"I'm worried that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else."
Lily Tomlin
Case in point: Crazy- originally recorded by Gnarls Barkley. Not one of my favorite songs, really. Good to bob your head around too, makes you want to drink a beer and tap your toes (well, at least it does me:)), but not something that I would rush out to buy. But if you do a little further digging, you'll see that many artists disagree with me. And I'm so glad that they do, because I love the covers MUCH more than the original.
Out of the smorgarsbord of covers available, these are the two I've most come to love over the past few years. I find it so musically inspiring to hear one song, recorded in different ways, by artists that couldn't possibly be any more different. We have hip-hop, Latin, ska lovin' Nelly Furtado and gypsy -folk-soul singer Ray LaMontagne.
See what you think.... which one do you love the most?
Nelly Furtado (with British singer & talk show host Charlotte Church)
Ray LaMontagne (unfortunately, I was unable to find a live version of this. It used to be on youtube, but they must have pulled it. Boo.)
As mentioned before, there are various other versions of this song available as well-- Pink, Violent Femmes, Shawn Colvin, One Republic, Cat Power, Beyonce... well, you get the idea. There's certainly something for everyone out there. Let me know if you have a fave version of Crazy, or if there's another cover song out that you adore!
6 comments:
I'm definitely going with the Ray dude. I love acousticy (Is that a word? Well, it is now.) music.
My favorite cover? Cocaine Blues by Hank Williams III. I'm trashy like that.;)
That is a great quote!
I like Ray LaMontagne's version... a lot. I've never heard it before.
Covers...are you watching American Idol? Adam's versions of every song he does are amazing. Seriously.
I absolutely love the Hurt cover that Johnny Cash did ... It was originally a NIN song!?!? It took me so long to wrap my head around that.
Sam: If that isn't a word, then we shall submit it to the Urban Dictionary, cause it so should be. I haven't heard Cocaine Blues. I'll have to youtube it.
Cyndi: Yes, I am an AI whore. I admit it. Have been from the very beginning. And damn it if I didn't just barely miss the cut off age everytime they had auditions, LOL. That, or I was knocked up. Hmm... that would have been a good gimmick...should have rolled with that one. Damn. I do like Adam very much, but I also like Danny (I wanna do the hokey pokey with Gokey:)). And Kris Allen is totally growing on me. He's got the Mraz vibe that I love so much.
Chelle: I, as well, love Cash's Hurt. Simply stunning. Thanks for reminding me of that one. I think some of the best covers are the most unexpected ones. For example. Glen Campbell (yes, the original Rhinestone Cowboy) has a fairly new album out of covers which includes him covering things you would NEVER expect, like Green Day. And oddly, it works. You oughtta check it out!
hmmmm Ill have to think on this one...got my wheels turning though!
I agree, I love Kris and Danny but Adam is such a standout. Thanks for posting the link to his version of Crazy, I LOVE it!! Although, in typical Adam fashin, the performance itself was WAY over the top. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBlmcak7cuA
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