A good cover tune is one where the performer captures the essence of the song. A great cover tune is one where the artist captures the essence of the song and makes it their own in every way.
Singer Zella Day has recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" that is not only great, it's FANTASTIC. What's more, it is supported by a great video that is equally effective in capturing the essence of "Crazy Train." (The only, very nitpicky complaint that I can even think to mount is that maybe it should have taken place in a train car rather than the back of an open-topped car.)
KoKo's Toot-Toot (aka"Toot-Toot") (1926, re-released 1950) Starring: Max Fleischer Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
While traveling by train, the Animator (Fleischer) doodles in his sketch book. His drawings of KoKo the Clown and his pet dog come to life, and soon they are causing train-based havoc in both the animated and real worlds.
"KoKo's Toot-Toot" is another tale where animated characters escape their two-dimensional world to cause chaos in ours. It's not the best I've seen of this series--there are several sequences that go on for just long enough to stop being amusing--but it does have its high points. My favorite bit is where KoKo, after disassembling the sketch of a non-operational train and putting it back together again all wrong but now working, as well as much of the train-ride that follows.
A common weakness that all the Out of the Inkwell shorts seem to share is a lack of a satisfying close to the films. That is mostly the case here, too, but it is also so surrealistic that I can't help but give the filmmakers points for thinking big.
I've embedded the film below for your convenience and viewing pleasure. I believe the version I watched (and featured here) is the one that was aired on Australian television, with added sound effects and soundtrack. I felt the music got a bit tiresome as it looped through the same tune for the third or fourth time toward the end, but you're mileage and tolerance for such things may be higher than mine. I actually found myself wondering if someone has put this 'toon to "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Obourne--which in turn led to finding the "bonus" I've included at the bottom of the post. (Yes, it's two-for-one day here at Shades of Gray!)
And here's a bonus--Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" performed by cartoon characters!
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