i’ll cover you

God, I love a good cover song.  I’ve loved cover songs for as long as I can remember.  The best part is, they always pop up when you’re least expecting them.  Though Pandora hasn’t really directed me to any great ones, the iTunes “just for you” feature (dangerous to the wallet, my friends) has picked up on this dear, long-standing love of mine.

Here’s the thing about covers: artists pay homage to their beloved influences and still make it their own.  It’s a two-for!  Of course, like any sane person, I only really enjoy the covers that do a song justice, but I even guiltily enjoy the ones that cock up the concept.  It’s like seeing a movie based on a book you love.  Even if it’s so terrible that the author refuses to let the filmmakers use the book’s actual name (cough cough Simon Bircb cough cough) it’s still interesting to see how someone who was at least in some way inspired by the original uses the material to make it their own.

Since I’ve been in DC, I’ve spent extensive quality time with my iPod.  I keep those $7.99 headphones (I managed to leave the better, less painful-to-my-ears ones in Louisiana and refuse to buy an equivalent pair since I can reclaim the originals when I next visit the Bayou State) attached to my head and the music library on “shuffle” at all times of travel (I will often attempt to listen to pre-made playlists, but my iPod has a mind of its own and refuses to play my compilations in the order I intended, which annoys me), and I’ve learned over the past few weeks that, with public transportation — particularly the bus route, which I rely on heavily — it often takes thirty minutes to make a two-mile trip.  Even when I’m not on the bus, I’m walking at least fifteen or twenty minutes at a time.  The point of all this is to emphasize how much time I’ve spent listening to oft-forgotten music from the ever-growing library.  In this process, I’ve come across some long-missed favorite cover tunes.  For your enjoyment (and, for my convenience, in the order that iTunes lists them):

• Alison Kraus – When You Say Nothing At All  Hands down, I prefer this version to the original.  I appreciate Keith Whitley for all he was and did, but his voice is just a little too twangy for me to invest long-term enjoyment in this song as he performs it.  However, Alison’s voice is perfect.  Always.
• Amy Winehouse – Cupid  God, I love Sam Cooke.  I love-love-love Sam Cooke.  And this is one of my favorites (though the ultimate prize is saved for A Change is Gonna Come).  I came across this song in a batch of reggae covers my brother sent me; this one’s a beauty.
• Beck – Diamond Dogs  This one came to me through a mix CD made for me by dear friends (whose music taste, incidentally, I will always, always trust).  It’s a great song to begin with, and this version is just strange enough to surprise me every time.  I guess that’s what Beck does best.  Anyway, it’s about six months old in my repertoire and yet to get passe.
• Ben Taylor – I Try  I was conditioned to love Ben Taylor; after all, I was raised on his dad’s music.  This was the first of his songs I ever heard, and it took me a while before I realized it was that f-ing Macy Gray song.  Did I mention that I can’t stand Macy Gray?  Anyway, even though the song is really just a collection of cliche expressions, it somehow doesn’t sound nearly as trite when Ben sings it as it does when Macy does.  In fact, it sounds quite earnest and pleading.  And I love that.
• Billy Joel – This Night  I suppose, technically, it’s not a cover.  Or is it?  I’m still undecided.  The chorus of this song, which is otherwise very simple doo-wop, lifts its melody straight from Beethoven’s Pathétique, and does so in a really meaningful and eloquent way.  And, God, I love Billy Joel any day of the week.
• Cary Brothers – If You Were Here  Another where I altogether prefer the cover to the original.  Really, the Thompson Twins version is only appropriate where we all recognize it — in the end scene of “Sixteen Candles” as Jake and Samantha kiss over her birthday cake.  Any other time, it’s tedious and mega-80s.  And I say that as someone who professes to adore the 80s.  Cary Brothers’ (and it’s one person named Cary, not brothers with the last name of Cary) version gets the point across in a much better, less tedious way.
• Eric Clapton – Layla (unplugged)  Again, like with Billy Joel, I think I might be cheating a little bit.  I’ll take my justification for this one from the much-missed VH1 show “The List” (what a freaking fantastic show; I reminisce about it much more than I would like to admit publicly): this version is so very different from the original that it deserves the genre of “cover.”  Plus, I was raised on the “Unplugged” album and, thus, this version rather than the original.  I remember the first time I heard the original — it took me actual minutes to recognize it.
• The Futureheads – Hounds of Love  I have to be honest here.  I have never heard the Kate Bush original.  I don’t care.  I love this song that much.
• George Harrison – My Sweet Lord  Due to the plagiarism controversy that surrounds this glorious song and The Chiffons’ He’s So Fine, I’m counting it.  Again, it’s glorious.  Enough said.
• Hotel Lights – The End of the Tour  As a life-long They Might Be Giants fan (my first concert, boys and girls) I’m skeptical of any covers, and rightfully so: most of the tribute album from which this song comes is not worth a second listen.  This project from Darren Jessee (you know I love that) takes an already-sad song and matches the instrumental to the lyric.
• Joe Anderson – Happiness is a Warm Gun  From the movie “Across the Universe.”  I could’ve picked many songs from this movie; I chose this one because It Still Gets Me.  I’ve seen the movie more times than I can count (hell, I own it) and still, no matter how many times I listen, it brings me back to the emotion from the first viewing.  Plus, I never really cared much about this song before the film, and the fact that it’s one of my favorites from the soundtrack has to say something about its wonder, right?
• Johnny Cash – Hurt  Remember those friends whose musical taste I’ll always trust (refer to the Beck song)?  I can thank them for this one, too.
• Joshua Radin – Only You  I didn’t know this was a cover until I played it for a friend; after hearing both I can now say with certainty that I love the original but prefer this version.  A little more pared-down.  That seems to have been the theme of many of these choices.
• Kaiser Chiefs – I Heard it Through the Grapevine  No one can argue that Marvin Gaye was (and continues to be) one of the best out there.  This version takes it to a much different place, and though I’ll always prefer the original, I have lots of affection for this’un, too.  Plus, it’s exactly five minutes long.  You know I love that.
• Keller Williams – Another Brick in the Wall  No use comparing it to the Floyd version, because they’re not at all comparable.  Listen to it now.  Thank me later.
• Lauryn Hill – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You  I actually don’t really love the original version.  It bores me.  Lauryn Hill’s version, however, does it correctly and does it well.  The pleading in her voice fits the lyric perfectly.
• The Mamas and the Papas – Dream a Little Dream of Me  A Cole Porter original, Mama Cass nails it.
• Mark Ronson and Kenna – Amy  Again, not even a little bit comparable to the Ryan Adams original.  Listen to, and love, each.  I did.
• Matt Ketteman and Cameron Mizzell – In Your Eyes  Anyone who knows me knows that “Say Anything” is one of my perennial favorite films.  So, of course I love this song.  There’s no competing with the Peter Gabriel version, but this toned-down acoustic cover does it a fair amount of justice.
• Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World (unplugged)  Another Bowie cover, you say?  He appears to lend himself nicely to these.  I loved — from a young age — the “Nirvana Unplugged” album, and this was always, always the first song I would choose.
• Patsy Cline – Crazy  Willie Nelson, I adore you, but you’re just too carefree to do this song justice.  Thank you, greatly, for writing it.  And thank you, greatly, for giving it to Miss Patsy.
• Presidents of the United States of America – Video Killed the Radio Star  I heard this version first.  Had no idea there was an early-80s version (that, you know, was the first music video on that famous cable music channel).  I freaking loved it.  I remember them playing this from atop Mount Rushmore for some MTV stunt or another in the mid-90s.  Freaking catchy as hell.  And well-done for a new generation.
• Seu Jorge – Rebel Rebel  I didn’t love “The Life Aquatic.”  But I did love the soundtrack.  And yes, more Bowie.
• The Shins – We Will Become Silhouettes  Nothing against that other Postal Service cover (oh, wait, and the other version by my all-time favorite musician) but this one is, in my own humble opinion, the most fun.  (Ben, I still adore your version.)
• Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out  Beatles covers are dangerous ground.  The “Across the Universe” folks got kind of a pass, as the songs are intended to fit into a larger storyline, but even someone amazing like Stevie Wonder is treading thin ice by doing an all-out cover.  That said, he nails it.  It’s as if the song was written for him to eventually sing.
• Willie Nelson – All of Me  Here, Willie, is where your light-hearted, beautiful voice does best.  The entire “Stardust” album is fantastic — Mr. Willie covering old jazz standards, and covering them well.  This one is my favorite.

So, check some of them out.  Maybe you’ll enjoy them.  I’m not saying they’re all — or even most — better than the original (in fact, I explicitly said that some were not), but they’re all thoroughly enjoyable.

In other news, I start class tomorrow!  And boy, am I ready.  I bought spiral notebooks (sidebar: have these gotten kind of pricy, or has it just been too long since I’ve bought school supplies) and am ready for some note-taking action.  Love that education.

and the war came

So, we all know (or, if we don’t all know, we’re about to find out) that I recently moved from northwest Louisiana to Our Nation’s Capital.  My mom came up with me for the first few days and we did all the tourist-y stuff; that said, how does one do all the tourist-y stuff in DC without seeing monuments?  Answer: one cannot.  So we did.  We started at the Lincoln memorial, which therefore meant that all else paled in comparison.  That monument is phenomenal.  First, it’s huge.  HUGE.  Imposing in stature, and not in a bad way, but rather in a very, very appropriate way.  Second, while walking up the numerous stairs to the actual monument, one passes by a particular stone marked as the stone where Martin Luther King, Jr. made his Speech of Speeches; standing there and looking out at the Mall and realizing how massive that moment actually had to have been is an incomparable experience.  One simply cannot do it any other way.

Finally, you walk into the monument itself and it Takes Your Breath Away.  I felt tears welling up (cliche, I know, but actual tears were forming, so I can’t describe it any other way) in my eyes as I entered — tears that, fairly, began welling as I was reading the stone that Martin Luther King, Jr. “marched here for jobs and freedom.”  Wow.  The first place you go, if you’re me, is to the right wall, where you can read, engraved, the Second Inaugural Address.  Which I’ve taken the liberty of quoting, in entirety, below:

Fellow Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether’.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

There are no words to describe how perfect a speech that is.  It places no blame, in fact explicitly says that neither side can know directly what God’s purpose is.  Perfect.