News > Radiohead
Homeless Mustard Brings New Meaning To ‘Creep’
By Johnny Firecloud
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
While it’s their most heavily played and easily recognizable song, Radiohead’s Creep scrapes the bottom of the band’s pre-electro songwriting barrel. It’s been covered more than any other Radiohead song (except maybe Fake Plastic Trees, but I doubt it), but it’s never been as convincingly owned by another performer as by Mustard, a homeless man that Sirius XM hosts Opie & Anthony recently discovered while engaging in a bit of downtrodden exploitation for fucks and chuckles.
I stumbled across this video on BannedInHollywood in an insomnia-fueled pre-dawn blog blitz this morning, and was surprised as hell to hear the soul pour out of this lost brother of Zach Galifianakis:
A Reddit user who goes by ‘fingerrockets’ shed light on the backstory:
“I listen to the O&A show daily at work so I’ll give a little back story here. When they brought this guy on they had no idea he could sing. It was just going to be a radio bit promoting their upcoming “homeless shopping spree.” During the interview it came up that he has written some songs and could play guitar. So they went and got the man a guitar (he did not own one himself) and he proceeded to shock the hell out of everyone.” BannedInHollywood’s got Mustard’s three other tracks for download, if you’re so inclined.
While we’re at it, I’ve been looking for an excuse to post this hot mess for a while now: a very long time ago, Eddie Vedder did an impromptu version of Creep as well, except he was drunk, didn’t know the words and really didn’t give much of a damn what it sounded like. Ask a Pearl Jam fanatic or do a search on Sean “Birdman” Gould for more info on the sessions that spawned this ugly duckling.
This guy is homeless? He’s lookin’ pretty good for a guy who lives on the street.
You must not have watched it on full screen in HD.
Uh oh… Birdman Sessions postings always bring a nice C&D from the band…
hm. good call – replaced with youtube link.
wow, that is one hell of a voice
Better than the original.
^^^agreed, never been into Radiohead’s version, this man puts a little more soul into it…must be a creep
Isn’t that Susan Boyle’s boyfriend?
I dig the soul of it.
I prefer Damien Rice’s cover though.
Hooray music is subjective.
I saw this the other day, and I dunno if it’s a raging case of being a girl or what, but I got goosebumps and a little teary watching that. The guy has a beautifully haunting voice.
Also, that Eddie Vedder version made my ears bleed. Ouch.
This guy tops most contemporary vocalists in the rock genre and should be given a record deal.
there is no doubt that you can here years of pain in that mans voice…and if you listen very closely the gold in his voice shines through
He really does do an amazing rendition of this song and I too got goosebumps listening to this guy. Hearing a man who truly has nothing belt out this song is much more moving then men doing well for themselves, but maybe I’m just a colossal faggot. Unfortunately, after listening to him for a couple hours it’s pretty clear the guy is batshit crazy so any fame or income he may receive from his 15 minutes will undoubtedly be squandered by a series of poor choices. Still though, I’m glad it’s circulating around the internet because he does have some real talent. When he says, “..but I’m a creep”, you believe it.
Side note of no interest to anyone: Really not digging the Eddie Vedder version.
I’d love to hear this man sing Johnny Cash songs, like “hurt” or “god is gonna cut you down”.
great cover – hope he at least gets some warm meals and a place to stay for a few nights out of this. And TJ – “hurt” is NOT a Johnny Cash song, he did a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song… just fyi…
For the record, Opie and Anthony were not exploiting the homeless for “fucks and chuckles”. The homeless shopping spree was done as a charity and as something nice for the homeless, allowing these people to buy new clothes and things they need. I feel that the negative light cast on O and A is unwarranted.
Nope, totally warranted. Those guys are dicks.
That was awesome… he created a whole new meaning to that song, it was intensely perfect.
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i agree with previous comment, Damien Rice’s voice does the music justice
I loved this guys version of the song. He really means it when he sings it…it’s like he lives through the lyrics or something.
The man poured his soul into that, he looked to be crying. This version sounds way better than the Radiohead version.