Month: September 2013

So, a couple/few years ago?  The Undertones knocked out a nice little ditty:

A little bit of pure rock fun, right?  So of course, it had to be covered.  And so Snow Patrol took the slow roll approach to it:

And that wasn’t bad at all.  But Nouvelle Vague?  Sure, it’s kinda bossa nova lazy, but what they bring, it works:

So recently I revealed a not-so-secret-secret to a friend.  I actually enjoyed Moulin Rouge!. I know, I know.  Shut up. Anyway, one of the (many) great tracks from it was a cover of Elton John’s Your Song. Which has to be, on its own, one of the best love songs of all time. I know you’ve heard it, but seriously, press play:

I’d normally put something that good on a shelf labeled “Do Not Cover.”  But then Ewan McGregor (!) did this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnoG0ONh4b8

Knocked it out of the park.  (According to Nicole Kidman, too.) So really, you’d think that it was done. I mean, loads of covers out there, but no one’s going to top the original, and McGregor’s take staked out something so different that anything else would necessarily fall short. But then:

Not sure what it is about this one that works so well.  Obviously Goulding’s voice is something special. But it’s more than that. The arrangement, the voice, the pauses. It’s a worthy addition.