Declan Murphy wrote:

> Kevin Wayne Williams wrote:
> 
>> Just kicking back, watching "Stairways to Heaven" again, and got to the
>> Judi Connell version. Is this woman a real gospel singer? Or is she
>> making fun of someone that only Australians know?
> 
> 
> I've never heard of anyone describing her as a "gospel singer", these 
> days she seems to be better known as "the Queen of cabaret". In the 70's 
> she was big in musicals, including on Broadway and in London. Think 
> "Fiddler on the Roof" etc.
> 
> So yes, it is parody, but she is real. Some background on the project 
> might help you put her performance into context.
> 
> http://speedysnail.com/textuary/denton.html

Thanks. I understood the basic context of the project. Its just that 
sometimes I have a hard time sorting a version like the one from The 
Fargone Beauties, where they do a very straightforward version of 
exactly what I would expect the Fargone Beauties to do with "Stairway to 
Heaven", from one like "The Friends of the Castanet Club", where it is 
pure parody from the get-go. Rolf Harris, the Sydney Philharmonia, 
Leonard Teale, The Fargones, Nick Barker, Toys gone Beserk, The 
Whippersnappers, I put together in once clump of "expected covers". Rock 
Lobsters, Australian Doors, and The Beatnix, I put in kind of an 
"alternate history" lump.  Because I don't know if a group like 
"Vegimite Reggae" ever did anything else or not, the rest make me wonder.

Oooh, they make me wonder.

KWW