CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy has finally started and finished Black Mirror, so here are some songs that relate one way or another to the groundbreaking, dystopian futuristic series! Go Eagles!
Irma Thomas — It’s Raining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Ofyo24UZc
I’ve been loving Irma Thomas’ somewhat snappier, Allen Toussaint penned, Detroit Cobras covered, “It’s Raining,” but this also classic 1972 romantic ballad was written by another man with a name you might recognize; not Ed, but Pat Sheeran, not spelled the same but phonetically homographic (pronounced the same, but different).
Dionne Warwick — Always Something There to Remind Me
Dionne Warwick sang this original tune in 1963, and it’s since been covered numerous times, perhaps most notably by the 1980s group Naked Eyes, and the Warwick version is featured prominently in the series (?) finale of Black Mirror, appropriately titled “Black Museum,” wherein the secrets of the universe are revealed.
Sublime — Get Out
Though the film starring the Black Mirror actor that features the title of this song has nothing to do with the subject matter of the song itself, I’m reaching, and the vocal performance on this Arrested Development lifted riff-based ditty is an all-time fave of mine from the Nowellsinator.
Jessica Brown-Findlay — Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)
Not the original recording, but a positively harrowing version of the Thomas original, from the 15-million episode, where our heroine attempts to wow the judges with her meek and mellow vocal stylings, but faces instead the sexism and patriarchy that makes modern life such a minefield of power and subjugation.
