I Get By With A Little Cover From My Friends

I am the kind of person that hardcore fans hate. I’m the obnoxious git that’ll listen to a song with an enigmatic grin upon my face and think “close, but no cigar”. You may offer me an original song, my friend, but I will retort with “ah, but have you heard THIS BAND’S version? It’s AWESOME”.

This is especially brought to focus in light of Apple finally releasing some of The Beatles’ music onto iTunes. A great day for us legal purchasers, yes. But one opinion of mine that has led to receiving the stink-eye off many a few extreme Beatles lovers is that other artists can, in fact, make the songs better than the originals.

The Beatles were undeniably one of the greatest popwriters of all time. I think it’s pretty remarkable when songs almost half a century old are still breathtakingly beautiful whilst fantastically simple (eg I Want To Hold Your Hand, I’ve Just Seen A Face). I know it’s an overused phrase, but the majority of The Beatles’ anthology are timeless classics.

Yet, it is hard to argue that the Fab Four were fab vocalists. Their perfectly-penned pieces are given a new sound with, well, better singers, who more often than not put their own individual twist on a song. I’m going to take this opportunity to don my far-too-frequently-donned Zealous Hat and pick my top 5 Beatles covers. How very High Fidelity.

 

1) Ben Harper – Strawberry Fields Forever

I’ve always felt sorry for Ben Harper. His protégé Jack Johnson’s career excelled his own, despite being indisputably better. Harper’s stunning vocals truly shine here, especially on “I think I know, I mean a ‘yes’ but it’s all wrong”. It’s confusion and it’s pain, all done without slowing down the vocals (as heard on the original). Controversial change in the introduction to go from keyboards and switch to violins, but it works. It sounds less like an LSD trip and more of an honest outpour from a lost soul.

 

2) Eddie Izzard – Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite

Comedian? Singing? Surely not, not after Shatner’s and Jim Carrey’s attempts at covering The Beatles! Put your worries aside, this song is made for Izzard. The song was inspired by a poster for a circus from yesteryear. Fun, no? Dare I say it, Lennon sounds genuinely bored when he sings it. This rendition is taken from Across The Universe, a 2007 jukebox musical of The Beatles’ songs. It is amazing. Truly. It was hard to choose just one song from it, but this was topping the bill, baby (ah ha, ah ha.) The comedy adlibs, the circus atmosphere and, well, general Eddie-ness that’s added to this version just make you feel a little bit cheated by the original.
Nb – This scene in the movie is FUCKED UP. But don’t let it stop you from watching it, it’s easily in my top 10 favourite films.

 

3) Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out

Most people wouldn’t consider R&B and The Beatles as mixing. But this is a fine bit of aural pleasure (wink wink…), with Wonder’s tender vocals bringing a real passion to this song. The determination he screams the title with works beautifully with the lively beat and the guitar riff. The bridge is phenomenal – lifted from the borderline monotonous chants of the original to one of the best bits of this song.

 

4) Elliott Smith – Because

I admittedly know very little about Elliott Smith bar one or two songs, and the notorious tragedy of his death and troubled life. But one thing I do know is that this man is The Don of harmonising. The Beatles were good singers, but they weren’t great. Because’s strength is its stunning harmonies, and I’m glad the baton passed to Smith. One man has made a more chilling and haunting sound than the three voices on the original, undeniably making it the superior version.

 

5) Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – All My Loving

And where better to finish than on punk rock. No, I am not insinuating that Me First are better singers than The Beatles, but I’d like to think that if they were starting off today, they’d probably sound a little bit more like this. Lovely.

 

This list is not exhaustive, and I’d love to hear any suggestions of favourite Beatles covers. Just thought I’d put a few suggestions out there. Hope you enjoyed, and don’t want to throw rare bootleg vinyls at me until I admit I’m wrong =)

Please Don’t Stop The Music..als.

As anyone who has spoken to me for more than approximately ten minutes can tell, it’s pretty common knowledge that I am insatiably attracted to any television show or film with a song-and-dance number. As a child, I was convinced that ‘Where Is Love’ from Oliver! was the best song I had ever heard; I saw a lot of of myself in Greta from The Sound of Music.

*WANT WANT WANT*

It’s how I got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and even how someone tried to tempt me into watching Indiana Jones…y’know, because there’s a snippet of a Japanese production of Cole Porter’s classic Anything Goes. And so, it’s obvious that Glee has been ideal watching for one Anna Hallissey.

I was one of those saddos who downloaded the whole of series one before the rest of the UK really knew what it was, and, on the whole, I have been rather impressed. Ultimately it’s utter shite smattered with cheese, what with Will Schuester’s ‘lessons’ becoming more saccharine than golden syrup-filled sugarcubes, but hey, that’s what escapism’s about, after all.

Today I watched the season finale. And, being the emotional mess that I am, I unsurprisingly wept like an infant. We see character functions that Vladmir Propp could recite in his sleep (that’s right, I’m getting all Media terminology on this shit), ridiculously predictable plotlines, and no purpose for Mike and Matt, the token silent boys in New Directions. Sure, it wasn’t groundbreaking television, but that’s what Lost is for. Glee is uplifting. It perfectly demonstrates the point I have often upheld that life would be much better if it were a musical. We would all be able to express ourselves in unprecedented ways, and if we were miserable, hell, we’d sing and all our troubles would just melt away. I don’t know about you, but that seems like a pretty fucking awesome place to me.

To cope with the loss of Glee (well, until next season), I have been dosing myself up on High School Musical-esque movies. I’ve reached the realisation that musicals could, in fact, be back. I know we will never return to the joys of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Never again will we see superstars like Grace Kelly, Fred Astaire or Frank Sinatra dominate the genre, with an elegance that is still astounding today.

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Instead, that baton has been passed to a younger generation. I’m not suggesting that we should remake High Society with children (because let’s face it…that would be some fucked-up shit), but instead not condemn films like ‘Starstruck’, ‘The American Mall’ or ‘Spectacular’. A friend recommended these to me, and sure, they are AWFUL, but there is a certain degree of charm. They’re keeping a dying art alive.

Don’t get me wrong, recent attempts at blockbuster musicals have been far from appalling. Just look at Chicago, proudly sporting 6 Oscars, or the undeniable brilliance of Moulin Rouge. Hairspray brought back a sense of family fun that the two previous films lacked, and don’t even get me started on how amazing Enchanted was. But hit movie-musicals are few and far between, as the Hollywood machine is set to either shit rom-com or shit horror mode for the majority of the time.

I guess what I’m trying to say (in a very long-winded manner) is that while the classy wonder of the musicals of yesteryear may be disappearing, the role of the musical is still yet to fade. Sure, it’s been left in the hands of a teeny-bopper market, but Glee has proved that this genre is still accessible to everyone. My mum watches it, her 10-year-old pupils watch it, uni students watch it. Clearly corny escapism and jazz-hands still have a big place in all our hearts. Well, until they make the Footloose remake, anyway. Heads will fucking roll.

An Ode to the Key Change

There are, arguably, many elements that make the perfect song. A catchy tune to draw you in, charming lyrics to keep your attention, maybe even the middle-eight that dreams are made of. But there’s one little ingredient that I’m pretty sure will make any good song definitively fantastic. You’ve got it, ladies and gentlemen. I’m talking about the musical deity that is the Key Change.

It’s an age-old trick. If you want to portray desperation, or passion, the best way to do it is with a key change. One of my all-time favourites, despite being a recent discovery, is a fairly old song. Frankie Valli’s “My Eyes Adored You” (click for the Jersey Boys rendition) is a song about Valli wanting, but never having, the girl of his dreams since he was a wee lad. For the impatient, skip to 1:13, hear the original key, and then the transition. Wow. This has gone from a song about longing, to the absolute agony of how Frankie really was “so close, and yet so far”. The introduction of the saxophone is heartbreaking; it echoes the melancholy of the lyrics perfectly.

More recently, key changes became the staple diet of boybands. And, giving credit where it’s due, Boyzone and Westlife really did nail them. Cast your minds back to the triumph of “Love Me For a Reason” (and please, please forget the gratuitous use of the word ‘facsimile’ in a love song). Skip to 3:05, and you’ll see the perfect key change in place. The music softens, and the boys even sing a capella. And then bam. The drums roll (albeit clearly machine drums), and they hit you. Their pitch rises, and that care for their girl really shows. And after a performance like that, I don’t think anyone would think twice about loving them for fun. (Nb – also see Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” to see this technique shine).

Least not forget, the key change is not only reserved for the ballads, oh no. I’m not going to lie to anyone, “The Thong Song” by Sisquo is a personal favourite of mine. Sure, it may be a little chauvinistic, but jeez…that key change is PHENOMENAL. The violins in a rap song are swoon-worthy enough as it is, but they build up beautifully into the key change (check from 2:38). You can tell by his vocals over the top of the main melody that this man really REALLY wants to see that thong. You can bet your bottom dollar that the incline led to many impassioned shapes being pulled on dancefloors worldwide.

Okay, this may seem like a giant butt-kiss to the Gods of the Key Change, but I seriously think that the key change can make songs perfect. They give songs finish, a crescendo, the victory at the end of a journey. It’s like the joy of catching your 150th Pokemon, or sprinkling parmesan cheese onto your home-cooked spaghetti bolognese. It’s what completes the game, the final ingredient that makes the meal perfect. God bless you, key change.