Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Creep, as recorded by Postmodern Jukebox (Haley Reinhart). (If my embed doesn't work, listen at this link).
Like a lot of people, I first encountered this song in the early 1990s when Radiohead released it. I liked it then (here's a link in case you haven't heard it). It had a sadness to it that appealed to my early 20s self. And I liked the harder guitars underneath. I mean, who doesn't feel like a creep or a weirdo sometimes in the early 20s?
Then I kind of forgot about the song until the movie Book of Life came out in 2014 and Diego Luna covered it (yep, another link). It was really different with just a simple acoustic guitar and his thinner more wheedling rendition that goes more desperate when he get to the chorus.
Then my husband introduced me to Postmodern Jukebox, now one of my favorite musical acts. I'm not such a "live music venue" girl (I like control over the volume), but I joyfully went to one of their concerts with Sweetman. Kind of like Retrofuturism in literature, they take old songs and make them new by making them older--singing them in styles of the 30s to 60s.
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Anyway, Postmodern Jukebox gender flipped the song, and gave it a torch singer vibe, amping up the rough emotional edge of that chorus and my soul zinged. I have a thing for covers that really reinterpret a song and make it into something entirely different than its first iteration (you'll see others from me this month), and this version of Creep does that for me. Breaks my heart on "I wish I was special." Daaaannnggg.
Lyrics from AtoZlyrics:
When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fucking special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
Oh, oh
She's running out again
She's running out
She run, run, run, run
Run
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so f*cking special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
I don't belong here
Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
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This is great! I l9ve the torch singer vibe and she has a great voice
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. So much of their music is like this.
DeleteI've always liked this song. I also like Postmodern Jukebox and have used some of their videos on my own blog. The do some very creative covers in a very professional manner.
ReplyDeleteLee
They really are so much fun!
DeleteI love PMJ and were able to go to one of their concerts once. So fun to see what they do with songs!
ReplyDeletehttps://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2025/03/c-is-for-cooperation.html
They are a delight, for sure.
DeleteI had no idea this existed. Never would have imagined it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Happy to share the magnificence that is PMJ!
DeleteI have seen PMJ before but not with this song which I love.
ReplyDelete3 resonances that the song has for me
1. The first time I heard Creep was on a sampler cassette tape that was free on a music magazine - smitten on first hearing...
2. The only song (as opposed to instrumentals) I have heard sung by the amazing Gabrielle y Rodrigo - was Creep
3. The tied cottage where my grandparents lived in my early years, is part of an estate that now belongs to Radiohead in Nuneham Courtenay. They grew up in Abingdon not far from Oxford where I am from...
What great memories!
DeleteI think I prefer the original by Radiohead :-)
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for A-Z Challenge Cavorting Cupid & My Languishing TBR: C #AtoZChallenge2025 #Books #Bookreview
That one is also very good. I think the gender flip is part of what sells it for me by PMJ.
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