Oct 272010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane;
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

That snippet of Dylan Thomas’ “And Death Shall Have No Dominion” opens today’s tune. Spoken in a low James Earl Jones-meets-HAL 9000 baritone, it sounds like the opening credits to a film called, let’s say, Brave Saint Saturn. It isn’t. It is, however, the opening to an album by a band called Brave Saint Saturn. Close enough. Continue reading »

Oct 262010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Songs don’t get much dirtier than the Stooges‘ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Not dirty lyrically – no curse words here – but dirty sonically. The slimy three-chord riff crawls through the mud, ignoring any pretense of real melody. The low-down crunch of Ron Asheton’s guitar fits the self-loathing lyrics perfectly. A five year old could play the riff, but recreating the feeling would be a challenge indeed.

John Velghe doesn’t try. Instead, he strips away any hint of electricity, blending acoustic picking and chugging cello for a romantic duet. “I’d been performing this song live for almost a decade as the raucous rock anthem that it was originally,” he tells us. “Then one day I played it on my acoustic and this cover was born. Some will be offended, some will be pissed, but honestly, I think it’s one of the most gorgeous songs in music history no matter how it’s performed.” Continue reading »

Oct 222010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

One year and three days ago, Cover Me posted one of our most popular posts up to that time. We rounded up fifteen of our favorite “Weird Al” covers. After Al tweeted a link to his 1,500,000 followers, well, let’s just say Blogspot was less than thrilled with the strain on their servers. In that post, we included Throwing Toasters’ cover of “Good Enough for Now.” They did the Polka Party! should-be-a-classic solo acoustic, with a touch of country twang. Well, in honor of Al’s birthday tomorrow, we’ve got another version of the tune to share. On his new Share the Covers, Bitch (Part Two), Marc with a C opens with “Good Enough.” What starts as another simple acoustic ditty slowly expands with harmonies, shaker, and mandolin.

Incidentally, it’s patently unfair that “Good Enough for Now” is clearly a comedy record, but people play Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”—which has the exact same message—at their weddings. How is a song about lowered expectations romantic? Better than playing “Every Breath You Take” I suppose, but still. Continue reading »

Oct 212010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Diversity in music is overrated. Sure, a group with a few tools in their tool belt bears some advantages, but you don’t need a bunch of screwdrivers and socket wrenches if you can use one tool really, really well. When you’re a Finnish symphonic-metal group that does covers of popular songs, that tool is a hammer. Of Thor.

The group behind the hammer in question, Northern Kings, released “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” as their first single in 2007. Their fists-to-the-heavens video stars Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto’s incredible forked beard in some sort of Dante’s Inferno/killer carnival scenario. Is it a joke? Probably. Is it awesome? Absolutely. Continue reading »

Oct 202010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Amidst the hoopla about “Somewhere,” “Maria,” and syncopated snapping, one West Side Story classic often gets lost in the Jets-Shark shuffle: “Gee, Officer Krupke.” A rare moment of levity in the musical’s bleak second act, the song gives the Jets a chance to explain where they come from. It’s a catchy romp, with plenty of authority-figure impersonations, but between the laughs it points to the cycle of poverty and neglect that leads young people to gang life.

Puttin’ on the Ritz open their 2008 covers album Bangin’ into the Future with this Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim gem. The “Outsider Jazz Duo” becomes a quintet for irreverent covers of “Earth Angel,” “The Rainbow Connection,” and nine more. For “Gee, Officer Krupke” a trumpet bloops and blaps along amidst all the anti-authoritarian shouting. Gee, Officer Krupke….krup you! Continue reading »

Oct 192010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Sunday Girl (a.k.a Jade Williams, an English DJ/model/graphic artist) is a big deal in the UK dance scene (check out her stuff here). The moniker came about when she worked in a pet shop every Sunday and no one asked her name, but she recently became the darling of dance remixers everywhere by offering a cappella versions of her songs to anyone who was willing to sacrifice some bandwidth.

Don’t expect any remixes coming from this cover, though. Taking on Ke$ha‘s “Tik Tok,” Sunday Girl strips out the noise and sings liltingly along to an acoustic guitar. Her vocals evoke Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays, conjuring images of a shy teen out for the first time with her wild white-trash girlfriend. Here’s hoping nothing too bad happened on that crazy night. Hanging out with Ke$ha can’t be a good thing. Continue reading »