Extravagant all-star cover of "Let It Be" for Norwegian TV show

This very long promo for Norwegian show Gylne Tider (Golden Times) features a bunch of people I have not thought about in a while, greenscreened onto a Santa Monica beach background, covering The Beatles' "Let It Be." It made me feel simultaneously amused, perplexed, and old. Video link. (via Jimmy Kimmel)

Andrea James is a writer, director, producer and activist based in Los Angeles. Her work often focuses on consumer activism, the free culture movement, exogenous mysticism, humor, and LGBT rights.

MORE: guestblog • Weird

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Anonymous

Man, and they’re not even covering, but just lipsynching! Serious a weird blend of tastes and textures.
dross1260

What? No Boxcar Willie?
Anonymous

Good lord, some audio engineer must have work his/her tail off to make all those people to sound good. I have a hard time believing all those folks can sing that well. I’m guessing this is a whole lot of auto-tuning.
Anonymous

I love “Gylne Tider”; it’s a great show reminiscing with and about the people who were larger than life 20-30 years ago, but who in varyings degrees have dropped of the radar since. They always treat the subject with respect and it’s always got a feel of celebration to it. Great show :-)

By coincidence, the show airing this Sunday was long since planned to feature Leslie Nielsen, in what turned out to be one of the (if not the very?) last interviews he gave; I’m looking forward to it, though hoping it won’t feel too weird.
hellomums

Holy Hell Judd Nelson!
- RadioSilence
  
  he looks like the teacher at school who thought he was ‘cool’.
brinylon

Gorden Kaye looks scary ancient, but he just hasn’t aged very well, he’s not yet 70. That helps, somehow seeing him hit the whole OLD/MORTAL button hardest.
el_rey_misterioso

This is Norway’s response to Steig Larsson.
Anonymous

Now, an actually good version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4bib4PBqGA
Mark Temporis

Katarina Witt is insanely hot.
Anyone who hasn’t thought of Glenn Close lately needs to see her incredible performances in ‘The Shield’ and ‘Damages’.

Hellomeow, Nancy Kerrigan isn’t asian. You’re probably conflating her with Kristi Yamaguchi, who wasn’t attacked by Harding.

It’s okay; I often conflate Nancy Kerrigan with the Starcraft villain and think she was the first Zerg-Human hybrid to compete in the Olympics.
Anonymous

Kathleen Turner is best know for War of The Roses?!?! Romancing the Stone must have lost something in the translation.
hellomeow

it’s GEORGE!!!!!!!! :D
dculberson

What is this “War of the Roses?” Kathleen Turner will forever be “Serial Mom” to me. (That or Dolores Benedict, but that’s a little obscure.)
Dante

That made me feel like I was entering to heaven. I most assuredly don’t wanna go to heaven!! Seein’ Sheryl Lee was nice. I’m glad the producers had the foresight to make sure “hypontisor” Paul McKenna was wearing sunglasses. Those eyes are dangerous.
txhoudini

How is it possible that George Wendt looks better than Judd Nelson?
- dculberson
  
  I thought Judd looked great! Maybe a bit too much like someone he would have beaten up in Breakfast Club, but still, pretty good for 51.
VibroCount

“LA Law” must have been big in Norway… but where was Harry Hamlin?
Anonymous

Baaaahhhhh. The rednecks! Really?
Also, Theo.
Slightly Askew

Only Kelly McGillis and that Forrest Gump kid made me feel old. I felt pretty good that I look better than quite a few that are my age or only slightly older (of course, Twisted Sister years aren’t the same as child actor years).
Anonymous

It’s actually a cover of Let It Be by a British “Super” group from 1987 called Ferry Aid. It was a charity record in support of those people affected by the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster. More information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_Aid
- Talia
  
  @anon #26 – do you have a link to the actual song from that charity effort for verification? (perhaps there’s one in the provided link? Couldnt find it though).
  
  The thought that it was entirely just lip synching to something performed by others is vaguely disheartening :P
Anonymous

Norm!!!
Talia

Not having thought of Corbin Benson in a while suggests you don’t watch ‘Psych,’ which is a situtation you should remedy ASAP. Best show (well, ok, best COMEDY show) on TV. (I have serious doubts that’s his singing voice though, the voice sounds like it fits a 20-something guy).
Talia

Lol. I was thinking “wow, this is awesome,” until I came to Tonya Harding, and then it went from awesome to hilariously surreal. *twitch*
Anonymous

The original Ferry Aid – this is what they were lip syncing to (bar Roger Moore at the beginning, good on him for his ‘integrity’).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Y-2m-HQRM
RadioSilence

john nettles, paul mckenna and gordon kaye – how has anyone outside of britain in the 80s/early 90s heard of them?

peter falk – “i’ll do the ad, but i’m not singing”

kelly mcgillis and sherilyn fenn – still got it ;)

lou ferrigno – hasn’t aged at all!
- asjo
  
  John Nettles is a well-known actor on (at least) Scandinavian TV-screens after the turn of the millenium due to Midsomer Murders.
hellomeow

Wait… so did Tanya Harding really just wear that shirt that no one gets as an “eff you” to the public, when no one even cares about her anymore? and frankly, I don’t think anyone really did. The only one I cared about was that poor Asian chick. and now she is doing well, so I am happy.
EH

Kathleen Turner has been great in the last couple seasons of “Californication,” and I’m guessing she’ll be back this coming season.
kib

According to GglTrans,Harding is still a “skater in trouble”.
Anonymous

I loved it, and Judd Nelson looks great.
Astragali

Well, that was a motley assortment of people… I was rather taken by surprise by Dolph Lundgren’s apparent singing ability, though the claims by some commenters that there’s the possibility of the dreaded Auto-Tune has fostered some doubts.

On another, rather shameful, note: I had to pause the video when I saw Peter Falk, because I’d got it into my head that he’d been dead some time, and needed to check Wikipedia. I was, thankfully, wrong.
Anonymous

I have one word for you — “Hulken!”
skeletoncityrepeater

I think that a lot of those people (Alberto Tomba excluded :) ) are actually very good singers. At one point you had to be pretty talented to get roles on tv. I know Jason Alexander and Ricki Lake are definitely great at singing, and Philip Michael Thomas put out at least one solo album..
- catgrin
  
  I agree, a lot of the people they selected for the commercial are those who’ve done some singing. Mostly it’s been stage work, and I guess for most of us if it wasn’t on TV or in a movie it didn’t happen.
  
  Jason Alexander was on stage before TV. Here’s a vid of him at the Critic’s Choice Awards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3WPJsfBthI
  
  Alfonso Ribeiero’s singing was actually used as a gag on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RefI85n__mY
  
  Malcom Jamal Warner has produced for others and released his own music.
  
  Just because they’re not 22 and starring in a sitcom anymore, it’s not fair to directly assume they lack a talent that we tended to ignore even when they were in the public eye.
  - trondmm
    
    They didn’t pick these people for the promo alone. This promo includes everyone that’s been interviewed for season 4 of “Gylne Tider” (well, some of the musicans/bands aren’t interviewed, they just perform/lipsync their greatest hit, while some popup-facts are shown on screen). Everyone was asked to participate in this video, and the few that didn’t was included in the clips from the photo album.
    
    They did a similar video for season 3. I’m not sure about season 1 and 2, though.
    - trondmm
      
      A quick check on wikipedia reminds me that season 1 only included Swedish stars (and that’s also why the program was named after the Swedish band “Gyllene Tider”). Season 2 only included Norwegian stars and the previous season (season 3) was the first to include international stars.
    - catgrin
      
      That’s cool. I figured that was the case. More than anything my comment was a reminder to people like Snidely Whiplash (who couldn’t be bothered to look it up and see that George Wendt has, in fact, appeared on Broadway) that several of the participants are known to have passable singing voices.
      
      I realize that a lot of editing went into the video (one of my good friends is a sound editor). I also understand that there are those who spoke, spoke-sang, and were in some cases just lip-synced in. I’m just one of those people who feel that it’s not a great idea to bash on others without first checking your facts. A good portion of the participants could have sung this song, and with normal editing gotten the results you heard.
Anonymous

I thought Peter Falk has alzheimer’s. He looks good.

Nice seeing “Bud Bundy” and Leslie Nielsen.
Anonymous

That’s as strange a dish of pop cultural detritus as I can recall ever seeing.
Snig

Why does this make me think of the Grey Havens?
Anonymous

Pardon my ignorance, but who the heck is “Harpo”???

The only Harpo I recognize died in 1964, after a long career in vaudeville, broadway, hollywood, and tv. Without ever speaking, or singing a word.
- trondmm
  
  @anon62, This is Harpo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrPYHqoLLQI
bolamig

This is going to be my morning meditation on my mortality. I will not waste my t
Mark Frauenfelder

If you didn’t already know that I’m a very shallow person you will now after I admit this was my favorite thing in Boing Boing all week. (And Anon #34, you beat me to it! “Hulken” made me snort out lous!)
- Andrea James
  
  @Mark: These guys also did a pretty damn good lipdub of “We Are the World” a few years ago with Lorenzo Lamas, Larry Hagman, Bo Derek, Michael Winslow from Police Academy, Stephanie Powers, Bananarama, Bonnie Tyler, Andrew McCarthy, Robert Guillaume, and the hottest chick of 80′s rock, Vicki Peterson from The Bangles (with Susanna Hoffs):
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOeDYDOCKc
  - Mark Frauenfelder
    
    Cool! And Limahl, Bananarama, too.
Anonymous

Where was Fabio?
trondmm

@anon36 Yes, Peter Falk was not in a very good condition when they were trying to interview him. They’ve said in an article that it’ll take a lot of editing to make the interview even remotely coherent, so they won’t use it in the series. They were also surprised that Falk’s agent would let them interview him at all.
Grant Hamilton

#1 I don’t think the Milli Vanilli guy was actually singing.
#2 How come Kathleen Turner didn’t have to sing?
#3 It was mean that with all the post production, they had Lou Ferrigno (who is deaf) noticeable clapping off beat.
#4 Tubbs-hasn’t aged
#5 Judd Nelson-WTF?

That is all.
Anonymous

it helped me with my need to defecate. after watching the first 55 seconds I went to the bathroom and was able to produce. thanks!
Awemaker

Yes, amused, perplexed, old and definitely mortal. Nice job with the video editing!
- Andrea James
  
  I thought putting Tonya Harding next to Glenn Close was a nice touch. I have always been fascinated by what I call the Casablanca Effect, where an overabundance of lameness and clichÃ©s can actually transcend the sum of its parts to become something truly awful, but with staying power.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I’m perplexed as to why Alberto Tomba and Katarina Witt weren’t together. Fab and Tubbs would have made a nice couple, too.
  - BookGuy
    
    On the other side, I thought putting Katarina Witt next to Tonya was a nice touch.
    
    And was it just me, or was Huey Lewis either doing an uncanny John Lennon impression, or alternatively, overdubbed with Lennon’s voice? I’ve been doing an A/B comparison of the original and this, and I’m leaning strongly toward the latter.
    - Kaz
      
      @bookguy – I believe you mean Paul McCartney.. and I agree .. it is almost like he’s lip-synching to Paul’s voice…
i_prefer_yeti

Whatever Tubbs has been doing for the past 25 years, I want to follow his program for eternal youth.
Anonymous

That is quite simply the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Well done, Internet.
W. James Au

Living large doing voiceovers for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and a cameo in that LeBron James Nike commercial!
obeyken

Wow, some of those actors must have demanded *literally* hundreds of dollars.

But srsly… Sherilyn Fenn remains one of the great knockouts of all time.
Anonymous

That is NOT Huey Lewis’s singing voice. That is Paul from the original version. Huey has a raspier (huskier?) voice.

Why did they do that when Huey still sings?
W. James Au

(Wait, I meant Grand Theft Auto: Vice City!)
Anonymous

This is the link to the We are the Wold video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQOeDYDOCKc
Grognard

OMG! What random gang of has-beens. Amused and perplexed indeed.
Antinous / Moderator

Wow, Nic Cage’s foreclosures really spooked some people into trying to scrape up some fast cash.
SnidelyWhiplash

I…uh…wha?

Somehow I doubt that’s George Wendt’s singing voice.
- Anonymous
  
  I dunno… George Wendt _is_ playing in “Elf: The Musical” on Broadway.
  
  He might actually be able to sing. (Who knew?)