I recently lighted on a great Tumblr called Copy Cats, which is devoted to posting cover versions of songs, like the Punch Brothers singing "The Weight" or the Avett Brothers performing Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Today I went through some unread posts in my Google Reader and found a Theme Park cover of "Bloodbuzz Ohio" by The National. It's definitely worth a listen, but even beyond that, its greatest value might be that it made me reconsider the song. And in my mind, that's the best outcome for a cover. A few months back I heard Julia Stone sing "Bloodbuzz Ohio," and my reaction remains the same today: I would have never considered "Bloodbuzz Ohio" a coverable song, and yet, it is apparently so. The National has such a densely layered and distinctive sound, I would have filed away almost any of their songs in the Do Not Touch bin. But what a loss that would be not to hear Julia Stone's old-woman-trapped-in-a-young-body voice focusing attention on the lyrics or Theme Park's shimmery instrumentation. Both bring the song new life. Similarly, there's the version by Oh Land which features very sweet sounding vocals against a blip-y, electronic arraignment. Now I kind of want to hear a really rip-roaring version with a big crowd of people coming in on the chorus. So what is it about any song that lends itself to multiple new and interesting forms? I have no idea, but I like that at least a few people out there have that radar. Check out the Soundclouds below. Hopefully I didn't break Blogger by trying to put three on a page.
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