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William Shatner - Common People

dsjkhd6 HN recommenders · 2013–2023
3.5M views · music · evergreen · Uploaded 2009-06-07

William Shatner's spoken-word cover of Pulp's 'Common People', from his album Has Been.

HN commenters repeatedly recommend it as a surprisingly good cover that brings out the contempt in the lyrics.

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7 comments from Hacker News

@shimfish2013 · in “The CEO of Panera Bread attempts to live off food stamps for a week”

Incidentally, I really like William Shatner's cover. It brings out the contempt in the lyrics. And it rocks. [VIDEO]

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@BuildTheRobots2015 · in “Chromium will no longer download/install the Hotword Shared Module”

somewhat even more off topic, but: Thanks to William Shatner for lots of things; least of all demonstrating how to deliver a line of dialogue without it sounding like you're reading off the back of a cereal packet and left your glasses at home. His cover of Common People (Pulp) is an immense example of this. [VIDEO] Yes Doctor Who, I'm staring you out whilst shaking a fist at you....

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@Tomminn2020 · in “Why aren’t you more serious?”

He later did an entire album called "Has Been" in this style, so I suspect so. Here's a taste: [VIDEO] I know this because Ben Folds had a hand in it, and I'm a long-time Ben Folds fan.

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@simias2021 · in “Going from $110k to $24k for more skin in the game”

Glad you liked it, I also enjoy the cover of this song by William Shatner that's surprisingly good IMO: [VIDEO]

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@svnt2022 · in “From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate”

“You will never understand how it feels to live your life with no meaning or control, and with nowhere left to go. You’re amazed that they exist, and they burn so bright that you can only wonder why?” —- Pulp, Common People The Shatner cover is something special: [VIDEO]

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@ThePhysicist2022 · in “My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness”

I like him, he seems to be a thoughtful person. I once listened to his album (which has a great cover of the song "Common People", that jokes about how rich people see the world [1]), in which he reflects on the death of his previous wife, who drowned in their pool, I found that quite touching as well 1: [VIDEO]

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@ur-whale2023 · in “From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction (2020)”

> Not to mention the Jarvis Cocker fascination If you like the Pulp (original AFAICT) version, you have to listen to this cover by Cap'n Kirk: [LINK] [VIDEO]

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