Jeez, Paul Anka ripping off Richard Cheese it had to happen. Paul probably bought Aperitif For Destruction although he may have already had Lounge Against The Machine, Tuxicity and I’d Like A Virgin with Dick’s Las Vegas lounge versions of Me So Horny, Chop Suey, Enter Sandman, American Idiot, Gin & Juice, Down With The Sickness, Baby Got Back, Closer, Hey Ya, Rape Me, Smack My Bitch Up, Creep, and his tasteful masterwork Beat It with backing vocals by a boy’s choir.
I like Richard Cheese, but Anka’s covers are much, much better. At least, they seem more sincere, while Cheese’s come off as being too clever for their own good, if that makes any sense.
Previous thread on the topic: Is Paul Anka deluded? (his new album)
(Hey, I just got the joke: “Richard Cheese” = “Dick Cheese.” Haw haw haw.)
I heard Anka on the Howard Stern show a few months back, promoting this album.
While the music wasn’t good, Anka himself was hilarious. He was reeling off stories of his old days in Vegas, how he used to see his pal Elvis shooting up televisions whenever something he didn’t like came on, how he saw Johnny Carson getting beaten within an inch of his life by a mobster whose girlfriend Carson tried to pick up.
Stern told Anka he ought to write a book. ANka laughed, “I have to wait for one or two more people to die, but I’m definitely gonna write a book.”
If and when he does, I’ll buy it. I never thought the guy who wrote a cheesy turd like “Having My Baby” could be so ribald or so funny!