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Gennaro Castaldo Watch: You don't really care for music, do you?
I don't want to come across as too precious about this, but you know Hallelujah? Well, could someone point out to the Daily Star that it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "Alex's song". She's only borrowed it, and she isn't looking after it very well.
Still, with Buckley and Burke heading for the top ten with the same song, it's time for Popfressor Gennaro Castaldo of HMV to explain what's going on with it:
HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo said: “It’s now just behind Leona Lewis, at No 3, and we suddenly have the very real prospect of two different covers of the same song occupying the No 1 and No 2 slots in the Official UK charts.
“I don’t think this has ever happened in UK chart history, – and certainly not for Christmas.”
That "certainly not for Christmas" is only lacking a "this century" to really make the claim weak. I wonder if, as Gennaro was speaking, he had a grainy memory of the late 1950s and early 1960s when 'two versions of the same song' wasn't unusual in the UK charts and decided to hedge his bets a little?
5 comments:
Bah humbug. Rufus Wainwright's version still rules. I'd *love* to see that cracking the top ten.
Popfressor!?! I thought he was the HMV Fact Doctor...
When I read this quote about chart history from him I did have to further question what exactly his position is. Is it really all that professional for a PR person to be putting out quotes that read like "I can't really be bothered moving from my desk to the bookshelf right behind my head (a motion that would require me to merely spin my chair 180degrees) to flick through British Hit Singles to see what Gambaccini says on the matter so I'll just say 'ahdunno'"? Is his work so hectic that he can't just take a few seconds to google some sort of verfication so that he looks at least slightly knowledgeable and therefore, in turn, makes his employers look a bit more like they're interested?
You can't blame Castaldo for being a bit distracted. In these turbulent times, he's probably a bit nervous about losing his job to someone cheaper and more knowledgeable, and I hear the man who picks the order of the Woolworths Singles Chart might be available in the next few weeks.
@Spence: Was it the Rufus Wainwright version which featured in Shrek? I always thought it was, but then I read the other day that that was John Cale's cover.
Oh wait, why don't I just look on Google?
*checks Google*
Aha! Cale in the film, but Wainwright on the soundtrack.
See, Castaldo? It's not that hard, is it?
I don't know about the same song being in the top two spots, but as you say, it's not unknown for different versions of the same song to appear in the charts: Iko Iko by the Belle Stars and Natasha England, He ain't heavy... by Bill Medley and The Hollies for example.
Anyway, given his recent financial problems it's nice that Laughing Len might be in for some royalties from both versions. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and sing along to Neil Diamond's version of Suzanne very loudly.
He DID actually need that "this century" to make his claim correct. Last time it happened was 1995 - two versions of Wonderwall in the Top 10 at Christmas.
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