Speaking of offensive, I just read an article about a lady that has put out a coloring book on menstruation. Yeah, I know that's kind of gross all by itself. (Make sure you have plenty of red crayons kids!) But, the part that had me scratching my head was that this coloring book author (are these folks authors???) teaches that men and women menstruate. Confused much? Me too. I'm not sure where the boys are supposed to put those tampons, but it sounds painful to me. Kids won't be just going to the ER to retrieve those peanuts from noses with this generation. Common sense has left the building. Kiss it goodbye, folks.
Speaking of kissing, I thought of the song for my battle a few days ago. It's not to be confused with And Then You Kissed Me by The Cardigans, which is a great song, but not it! And then, since we're having so much gender trouble these days (because genitalia no longer determines gender, which begs the question of what does if not biology... but moving on... nothing to see here) I decided to choose two versions of this song by you guessed it... different genders. So, depending on you who you ask... then he kissed me or then I kissed her. I also decided to give you as much possible bang for your buck (man, I'm ON it today!) and go with two heavy hitters.
So, sit back and put on your listening ears. Are you ready to rumble???
The Crystals sing Then He Kissed Me. For your pleasure, I will actually consult Wikipedia on this song. It's been around. The competitor knows a lot about that!
The Beach Boys recorded their take, renaming it Then I Kissed Her.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about them both.
"Then He Kissed Me" is a song written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The song, produced by Spector, was initially released as a single in July 1963 by The Crystals. It is a narrative of a young woman's encounter, romance, and eventual marriage with a fellow youth.
In 2004, this song was #493 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[1] Pitchfork Media placed it at number 18 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".[2]
The Crystals version
The single is one of The Crystals' most remembered songs. The lead vocal was sung by Dolores "LaLa" Brooks. In the United States the single peaked at number six and in the United Kingdom the single peaked at number two. The single was The Crystals' third single to chart in the top ten in the United States and their second to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom. The song was also a major hit in the Republic of Ireland, reaching number three in the charts there.The Crystals' version was used in its entirety in the 1990 film Goodfellas during the famous three-minute tracking shot through the Copacabana night club. In an homage to that scene, the song (in an artificially extended version) was used in the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
The song was also used during the opening credits of the film Adventures in Babysitting, as Elisabeth Shue dances and lip-syncs the song. It is also heard at the end of the film during the last scene and over part of the end credits.
It was used in a scene from The Simpsons 2006 episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play".
The Beach Boys version
The song was re-worded to the title "Then I Kissed Her" and released by The Beach Boys on their 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) with Al Jardine on lead vocals and production by Brian Wilson. Beyond title and gender changes, new lyrics were written retelling the story of the Crystals' song from the boyfriend's point of view.Two years after appearing on the album, in April 1967 the song was released as a single in the United Kingdom, appearing as a stop-gap release while work continued on the "Heroes and Villains" single. This was reportedly done against the band's wishes, Beach Boys band member Mike Love commented on May 7, 1967 "The record company didn't even have the decency to put out one of Brian’s own compositions. The reason for the hold up with a new single has simply been that we wanted to give our public the best and the best isn't ready yet."[3]
"Then I Kissed Her" charted at number four in the United Kingdom. The B-side of the single was "Mountain of Love", a song off the band's 1965 Beach Boys' Party! album.
The song inspired The Sun front page headline And Then He Kissed Her on 30 July 1981, the day after the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.[11]
Okay, now that you're on info overload, let's just play them both.
The Crystals:
The Beach Boys:
Please vote for the version of this song you prefer. If you want to get into the Ins and Outs of why you like one better than the other... I LOVE long comments!
For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles. I've stopped trying to keep up with who is running a battle and who isn't. To see who is participating, go here: Stephen T. McCarthy's Battle of the Bands Blog.