[Note: Day Four of this week of guest blogging and Amy throws us for a loop, squeezing two songs into one SOTD post.]
What I love most about American Idol, that reality show for which “covers” are ubiquitous, is how it bridges what can be a huge musical gulf that exists between the generations. Any show that enables parents and their children to sit down together and become exposed to each other’s music, all while rooting on a shared favorite contestant, is doing something right.
[This week’s guest blogger, Amy, continues her exploration of favorite cover songs.]
While The Police and Joni Mitchell may have inspired two fabulous covers, it’s difficult to think of an artist who has inspired more great covers than Elton John. The album Two Rooms, released in 1991, is devoted to Elton John covers performed by the likes of Eric Clapton, Sinead O’Connor, The Who, Kate Bush, Sting and Tina Turner (we’ll overlook that Wilson Phillips is also a featured artist).
However, the two EJ covers I love the most were not featured on that album.
She & Him (the indie pop group consisting of actress-singer-songwriter Zooey Deschanel and singer-songwriter M. Ward) has come to symbolize a certain precious, hipster mindset. It’s music for people who know every line of 500 Days of Summer (also featuring Ms. Deschanel), people who wear dryly ironic t-shirts, people who wear hats to parties.
Deschanel, who writes all of the band’s songs (save for a few covers), is an unconventional beauty with an old-fashioned voice and a penchant for 50s and 60s doo-wop and girl-group pop. It would be easy to dismiss her, and this group, as completely shallow, picking over the bones of classic song styles for the sake of looking cool. At times I’ve been tempted to do exactly that.
[This week’s guest blogger, Amy, continues her exploration of favorite cover songs.]
When I saw Cyndi Lauper perform ‘Carey,’ two things happened.
1. My respect for Lauper grew exponentially
and
2. I became an instant fan of Joni Mitchell.
[Over the next five days, I’m handing the reins over to a guest blogger… frequent commenter Amy. Treat her kindly.]
This week I’ll be sharing some of the covers that have most intrigued me over the years. I’m starting with the one that has probably delighted me more than any other.
Found on the album Cover Girl, Shawn Colvin’s ‘Every Little Thing [He] Does is Magic’ is a perfect example of what a good cover should be. It captures all the things that work best about the original, then it offers surprises and twists that make it the cover artist’s own.
