The Pussycat Dolls Cover A.R. Rahman's Jai Ho

Once again, American pop culture manages to prove that there's nothing that artistic foreigners create which America cannot completely desecrate. Slumdog Millionaire fans will know that A.R. Rahman's great soundtrack for the film not only won a Golden Globe, but is also up for an Oscar too. In addition, it scored two out of the three Oscar nomination slots for "Best Original Song." One of those song nominations was for "Jai Ho," the triumphant song that plays under the film's closing Bollywood dance sequence. While I vehemently believed that Springsteen's "The Wrestler" deserved a nomination or a win in that category, I was still thrilled to see one of my favorite soundtracks of the year get some Oscar love.

Then this past weekend, I read some pretty disturbing news at Pretty Much Amazing: Apparently, the Pussycat Dolls are working on an album of just covers and they have recently (with Rahman's support and complicity) added their English vocals to a remix of "Jai Ho."  The mp3 of the entire song was posted to the internet earlier, but every single link to the song has been removed. All I can do is post a short clip here:

Some will argue that the fact that Rahman was involved somehow makes this remix acceptable. These are the same people that will tell you that because George Lucas created the Star Wars trilogy, Greedo shooting first and Jar Jar Binks existence are not assaults on your childhood. Don't believe them.

Discuss: Do you or do you not find this cover of "Jai Ho" an full-frontal attack on your ears?

[Thanks to reader AdamLuo for the tip!]

David Chen can be reached at davechensemail[AT]gmail[DOT]com.