New Radicals are known for their one-hit wonder, the #36 hit “You Get What You Give,” which also topped the charts in a few countries, such as Canada, and performed pretty well on some niche Billboard charts. Because of its prominence it’s had a fair number of covers over the years.
Probably among the more unlikely of those covers is the new one by buzzband Geese. (Though not as unlikely as their Bieber cover…) At least, it seems a tiny bit unlikely that a hipper-than-thou New York art rock band would cover such a poppy, earnest song. But cover it they did, for their recent performance for BBC Radio One.
Soft strumming and loops begin Geese’s version, joined by gently played electric piano and bass. Lead singer Cameron Winters skips all of original singer Gregg Alexander’s hyping up and just jumps straight into the lyrics. The guitar gets more and more intense as Winters croons through the lyrics, and everything builds for three minutes. The band breaks out so Winters can vamp on the chorus – as Alexander does in the original – and guitarist Emily Green can solo. Winters does omit the ending rant, though.
Free of the ’90s production touches and featuring Winters’ distinctive voice and arty aesthetic, it feels like a completely different song than the original even though the vocal melody is very recognizable. It’s an unlikely cover but an effective one. The cover starts at 6:52 of their performance.
