Stereogum Home
December 8, 2005

Franz Ferdinand Cover Air And Gwen

FF score points in Stereogum's book for covering Gwen Stefani and Air ... even if their "What You Waiting For?" is a cheeky novelty hardly redeemed by a "White Wedding" inset and their "Sexy Boy" is considerably less dreamy than Jean-Benoit and Nicolas' original. We know you're curious, though...

Franz Ferdinand - "What You Waiting For (Radio 1, Jo Whiley's Live Lounge)" (MP3 Link Expired)

Franz Ferdinand - "Sexy Boy" (MP3 Link Expired)

Congrats on the Grammy nods boys.

PREVIOUSLY: Stereogum digs Air art and Air mixes. Here's where we were Air born.

Posted at 6:49 PM in




22 Comments


why did they not cover hollaback girl. that shit is bananas. b-a-n-a-n-a-n-an-a-n-a-s.

Posted by: mercator at 12/08/05 9:06 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Ehhh....it's okay, I guess. Prefer the original though.

Posted by: Alex at 12/08/05 9:11 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

air cover = horrible

qwen stefani cover = not perfect, but has promise

Posted by: roger ebert at 12/09/05 12:06 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Air will outlast Franz Ferdinand, no question. It's been almost two years since Talkie Walkie--anything new in the works yet? Oh, and Scott, you should really clean the botspam out of those old comment sections.

Posted by: trey at 12/09/05 1:08 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

all my favorite bands seem to have a little cover circle; scissor sisters do franz do air and gwen? glorious!

Posted by: leah at 12/09/05 1:23 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

hah! mr scott, you've just earned my life-long admiration. thank you very much. those covers just made my day. for a couple of hours i'll be a very-happy-man solely on account of them.

"what you waiting for?" is fab: nice guitar work, exceedingly camp vocals - alex kapranos just nailed it, eh? - and very pub-friendly mood. I can't help laughing my head off when Alex does the "take a chance you stupid ho" bit. And the "look at your watch now, you're still a super hot female". FF always sound like they're on the brink of being too clever for their own good, but they always get it right (ie: Do you want to). Gwen's original version was already fantastic, though.

"sexy boy" is naturally not as good as the original song [i do share your enthusiasm with Moon Safari: definitely one of the best records of the past 20 years]. Still, it's pretty damn enjoyable, mostly because it's such a daft step to pick that song to cover that I can't help to sympathize with it. It differs from the bulk of FF's back catalogue, doesn't it? That´s nice, methinks. Nice whooshing guitars too. Definitely not as dreamy as the original, as you said.

Posted by: death to cd's at 12/09/05 1:57 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

OMFG MY FAV BAND AND GWEN OMFG THIS IS SO BIZARRE BUT AWESOME THIS SHOULD BE A SINGLE IT SOUNDS SOOOO DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL!!!!!!

Sorry for the caps but I LOOOOOOVVVEEEEE this. I love them. I love the original. I ADORE the cover!!!! As for Air I never heard the original but I'm intrigued to look it up after hearing this.

Oh and yeah, the whole "super-hot female" but--rather awkward if you ask me. But they still did it well.

Posted by: alexis at 12/09/05 11:40 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

WOW!!! That was SO cool! I absolutely LOVE Franz Ferdinand! That's SO awesome that they covered a Gwen song!!! WhOo HoO!!!

Posted by: Emma at 12/10/05 1:21 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

There is nothing worse than hearing Franz Ferdinand cover an Air song....well I take that back. Anyways, not only did they butcher the song by adding absolutely nothing remotely interesting to their version, but they also reinforced my fervent hatred for them.

Posted by: michael at 12/11/05 6:07 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

terrible. the gwen cover is almost laughably bad, such contrived vocal stylings with no feel for the song. also this kinfd of smugness to the delivery, liek franz ferdinand can and will get away wth anything. the air cover is unlisteneable, its like one of vic reeves pub impressions. why are franzferdinand so revered, they really are a complete sham and all the qualities attributed to them they've only earned by being very poor copycats... but in an age where good music is hard to come by they understandably dazzle momentarily. i predict a very short lived career.

Posted by: steve at 12/11/05 6:31 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Wow, I finally like a Gwen Stefani song. Someone else just had to do it is all.

Posted by: chriso at 12/11/05 1:42 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I like Franz, I like Air, but...

...NO! Just stop. It sounds like Velvet Underground doing "Sexy Boy." But not in anyway that makes it interesting.

Posted by: Robert at 12/11/05 10:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

i LOVE franz ferdinand, but these covers are...less than inspired (especially "sexy boy").
oh well, they're still awesome!

Posted by: bunny at 12/12/05 7:46 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

You're dissing a Gwen Stefani cover for its "contrived vocal stylings"? Um... as opposed to the original?

Posted by: rh at 12/12/05 12:44 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

ok
hahahahaha this song makes them sound ever more homosexual than "micheal" did...hahahahahaha and i LOVE IT! I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha these guys are fantastic..they are spectacular and always do it good..seriously..I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING BAD FROM THEM

ever!!!!!!!!!!!! haha love it, thanx for posting dat shcotty
xoTaina

Posted by: BIGGEST FF FAN IN TEH WORLD at 12/13/05 1:10 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

can anyone re-host the mp3?

Posted by: clashed at 12/14/05 2:51 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I second that..i wanna listen!

Posted by: thepantsuwant at 12/14/05 2:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I'd love to hear these songs but the download links have expired. Can someone help me?

I tracked down this site searching for Franz Ferdinand's cover of "Sexy Boy", and I'm excited to hear they also did a version of Gwen's song debut.

Posted by: wes at 12/15/05 3:40 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

You can download the Gwen Stefani cover here:
http://franzferdinand.org/audio/

Posted by: wes at 12/15/05 3:48 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

What you Waiting for was brilliant, better than the original. I didn't bother listening to Sexy Boy though because I can't stand it.

Posted by: Ollie at 12/28/05 11:26 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

thank you very much for your help. You guys 42457 rock, thanks again.

Posted by: Tuki Medaber at 10/02/06 10:40 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

IT´S DIFFERENT BUT IN A NICE WAY I WANT TO GET SEXY BOY ´COZ I AM A FAN OF AIR AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT ABOUT THIS SONG

Posted by: MISAEL at 03/18/07 3:09 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


2008 Gummy Awards

 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts


Get Flash to see our mp3 player. Here are our mp3s: Blackout Beach - Astoria, Menthol Lite, Hilltop, Wave of Evil, 1982 (»)
Ben Kweller - Hurtin' You (»)
Takka Takka - In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins Cover) (»)
Bad Plus - Feeling Yourself Disintegrate (Flaming Lips Cover) (»)
Fight Bite - Swissex Lover (»)
of Montreal - Instant Karma (KUT Session) (»)
of Montreal - Nowhere Man (KUT Session) (»)
Animal Collective - Brother Sport (NPR Live) (»)
of Montreal - Gallery Piece (Jon Brion Remix) (»)
Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave (»)
Chromeo - 100 (Trackademicks B-LIVE Pemberton Mix) (»)
Midlake - Roscoe (»)
We Have Band - You've Had Band (Demo) (»)
Fire On Fire - Hartford Blues (»)
Amazing Baby - Pump Your Brakes (»)
Threatmantics - Don't Care (»)

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Threatmantics

Threatmantics are a scruffy Welsh rock trio that throw some wrinkles into the scruffy rock formula: Instead of a lead guitarist, they have a lead John Cale viola, and their drummer does double-time with a keyboard. The two guys mixing...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: The Broken West

Ross Flournoy, the Memphis-born lead vocalist and guitarist for the Samuel Beckett referencing (I Can't Go On, I'll Go On) Los Angeles pop quartet the Broken West, writes and records soundtracks for DVDs when not performing songs from his band's...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

After several closely monitored weeks of leaks, it's time to take a look at the year's most anticipated album that doesn't feature Buckethead. Given Kanye West's reputation for finding musical inspiration in unlikely places (be they leftfield samples or genre-bending...

MORE »

Video Hangover logo

Video Hangover: Marcy Playground - "Saint Joe On The Schoolbus"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week: Marcy Playground blows their one chance at video immortality.

MORE »

Oldstand logo

OldStand: Rolling Stone, September 13, 1984

Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to lo