Saturday, October 5, 2013

Stairway to (outback) Heaven


I came across an article in the blog section of the Vancouver Sun, marking the 40th anniversary of Led Zeppelin's famous hit 'Stairway To Heaven' by linking to ten cover versions of it by other artists (plus the LZ original, of course).  Click over there for some interesting listening.

I noted that they left out Australian entertainer Rolf Harris' well-known comedy version of this rock classic.  As Wikipedia notes:

Harris's career received a boost in 1993 when his cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" became a hit, reaching number seven in the UK singles chart. Harris originally performed the song, live, during an appearance on the television comedy show The Money or the Gun. Each episode of The Money or the Gun featured a rendition of Stairway to Heaven but in the idiosyncratic style of another performer. Harris's version of the song recreated the song in the style of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", complete with wobble board and didgeridoo solos.

I'm not sure whether an American audience will fully appreciate all the cultural references in Rolf Harris' version of the song (just as, until I came here, I had real problems understanding some US country music):  but here goes!







Peter

3 comments:

CGHill said...

Anyone who understood "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" can comprehend what Rolf was up to here, I think.

Rolf said...

That was hysterical! Great! Thanks.
As someone that rarely comes across anyone with the same first name as myself, I thought this was a GREAT thing to find.

Old NFO said...

Great one! :-) Didn't understand all of it, but he was obviously having fun!!!