# Styx covers "I Am the Walrus" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883 "2004-12-20T23:30:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/1 "2004-12-20T23:30:32Z")
I just caught the video for this and I’ll be damned if it isn’t a pretty good version. [Top 40 charts.com story](http://top40-charts.com/news.php?nid=11189) This is not your father’s Styx. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/2 "2004-12-21T00:51:27Z")
They’ve been playing this a lot lately on WLUP in Chicago as a “Loop Exclusive” - the version they have was recorded specifically for the station. I was impressed as hell. I never had an anti-Styx bias, but I haven’t really been a big fan, either. Must to check out the video. Sounds good! ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/3 "2004-12-21T00:53:22Z")
Ah, I should have clicked your link before posting. Apparently WLUP did indeed have the original exclusive on this. Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/4 "2004-12-21T00:59:25Z")
You can watch/listen [here](http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=281325&PT=Media). Personally I see no reason for this cover to exist; it’s exactly, note-for-note, the same as the original. The first couple of minutes are, anyway; I got bored after that and stopped listening. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/5 "2004-12-21T01:06:45Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > You can watch/listen [here](http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=281325&PT=Media). > > Personally I see no reason for this cover to exist; it’s exactly, note-for-note, the same as the original. The first couple of minutes are, anyway; I got bored after that and stopped listening. It’s a helluva lot better than Jim Carrey’s version. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/6 "2004-12-21T01:14:55Z")
Wow! When did (Canadian) Larry Gowan join the band? Does that mean they’ll do “A Criminal Mind” in concert now? Or maybe his rendition of “Good Golly Miss Molly”? Just him at the piano. Man, it’d flatten ya! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/7 "2004-12-21T01:24:49Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Wow! > > When did (Canadian) Larry Gowan join the band? Does that mean they’ll do “A Criminal Mind” in concert now? Or maybe his rendition of “Good Golly Miss Molly”? Just him at the piano. Man, it’d flatten ya! He joined in 1997 after Dennis DeYoung left to battle that light sensitivity thing. The fact that this cover is a straight forward one makes it all the better. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/8 "2004-12-21T01:52:20Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > You can watch/listen [here](http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=281325&PT=Media). > > Personally I see no reason for this cover to exist; it’s exactly, note-for-note, the same as the original. The first couple of minutes are, anyway; I got bored after that and stopped listening. I don’t really mind Styx, but I too don’t see the point of this cover. It’s too much like the original. If I want to hear the original, I’ll listen to the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/9 "2004-12-21T01:57:03Z")
Let’s see, if they’d done a crappy cover, many people would be screaming for their heads. Instead, they do a pretty good (IMHO) straight cover and are met with indifference. To each his own, I guess. I liked it and that’s why I decided to share. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/10 "2004-12-21T02:57:02Z")
I can see how this would be fun if you were at a Styx concert and they played it. It’s not a bad version, but I agree it’s rather pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/11 "2004-12-21T03:03:05Z")
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/12 "2004-12-21T06:36:59Z")
So the “Cafe Society” rule of thumb is to do note-for-note covers of Pink Floyd songs to avoid ridicule, but if you’re covering the Beatles you better play it differently? I agree with **Yookeroo** that this would be better as a surprize in a concert, but I don’t see anything wrong with putting modern instrumentation to a Beatles classic. Refreshes it a bit. Plus it’s Styx, man! Every once in a while I hear a “new” piece from them (concert footage or whatnot), and can’t believe how much less they suck now that they voted DeYoung off the island. -lv ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/13 "2004-12-21T06:47:02Z")
> [@LordVor](#): > > So the “Cafe Society” rule of thumb is to do note-for-note covers of Pink Floyd songs to avoid ridicule, but if you’re covering the Beatles you better play it differently?-lv Ummm…no. I think many of us said that the Scissors Sisters’ campy discoed-out version of Comfortably Numb was at least interesting and had a point, while the other note-for-note interpretations were redundant. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/14 "2004-12-21T06:56:30Z")
> [@LordVor](#): > > So the “Cafe Society” rule of thumb is to do note-for-note covers of Pink Floyd songs to avoid ridicule, but if you’re covering the Beatles you better play it differently? Not by me. I thought the Scissor Sisters’ “Comfortably Numb” thing was pretty clever; I thought it did exactly what a good cover _should_ do. I stayed out of that thread because (a) I didn’t feel like arguing with all the unswayable fans for whom any change is desecration, (b) I got around to reading the thread pretty late, and (c) while I loved the _idea_ of the song and approved of the artistic motivation behind it, I didn’t actually like _the song itself_ enough to get in and start defending it. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/15 "2004-12-21T21:01:22Z")
I almost threw in a Scissors Sisters joke in my other post. I like their version of Comfortably Numb. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/16 "2004-12-21T23:02:20Z")
I’ve heard enough, uh, unique, covers of Beatles’ tunes that this song is a welcome change. At IFilm there is a clip of Paul McCartney butchering “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Look under “Viral Films”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/17 "2004-12-22T01:31:12Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I’ve heard enough, uh, unique, covers of Beatles’ tunes that this song is a welcome change. > > At IFilm there is a clip of Paul McCartney butchering “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Look under “Viral Films”. Yep, that’s a butchering all right. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/styx-covers-i-am-the-walrus/280883/18 "2004-12-23T05:23:36Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. Yes, am I being summoned?