Remind me. How long has Nina Simone been dead?

Long enough for the advertisers to start dancing on her grave apparently. At the moment there’s a Muller Lite advert on heavy rotation that uses I Aint Got No - I Got Life. Except, as is the common operating practice of advertisers, they’ve taken a part of the song and farmed it out for a cover version with - god help us - whistling, and all the ‘crunchiness’ removed.

Now, when a living artist takes the avertising dollar and, in the immortal words of Bill Hicks, starts “sucking Satan’s penis” it’s distressing but, hey, at least it’s the artist’s choice. But waving the fecal wand of muzak over someone’s work once they’re safely dead is, extending Bill’s metaphor somewhat, akin to inviting Satan to sodomise the corpse.

Ahem.

You know what I really hate? The fact that even after the song’s been fucked about with by the ‘creatives’ the tune still hits the spot.

Do your ears a favour, seek out the real thing. Accept no substitutes.