But my chief association with Cher is that we "share" - see what I did there? - the same birthday, May 20th. There are a handful of others I prefer (economist John Stuart Mill, hockey player Stan Mikita, singers Israel "Bruddah Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole and Nick Heyward) but she's the first one I think of because it feels like I've always known we were born on the same day (albeit thirty-one years apart). Plus, she's by far the most famous.
If it feels like Cher has always been famous then I don't blame you. It's hard to imagine a time when she wasn't a thing. Even during one of her many personal and/or professional valleys — her disasterous second marriage to Gregg Allman and the even worse album they made together, her post-Oscar win cinematic decline, pretty much everything since "Believe" — she still always seemed relevant. As opposed to the similarly mononymed Madonna, Cher has never been seen to be in control of every step her career has taken. When she falters, it's as though it was an inevitability; when she returns, people seem astonished that she has once again made another unlikely comeback.
Admiration for Cher is one thing but when it's a whole other matter when it comes to appreciating her music — and this is something that has always been present. If anything, it was even more of a task back in the sixties since she was saddled with Sonny, an individual of even more modest talents who lacked his partner's charisma. But Sonny Bono made up for it with a lengthy and varied career of his own based at least in part on shear dumb luck. He had abilities of his own in songwriting and producing but the fact that he pulled off the transition to having the spotlight placed on him for a good chunk of his life is a testament to the notion that anyone can indeed make it.
But as I say, it's relatively easy to have a soft spot for the pair but enjoying the records they cut together is another matter entirely. While I have a great deal of respect for my fellow national chart bloggers, Tom Breihan and Tom Ewing are being overly generous to "I Got You Babe" with their scores of 8 and 7 respectively. The former describes the arrangement as "lush and gorgeous" which I guess is true even if it's undermined somewhat by the pedestrian singing. (Cher is the by far the more accomplished vocalist and she's only okay; Sonny was always a notoriously rubbish singer but to his credit he does show off a decent Bob Dylan impersonation at around the one minute, forty-five second mark) In typical fashion, the latter makes the worthwhile point that the married couple of Sonny and Cher sound like "they're in a radio play or running an awards show" which does go to show why their variety TV program did so well. These points are all true but mediocrity still reigns. The oboe is indeed nice but what's really the point of the rest of it? (My pal Aidan Curran who blogs the Irish number ones never had to review it but he has described it as "charming" and "certainly the best record ever made by someone called Bono" so I really am in the minority on this one)
Yet, I have to admit that it sort of still holds up after all these years in spite of my indifference. With their fun-sized/statuesque dynamic, Sonny and Cher were bound to become fodder for parody but it's something that's never been especially funny. (It was the image of the two them that provided the real laughs) Similarly, "I Got You Babe" has been parodied itself on multiple occasions over the years, much to my un-amusement. It also hasn't been covered well either. A 1985 version by British reggae group UB40 along with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders managed to top the the UK charts but it is poor, even for a band with many wretched covers in their back catalog. (That said, it was even more of an embarrassing botch for Hynde who isn't quite as cavalier about ruining old pop songs) Best stick with the original even if it's cheesy, too much of a jumble of good and bad ideas and utterly unconvincing — but otherwise okay.
Score: 5
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