Brit Music Scene

Mark Ronson Feat. Lily Allen - Oh My God | Single & Video Review

by Dave Parrack on July 19th, 2007

I’ve got a sneaking admiration for Mark Ronson, the man who has put out a whole album of remixes and taken the credit for them. When I first heard the album, I wanted to hate it but couldn’t, it’s just damned good. This is the cover of Kaiser Chiefs ‘Oh My God’ featuring Lily Allen. Even writing that felt wrong, as it’s Lily doing the vocals, and making the song what it is. Anyway, here it is, and look for the cameo appearance of the kaiser Chiefs in the video… it’s hardly subtle.

As it’s a cover it’s hard to talk about the song without referring back to the original release by the Kaiser Chiefs. It is essentially the same record, except with a sultry sounding Lily instead of an angsty sounding Ricky doing lead vocals.

As for the lyrics, it’s quite clearly about a desire to get away from the humdrum, the ordinary, and do something a bit more exciting. I would suggest it’s a direct reference to Ricky Wilson’s former job as an Art teacher. Yeah, rock star is slightly more glamorous. Ricky himself said of the song…

“Its a cracker, innit? It’s about being in a band, about being a fish out of water. The first leap’s always the hardest.“

I must admit to loving what Mark Ronson has done with the song, with the stronger bassline working immensely well, especially when Lily’s voice kicks in over the top. It’s turned a slice of British Indie pop in to almost a Jazz Funk piece. Along with the Amy Winehouse version of Valerie by The Zutons, I would say this is the high point of the album, and it’s no wonder it’s been released as a single.

The video was directed by Nima Nourizadeh and features a cartoon Lily, who strangely looks like Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’. It fits the mood of the song perfectly, and watching the cartoon Lily walking sexily around the club as she performs the song kind of puts you in a trance. I love how she blows Peanut from the Kaiser Chiefs a kiss on her way out, kind of a thank you for allowing them to use the song I guess.

Mark Ronson and Lily Allen’s version of the song came out on July 16th and is set to chart in the Top 20 this Sunday. The original song by the Kaiser Chiefs was released twice, once when they were unknown, peaking at number 66, and then later on reaching the dizzy heights of number 6, which by my reckoning makes them the Devil.

Here’s the original song and video in all it’s glory…

So which do you prefer, the original or the reworking? I think they’re both good, a classic case of a song which is very open to being tampered and altered. I can’t imagine this song working with anyone else singing it, and I suppose I have to begrudgingly take my hat off to Mark Ronson for securing Lily Allen’s services for that exact reason.

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POSTED IN: Indie, Kaiser Chiefs, Lily Allen, Mark Ronson, Pop, Reviews, Singles, Videos