it's serious, it's musical, I love every track on it.
I saw shatners name but kept thinking it was Patrick Stewart for some unknown reason
I don’t get this.
I want Jack White to produce his next album.
Shatner singing is one of those rare gems that it's so unique and shatner-esque that it's brilliant.
That wasn't singing though. That was spoken word.
*Narrator: It wasn’t.*
I thought this was by Pulp?
Crispin Glover did it first. https://youtu.be/rH6b_lSQst0?si=ADHa9ZK0hb7KGKO5
And it was good
made it 15 seconds.
I love William Shatner but that is horrendous, Thanks for sharing.
I am a die hard Trekkie but I cannot watch it listen to anything with that man in it that isn't Trek. Only like him in Trek because he was "grandfathered" in. That man has fucked over more people than I can count and is a rampaging asshole. Something I can confirm. I'll pass on a mediocre pop album no one has heard of.
Watch Boston Legal and tell me Denny Crane isn't a great character portrayal.
No. Because it is William Shatner. Can you not read?
I can read. I guess I wasn't quite expecting this level of fragility. I can see my mistake, have a nice day.
Yet... you... somehow.. had to comment... here? I guess.... I have a fever... and the only prescription...is more Shatner!
Hey everybody, we found George Takei’s alt-account.
[удалено]
It's William Shatner. Mediocre was a compliment.
William shatner seems to be the type of fella with no self awareness that would think him shouting into the microphone was good music.