Elton John
Bennie And The Jets
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Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1974)

R. Kelly (w/T.I. & T-Pain)
I’m A Flirt (Remix)
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Album: Double Up (2007)

In this post, I feature distant Musical Cousins R. Kelly and Elton John. They don’t have any obvious connection but somehow it’s clear to me that R. Kelly had “Bennie And The Jets” in mind when he wrote “I’m A Flirt.” The bouncy, driving piano lines that feed both tracks result in vastly different songs, but both are 5-star classics to this listener.

I wonder if Elton John had any clue what his lyricist Bernie Taupin was talking about in “Bennie And The Jets.” Maybe that’s why he chose to mumble his way through the lyrics, shifting focus to the anthemic melody he devised for the song. Reading over the lyrics, my interpretation is that it’s a glimpse into the fascinating but vapid characters a famous pop star like Elton must have met after he hit it big, and the misplaced idolatry that comes along with fame.

In my prep for this post, I learned that “Bennie And The Jets” wasn’t intended to be a single until a Detroit R&B radio station started playing it. The song blew up, and eventually became a number-one hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Here’s Elton performing the song on Soul Train in 1975:

As usual with anything from 70s-era Soul Train, there’s much to admire. Elton’s pimp/leprechaun ensemble. His falsetto freakout. His lucite-encrusted piano. To be honest, I don’t think the Soul Train dancers knew quite what to do with this one; I enjoy watching the dude in the beige suit just behind Elton attempt to figure it out.

“I’m A Flirt” is one of the funniest and catchiest tracks you’ll ever hear. No matter what you think of R. Kelly as a person, it’s hard to deny that he’s a musical genius.

Joining Kelz is rapper T.I., who puts in a rock-solid verse that showcases his clockwork flow, and T-Pain, who proves why he remains Auto-Tune’s chief ambassador.

But it’s Kelz’s final, twisted verse that takes this joint to the next level. He was one of the first to fuse rap and R&B, and his double-time delivery rides that edge masterfully. Lyrically, he’s in all-out playa mode, no more so than in this couplet:

She be calling me daddy!
I be calling her mommy!
She be calling you Kelly!
When your name is Tommy!

As I said, the man is a genius.

Nostalgia 77 (w/Alice Russell)
Seven Nation Army
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Tender Forever
My Love
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B.Cause (w/The Whitefield Brothers & The Dazz Band)
Let It Whip
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I’m gonna switch things up on Musical Cousins. Usually, I do a modernish song that contains a sample from a slightly less modern song. Not this time. The tracks offered up in this post are all cover versions that sound as if they were released before the original. Allow me to demonstrate.

The first selection is a cover of The White Stripes’s “Seven Nation Army.” When I heard the original way back in 2003, I remember thinking that it could have been released decades earlier; an instant 5-star classic. A few years later, I heard this cover version by UK producer Benedic Lamdin (who records under the moniker Nostalgia 77) and I actually believed that The White Stripes covered an obscure 70s soul song. With fiery vocals by fellow Brit Alice Russell (who sounds like Irma Thomas but looks kinda like a young Courtney Love) and a slowed-down bluesy groove, this is one remake that is on par with the original.

Exhibit B is a novelty interpretation of the Justin Timberlake track “My Love,” recorded by the lo-fi French (by way of Portland, OR) act Tender Forever. Singer/ukulele player Melanie Valera changes my perception of this song with her childlike sweetness. Timbaland’s bold production on the original feels like it comes from the future, but this cover version hearkens back to 60s folk.

The final selection is not exactly a cover, but a radical remix of The Dazz Band’s 80s classic “Let It Whip” by San Francisco producer B.Cause. Clearly, B.Cause is a skilled technician, slowing down a track form German funkmeisters The Whitefield Brothers and blending it with what I believe to be the a cappella version of the original single; it’s an absolutely perfect fit.

By the way, check out this retro clip from Soul Train featuring the original version by The Dazz Band: