William Shatner (ft. Joe Jackson) – "Common People" (2004)

I want to sleep with common people

I want to sleep with common people like you

Not everything you read on the Internet is true.

According to the Internet, Mark Twain once said, “Politicians are like diapers – they should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons.”

But Mark Twain did not say that.  

The Internet also says that 94-year-old William Shatner – who famously portrayed Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek television series – is planning to release a heavy metal album titled A Gathering of Forces later this year.

That can’t be right – right?

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Wrong!  It is right!

Shatner says his new album will feature over 30 recording artists.  He hasn’t identified any of his collaborators yet, but the musicians he has recorded with in the past include Peter Frampton, Brian May (Queen), Henry Rollins (formerly of Black Flag), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Zakk Wylde (who was the late Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist), and Chris Poland (formerly of Megadeath) – so I’m guessing there will be some big names helping out Shatner on his newest project.

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In the previous 2 or 3 lines, I told you about The Transformed Man, Shatner’s 1968 debut album.   

Shatner waited 36 years to release a follow-up to The Transformed Man.  (That’s a long time, although perhaps not long enough.)  His second album – which was titled Has Been – contained a number of original songs co-written by Shatner and Ben Folds (best known as the frontman of the Ben Folds Five), who produced the album.

The initial track of Has Been is a cover of Pulp’s Britpop hit, “Common People,” which was featured in the penultimate 2 or 3 lines.  

Shatner is joined on “Common People” by Joe Jackson, one of very best singer-songwriters of his generation.  I’m not sure why Jackson chose to sing with Shatner on that recording, but he kills it.

One reviewer had this to say about Shatner’s “Common People,” which she called “one of the strangest and somehow best musical covers I have ever heard”:

Shatner’s distinctive spoken-word style has found its perfect outlet in this song.  No one speaks like Shatner does.  His idiosyncratic style contains an overabundance of dramatic pauses and his gravelly tones overflow with emotion; there’s little subtlety there and he gets his message across like a sledgehammer.  But the lyrics of “Common People” are infused with emotion, most notably disdain, and the wealth of emotion in Shatner’s is a perfect fit.

(What kind of dressing would you like with that word salad?)

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Click here to listen to Shatner’s cover of “Common People.”

Click here to buy that recording from Amazon.

Click here to watch Shatner et al. performing “Common People” on The Tonight Show.