The Great Pretender

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    This is an instrumental cover of this 1955 Billboard No. 1 hit for The Platters, written by Buck Ram. My cover is based on a transcription in an old tunebook, "101 Rock'n'Roll Hits for Buskers".

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin
  2. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    For some reason, this is much sadder and deeper than the original, perhaps by putting it into a more serious musical context. Tears in the rain, not on a clown.
  3. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Sounds really fine! If you would try to play today's popsongs on the mandolin, you'd give up soon. But what you do with The Great Pretender is more than elevator music, it's very expressive.(BTW The Band had a nice version on their album Moondog Matinee)
  4. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Bertram and Christian. Yes, I was channelling The Band more than The Platters in my cover -- Richard Manuel's vocal delivery is considerably more sombre than the original, which is probably what Bertram is picking up on. That, and the missing doo-wop backing vocals...

    Martin
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