Blacknell.net

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:

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.