Stereogum Home
December 30, 2005

Robyn Covers Saul Williams' "List Of Demands (Reparations)"

Whenever I read about hip-hop poet Saul Williams, I'm reminded of something Lindsay blogged back in March:

For the past month or so, I've been enjoying a really bad video on MTV2's Subterranean. It's by a guy named Saul Williams and the song is called "List of Demands (Reparations)." It would just be a normal bad video for a normal bad (but catchy) song, if it weren't for the climax, where the music pauses and Mr. Williams looks at the camera very seriously and dramatically and says: "God is just a baby. And the diaper is wet." It's gotten to the point where I fast forward through the show to get to that line. It makes me laugh so hard.
Lindsay, you may like the Bizarro Swedish version better. It has hand clapping and giggling (but not the offending line) and recently aired on SVT2's Musikbyrån.

Saul Williams - "List Of Demands" (Windows Media)

Robyn Carlsson & Jenny Wilson - "List Of Demands" (Google Video)

 

Thanks Triforce for the heads up!

Posted at 12:11 PM
Tags:  |




15 Comments

why does this feel so 1995?

Posted by: Parker at 12/30/05 1:14 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Awww. I always liked that song. Poor Saul, he's got a lot to say and nobody wuvs him.

Posted by: christy at 12/30/05 3:26 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Why does pointing out when something is "so 1995" seem like the kind of faux snobbery that is "so 1995?"

Posted by: James at 12/30/05 3:27 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Now, James... we all know that faux snobbery is just as hot now as it was in '95. In fact, more so, now that the blog-o-sphere has convinced everyone that their opinions are... you know... interesting.

Anyway, I like "List of Demands" and LOVE Robyn. As it turns out, these two great tastes turn out a little weird when you put them together. Personally, I kinda like Robyn's cover of Prince's Jack U Off. It's pretty nice.

Posted by: Joey Headset at 12/30/05 9:46 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Goddamit, do I have to bring the smack back you wack pack? It's me, Kaseem, and man oh man, more stereogum elitist white racism. "Look at the funny black man passionately crying out for reparations! Oh, he's so amusing. Those quaint little things he says, about wanting justice for enslavement. Dahhling, let's buy more iPods so we can listen to our Iron and Whine while New Orleans sinks into the sea and into dust." Damn you williamsburg based honkies. One of those days the meek are going to give up waiting to inherit the earth and burn that motherfucker down.

Posted by: Kaseem at 12/31/05 2:03 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

what?!!! that's a great song & a great video...

it's made by http://www.brunx.com, check out the videos he did for calla, interpol, chromeo, etc.

Posted by: haris pilton at 12/31/05 6:16 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I'm with Kaseem. The Saul Williams is great. It looks like it was shot at the house party after the revolution. Robyn's version works too...

Posted by: Richard at 12/31/05 10:38 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I'm really not diggin Saul Williams but seeing the contrast between him and these two Swedes rockin out to it was funny. As for Jesus' wet diaper, uh, what's so funny?

Posted by: alexis at 12/31/05 2:31 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Ridiculous. I love Saul, but the Swedish girly girls don't do anything for it. Plus, the line is "her diaper is wet." If you read Saul's poetry you'd know that he plays heavily on the view of God as a female.

Posted by: Marc at 12/31/05 3:17 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

jenny wilson is amazing... i can't wait until the rest of the world realizes her incredible talent

Posted by: johnny trauma at 12/31/05 6:46 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I'd much rather watch the pretty girls sing it than Saul.

Posted by: Sean at 01/01/06 12:07 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

"I'd much rather watch the pretty girls sing it than Saul."

Neither of those women are pretty.

Posted by: Wow at 01/01/06 1:02 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Jenny Wilson is awesome!

Posted by: guy at 01/01/06 3:56 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Call me crazy, but I'd rather stare at Saul's pearly whites than those two ladies. They're sorta bleh.

While I'll agree that Williams's video isn't that great, the song is amazing. So is the rest of the album, for that matter.

As far as Robyn & Jenny's version... could they make it any more souless and boring? They censored it and destroyed it. It's like a really lame version you can play while your grandmother's around and not have to worry about her getting offended. Awful!

Posted by: Scott. at 01/11/06 10:30 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Oh yeah, the Swedish girls' version is so much better. I mean, yeah, Saul Williams is a part of a community that might actually HAVE grounds for asking for reparations, but the girls sing pretty! Who wants to listen to a guy who shouts at the camera lol?!!/?!1!!?!1/?!

Posted by: The guy wearing the bowler hat at 05/20/07 4:13 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

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: Ssion - Credit In The Straight World (»)
Atlas Sound - Coffin Trick (»)
Magnolia Electric Co. - Texas 71 (»)
The Fireman (Paul McCartney) - Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight (»)
Letters To Cleo - Awake (»)
Letters To Cleo - Here & Now (»)
Au Revoir Simone - Lark (Ruff and Jam Remix) (»)
John Maus - Do Your Best (»)
John Maus - My Whole World Is Coming Apart (»)
Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (»)
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (Album Version) (»)
Annie - Two Of Hearts (»)
Final Fantasy - The Butcher (»)
caUSE Co-MOTION - Which Way Is Up (»)
Matthew And The Arrogant Sea - Mock Origami (»)
Matthew And The Arrogant Sea - Pretty Purple Top Hat (»)
Crystal Stilts - Shattered Shine (»)
Marnie Stern - Transformer (»)
Luomo (Feat Apparat) - Love You All (»)
Conor Oberst - 10 Women (Live) (»)
Conor Oberst - I Got A Reason 2 (Live) (»)
Conor Oberst - Kodachrome (Live) (»)
Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park (»)
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (»)
The Blithe Sons - Try To Find A Memory In A Dark Room (»)
The Ivytree - White Sun (»)
Shearwater - The Snow Leopard (»)
The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (»)
Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why (»)
Lewis & Clarke - Disintegration (»)
Port O'Brien - Stuck On A Boat (»)
Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines (»)
Au - RR vs D (»)
Annuals - Confessor (»)

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Blank Dogs

Blank Dogs are actually singular: It's the insanely prolific one-man Brooklyn-based band of Mr. Blank Dog. We don't know too much about the biography of the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he's usually covering his face with masks...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: Midlake

Eric Pulido plays guitar in Midlake: The Texas band, who last released The Trials of Van Occupanther two years ago, are currently at work on a followup in their Denton studio. Pulido also stays busy running a coffee company Cappulido...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul

Pushing Noel off a stage in Toronto might bruise the erstwhile Oasis mouthpiece's ribs (maybe even his spirits) and cause the band to cancel a show or two, but nothing can stop the slow procession toward a new Oasis album....

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 look like. Lots of Huey Lewis (and the News) news lately, so let's go back...

MORE »

The Outsiders logo

The Outsiders: Vol. 19: The Blithe Sons, The Ivytree, Varghkoghargasmal

Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment's virtual...

MORE »