Here’s a pretty nifty version of the infamous Joni Mitchell song. What surprised me most when I first heard it was that the song was being performed by Robert Downey Jr. I had zero clue that the man who was such a drugged out mess of an actor was also a competent musician. Why? I think I’ve discussed this before, but then again maybe not and I’m not about to start sifting back through a hundred odd posts or more to find out. Here’s my reasoning…
There’s a funny thing that occurs in Entertainment. There’s several strange status levels that have developed between music and acting. First, for some reason acting is held in a much higher regard than music. I can understand it by the very nature that most people are used to the visual nature that we’ve turned life into. Most music is meant to be heard, not seen. I think for that reason, actors get more credit than a musician in terms of fame.
But what happens when an actor attempts to cross over to doing music. A vast majority of the time it results in dismal sales and what the music industry would term as a failure. Does it occur? Sure, but it’s rare.
On the flip side, there are lots of musicians that have made the cross over to being an actor. For some reason this is more respected and accepted. It doesn’t always mean that the musician is a good actor, but people will forgive this. I’m not sure why. I suppose it could be that playing an instrument and keeping someone’s attention is not an easy task. Granted, I know this first hand. Thus if someone is a capable musician and can entertain, then it seems to reason that they can act.
I don’t always agree with it, at least not with this example. Robert Downey Jr. is probably the one actor that I can say, you know what, he’s not a bad musician either. I can cite several examples of other actors that have attempted the music thing and aren’t that great and should stick with acting. I won’t do that now. It’s not very Christmas of me to do that.
I’m unsure as to why the album A Very Ally Christmas is not on iTunes, but because of that snafu, it is the reason I decided to make it today’s Sunday’s Child. It’s a great song. This is a good rendition of it. I can suggest that you search out the CD and purchase it. I will also say, it’s a bone-head move on Fox’s part to not release this to iTunes. What were they thinking? Oh wait, they may have been busy plotting that O.J. Simpson interview.
Sit back, relax. Enjoy your Christmas Eve. Sip some hot chocolate, watch It’s a Wonderful Life and smack on some popcorn. Hopefully all your gifts have arrived and everything is in order. Merry Christmas Eve.
(** Disclaimer: If Fox or Mr. Downey decide to run me up the river without a paddle, I’ll ship out the audio on a dingy and sink it off the server. The post will remain to show my theory of cross entertainment. **)