William Dart looks back at a 1998 CD release, on which heavyweights of the American literary world like Norman Mailer, Maya Angelou and Stephen King sing their favourite songs with hot backing musicians ... for a good cause.
Stranger than Fiction, cover image Photo: Don't Quit Your Day Job Records
Stranger than Fiction is one of those freewheeling, eccentric ventures that you might expect from the imagination and energy of Kathi Kamen Goldmark and her Don’t Quit Your Day Job Records.
No animals were harmed in the making of this CD, Goldmark tells us. She goes on to testify that a lot of credibility was suspended in the name of "Freedom of Screech" and then dedicates the album’s songs to the spirit of generous wide-eyed adventure that accompanied every participant into the studio.
The cover tempts us even more with comic strip bubbles shrieking at us “SEE liner notes by Warren Zevon”, “HEAR 32 songs performed by your favourite authors” and "FEEL the warm inner glow of supporting a good cause”.
We’re told that the profits from this venture — if there were any from such a zany undertaking? — were going to literary and literacy causes.
Warren Zevon’s liner notes tell us that here the most distinguished men and women of American letters are moving from writing to singing with musical skill levels that range from the amusingly inept to the downright catastrophic. "They all want to sing", he stresses, "and they all want to sing for you".
Catastrophic some of them may be, but the best of the tracks, with the help of hot backing musicians such as Zevon and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, are engaging, entertaining, and occasionally touching.
Music Details
'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)
'Stranger than Fiction' (T Finn, Judd) – Split Enz
Mental Notes
(Mushroom)
'These Boots are Made for Walking' (Hazlewood) – Amy Tan
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ - Don't Quit Your Day Job Records)
'Alimony Blues' (Mailer) – Norman Mailer
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Tupperware Blues' (Barry) – Dave Barry
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Calypso Blues' (Cole, George) – Maya Angelou
Miss Calypso
(Scamp)
'Right, Said Fred' (Dicks, Rudge) – Maya Angelou & Jessica Mitford
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Act Naturally' (Russell, Morrison) – Leonard Maltin & Meg Mackay
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Proud Mary' (Fogerty) – Tananarive Due
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Rainy Day Bookstores' (Dylan, Fong-Torres) – Ben Fong-Torres
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Bo Diddley' (McDaniel) – Stephen King
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Wall of Death' (Thompson) – Louis B. Jones
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
'Johnny Get Angry' (Edwards, David) – Walter M. Mayes
Stranger Than Fiction
(DQYDJ)
