So I was inspired by Paste Magazine’s list of Indie artist covering main stream songs and decided to do my own list. These aren’t all Indie artist they are just musicians I love covering songs that I love. Enjoy!
25. William Fitzsimmons - I Kissed A Girl (Katy Perry)
While I do love Katy Perry (despite it going against my indie music infatuation) I don’t really like this song, until I heard it covered by William Fitzsimmons. Just beautiful.
24. Marié Digby - What I've Done (Lincoln Park)
My Brother Caleb is always telling me what great lyrics Lincoln Park and bands like it have. That they don’t just have a great rock beat, but thoughtful words. It took me hearing Marié Digby singing Lincoln Park’s words to make me realized how right he was.
23. Regina Spektor - Real Love (John Lennon)
Regina Spektor is magical, I love her so much I mostly just want her to sing her own songs, but I guess if she wants to cover the legendary John Lennon that works for me.
22. Switchfoot - Sorrow (Bad Religion)
I love Switchfoot singing this song because it is so simple and striped down you can really hear how great Jon Foreman’s voice is.
21. Yael Naim - Toxic (Brittney Spears)
There are almost as many covers of this song as there are of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, but I like this version because it is Yael Naim’s lovely voice and charming accent.
20 Ellie Goulding - Your Song (Elton John)
British singer Ellie Goulding has such a sweet light voice that it works perfectly with Elton John’s touching words. I like this even better than the Moulin Rouge version.
19. FF5 - Bulletproof (La Roux)
Family Force 5 doing a La Roux song is such an obviously perfect match that this cover sounds very close to the original, but FF5 puts their own touch to it, be prepared to get crunk.
18 Nikki & Rich – Uprising (Muse)
When I listen to this song on repeat (which really is the only way to listen to it) I feel like going out and protest something… which isn’t anything I’ve ever actually done, but still.
17. Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
I wasn’t going to post this cover of Hallelujah, I was going to use the Kate Voegele version instead because Rufus’ version has been heard so much people don’t even know it is a cover, they think it is the original. In the end though I had to use this one because it is just so marvelous.
16 Chris Colfer - I Want Hold Your Hand (Beatles)
Okay, I wasn’t going to post any Glee songs because it feels like cheating, plus most of their covers sound so much like the original it isn’t even any fun. However Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel) singing I Want to Hold Your Hand is beautiful. You don’t have to like Glee to get goosebumps over this song.
15. P!ink - Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
Yes, out of all the songs P!nk could covered Queen’s epic song is the most genius choice ever. Plus I was able to see her perform this live during her Funhouse Tour (best concert I have ever been to).
14. Coldplay - Billie Jean (Micheal Jackson)
While almost every music group out there has done a cover of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida I’m more interested in what Coldplay is covering, they do versions of both Ring of Fire and Barbie Girl, but my favorite is their cover of Billie Jean.
13. OwlCity - In Christ Alone (Stuart Townend)
While most worship songs get covered and recovered by numerous bands I love OwlCity doing In Christ Alone because here is a secularly famous artist bold enough to sing about Christ. And he does it so well.
12. Adam Lambert - Mad World (Tears for Fears)
This is the song that I always remember Adam Lambert for because when he sang it on American Idol he blew us all away. I’m still not sure why he didn’t win that season… not that is has hurt his career!
11. Paloma Faith - Sexy Chick (David Guetta)
I love pop and R&B songs that are broken down to a good old piano doo-wop feel. Paloma’s sassy style really does justice to this cover.
10. Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights (The Postal Service)
Here is a cover that I think out does the original. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy The Postal Service, but when they sing this song I always feel like telling them to slow it down. Iron & Wine does just that.
9. Vampire Weekend - I'm Going Down (Bruce Springsteen)
Oh Vampire Weekend. I love you. And I love this Springsteen cover and the fact that you get a good feel of Ezra Koenig vocals from it.
8. Mindy Smith - Jolene (Dolly Parton)
I can’t say I really listen to Dolly Parton music, but Mindy Smith’s folk version of this classic Parton song is perfect. I love the music video and cameo by Miss Parton.
7. Florence + The Machine - Oh Darling (Beatles)
I’m going to pretend that you aren’t all aware of how obsessed I am with Florence + The Machine and just casually tell you that this song is friggin’ awesome! Okay. That is all.
6. Ingrid Michaelson - I Can't Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
I can’t help falling in love with this song (I know, cheesy) but really it is hard to top the King of Rock & Roll, but I think Ingrid may do it here.
5. Sara Bareilles - Single Ladies (Beyoncé)
Some piano and vocal styling amazingness by Sara Bareilles. Sara keeps the feisty feeling Beyoncé originally gave to this song while bringing R&B back to its doo-wop roots.
4. Joshua Radin – Sunny Days (Sesame Street)
This wasn’t originally so high up on my list, but the more I listened to it the more I loved it. Never have I ever wanted to go to Sesame Street, until now.
3. David Crowder - Deliver Me (Origanlly The Beloved, best known from Sarah Brightman)
I love how David takes a secular song and so easily sings it in a way that I can’t imagine it ever referring to anything but how much we need Christ to save us. Brilliant. I also love the hymn lyrics he adds in there.
2. Adele - Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan)
This song is what first made my fall in love with Adele’s music. Every time I hear it I want to stop what I’m doing and go learn to play the piano just so I can sing this song. Truly stunning.
1. Mumford and Suns - Cousins (Vampire Weekend)
I already enjoyed Mumford & Sons and then they stole my heart with their Grammy performance and now they are cover a Vampire Weekend song? Be still my heart. Seriously though, I love the original but hearing Mumford & Sons play it you’d think the song was made for them.
Showing posts with label Regina Spektor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Regina Spektor. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
My Top 11 Sad Songs
Oh the randomness that is me. For reasons beyond even my understanding I decided to make a list of some of my favorite sad songs. These are not the saddest songs of all time or anything, I mean I think the oldest on my list is from 2003 or something.
While doing this I found that some songs I thought would be on this list aren’t because when you listen to the lyrics they are kind of hopeful (like Sara Bareilles’s “The Light”). Other songs didn’t make it because they have sad lyrics but sound peppy (think any 1 out of every 3 Rocket Summer Songs). Songs on this list sound sad and have lyrics to match. Also, no artist could have more than one song on the list (if they could A Fine Frenzy, Regina Spektor and Ben Folds would have taken the whole list… Side note: Why is Ben Folds so dang sad?)
With all that being said here are my top 11 sad songs. Kind of in order of sadness, kind of in order of how much I like them.
Enjoy… or something. ;)
11. “The Boy Who Never” – Landon Pigg
“The Boy Who Never” is about a boy and the things he never did because he was worried about failure. This song is sad to me because I can relate. I’m not always like this, but I think we all can get to the place sometimes where we don’t even try because we are afraid of how things will turn out. “He taught himself how not to lose. By never really trying to win.” Ouch.
10. "Telescope Eyes"- Eisley
Okay, like many Eisley songs this one kind of crosses from sad to creepy. I don’t think I even have to explain why it is sad, “Oh, you humor me today, calling me out to play with your telescope eyes, metal teeth I can't be seen with you (you freak).”*punch in the stomach* The thing is though, even while describing someone too embarrassing to be seen with the singer confesses that they are “Just like you, you know”. Yeah, depressing.
9. "Because of You"- Kelly Clarkson
When I first heard this song I thought Kelly was singing about an ex-lover and the song didn’t really make sense to me. However, then I heard she is actually singing to her parents who apparently split up or had an rough marriage and I was like, “Holy crud, this song is sad” and instantly loved it… because I’m strange. Also the music video here is heartrending. “I watched you die, I heard you cry, every night in your sleep. I was so young you should have known better than to lean on me.”
PS This song is also sad to me because it reminds me of when Kelly Clarkson use to be good. *sigh*
8. "Title and Registration" - Death Cab for Cutie
Like many others, I went through a huge Death Cab for Cutie phase. I think I listened to only them, Eisley and the sound track from “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” one summer. However, the only song of theirs that really sticks out to me now is what I call the “glove compartment song”. A song about a guy who finds old pictures in his glove compartment that reminds him of “better times”. “I was searching for some legal document, as the rain beat down on the hood. When I stumbled upon pictures I tried to forget, and that's how this idea was drilled into my head.”
7. "Brick" - Ben Folds Five
Someone told me this song was about an abortion, and while I haven’t asked Ben Folds about this personally, I believe it. To me it is one of the most hopeless songs in this list. I can only listen to it every once in awhile, however, with that being said it is an amazing song and am interesting perspective. “As weeks went by, it showed that she was not fine. They told me, ‘Son it's time to tell the truth.’ She broke down and I broke down, cause I was tired of lying.”
6. "Keep Breathing" - Ingrid Michaelson
Oh how I LOVE Ingrid. She has some of the saddest peppy songs ever. Ingrid and Lenka, they may sound upbeat, but not so much. However this song has a beautiful and sad melody that matches the lyrics. “The storm is coming but I don't mind. People are dying, I close my blinds. All that I know is I'm breathing now. I want to change the world... instead I sleep. I want to believe in more than you and me.” For more sad Ingrid wonderfulness also listen to “Breakable”, sooooo good.
5. "All I have" - The Rocket Summer
When I first got it I think I listened to The Rocket Summer’s album “Do You Feel” about 85.3 times in a row. I can be obsessive. However it wasn’t until about listen number 32 I realized that thought most of the songs have a peppy almost punk/big band sound to them the lyrics are actually deep and a little gloomy sometimes. I can be a little dense. One of my favorites of his sad-ish songs is “All I Have” because to me it is saying okay things can be stormy, what are we going to do about it? “And all I have is all of me. And it's all that I can give. Our disappointed hearts will heal. Our hearts will spill. Over you, over me, over this.”
4. "Beacon"- A Fine Fenzy
“You say your time has come, you're tired of waking up. Don't be obscene, I can't conceive of living without you.” Nice disheartening opening to a song. This song is melodic and beautiful. While it opens with someone who feels they can go on it is actually a little encouraging, telling that person that even though they can see it they are needed by so many people. I often put this one on repeat. “Burning beacon in the night. Can't feel its heat, or see its light. That single solitary guide, it must get lonely there sometimes.”
3. "Tears of the Saints"- Leeland
This song is actually somewhat hopeful, but I love it so very much that is had to make the list. “Tears of the Saints” is all about the lost and unsaved people that we as saints (Christians) should be crying out to “come back home”. The most convicting line to me is, “There are schools full of hatred. Even churches have forsaken, love and mercy. May we see this generation in a state of desperation for Your glory.” Enough said really.
2. "Chemo Limo" - Regina Spektor
Okay if this had a music video it would be #1 on this list, but as it is, it crept down to #2. “Chemo Limo” is a song about a woman dealing with cancer and how it isn’t just killing her it is bleeding her dry financially. I love the word picture of “Crispy Benjamin Franklin” representing money and how she’d rather spend money on a limo then chemo, so she does. A lot of this song it up to interpretation, but for me the most poignant part is when she sings about her four children and ends with, “and Barbara, she looks just like my mom.” It makes me think that the character in the story lost her own mother the way she fears her children are going to. “Oh my god, Barbara, she looks so much just like my mom.” Regina’s voice is so heartbreaking here it gets me every time.
1) "Gravity" - Sara Bareilles
Sara, Sara, Sara… I can’t explain how wonderful she it. “Gravity” is from her first album “Little Voice” and is one of the songs that really sold me on her. Sara says it is about losing her first true love and how she didn’t feel like she could move on from it. The lyrics are sad and tender but it is the melody and the way Sara sings it that makes it so good. I mean even in the music video she seems like she’s about to cry.“You hold me without touch. You keep me without chains. I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.”
Okay, if you read this far I'm surprised and well, leave a comment with your favorite sad song. TIme to go listen to some happy music now!
While doing this I found that some songs I thought would be on this list aren’t because when you listen to the lyrics they are kind of hopeful (like Sara Bareilles’s “The Light”). Other songs didn’t make it because they have sad lyrics but sound peppy (think any 1 out of every 3 Rocket Summer Songs). Songs on this list sound sad and have lyrics to match. Also, no artist could have more than one song on the list (if they could A Fine Frenzy, Regina Spektor and Ben Folds would have taken the whole list… Side note: Why is Ben Folds so dang sad?)
With all that being said here are my top 11 sad songs. Kind of in order of sadness, kind of in order of how much I like them.
Enjoy… or something. ;)
11. “The Boy Who Never” – Landon Pigg
“The Boy Who Never” is about a boy and the things he never did because he was worried about failure. This song is sad to me because I can relate. I’m not always like this, but I think we all can get to the place sometimes where we don’t even try because we are afraid of how things will turn out. “He taught himself how not to lose. By never really trying to win.” Ouch.
10. "Telescope Eyes"- Eisley
Okay, like many Eisley songs this one kind of crosses from sad to creepy. I don’t think I even have to explain why it is sad, “Oh, you humor me today, calling me out to play with your telescope eyes, metal teeth I can't be seen with you (you freak).”*punch in the stomach* The thing is though, even while describing someone too embarrassing to be seen with the singer confesses that they are “Just like you, you know”. Yeah, depressing.
9. "Because of You"- Kelly Clarkson
When I first heard this song I thought Kelly was singing about an ex-lover and the song didn’t really make sense to me. However, then I heard she is actually singing to her parents who apparently split up or had an rough marriage and I was like, “Holy crud, this song is sad” and instantly loved it… because I’m strange. Also the music video here is heartrending. “I watched you die, I heard you cry, every night in your sleep. I was so young you should have known better than to lean on me.”
PS This song is also sad to me because it reminds me of when Kelly Clarkson use to be good. *sigh*
8. "Title and Registration" - Death Cab for Cutie
Like many others, I went through a huge Death Cab for Cutie phase. I think I listened to only them, Eisley and the sound track from “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” one summer. However, the only song of theirs that really sticks out to me now is what I call the “glove compartment song”. A song about a guy who finds old pictures in his glove compartment that reminds him of “better times”. “I was searching for some legal document, as the rain beat down on the hood. When I stumbled upon pictures I tried to forget, and that's how this idea was drilled into my head.”
7. "Brick" - Ben Folds Five
Someone told me this song was about an abortion, and while I haven’t asked Ben Folds about this personally, I believe it. To me it is one of the most hopeless songs in this list. I can only listen to it every once in awhile, however, with that being said it is an amazing song and am interesting perspective. “As weeks went by, it showed that she was not fine. They told me, ‘Son it's time to tell the truth.’ She broke down and I broke down, cause I was tired of lying.”
6. "Keep Breathing" - Ingrid Michaelson
Oh how I LOVE Ingrid. She has some of the saddest peppy songs ever. Ingrid and Lenka, they may sound upbeat, but not so much. However this song has a beautiful and sad melody that matches the lyrics. “The storm is coming but I don't mind. People are dying, I close my blinds. All that I know is I'm breathing now. I want to change the world... instead I sleep. I want to believe in more than you and me.” For more sad Ingrid wonderfulness also listen to “Breakable”, sooooo good.
5. "All I have" - The Rocket Summer
When I first got it I think I listened to The Rocket Summer’s album “Do You Feel” about 85.3 times in a row. I can be obsessive. However it wasn’t until about listen number 32 I realized that thought most of the songs have a peppy almost punk/big band sound to them the lyrics are actually deep and a little gloomy sometimes. I can be a little dense. One of my favorites of his sad-ish songs is “All I Have” because to me it is saying okay things can be stormy, what are we going to do about it? “And all I have is all of me. And it's all that I can give. Our disappointed hearts will heal. Our hearts will spill. Over you, over me, over this.”
4. "Beacon"- A Fine Fenzy
“You say your time has come, you're tired of waking up. Don't be obscene, I can't conceive of living without you.” Nice disheartening opening to a song. This song is melodic and beautiful. While it opens with someone who feels they can go on it is actually a little encouraging, telling that person that even though they can see it they are needed by so many people. I often put this one on repeat. “Burning beacon in the night. Can't feel its heat, or see its light. That single solitary guide, it must get lonely there sometimes.”
3. "Tears of the Saints"- Leeland
This song is actually somewhat hopeful, but I love it so very much that is had to make the list. “Tears of the Saints” is all about the lost and unsaved people that we as saints (Christians) should be crying out to “come back home”. The most convicting line to me is, “There are schools full of hatred. Even churches have forsaken, love and mercy. May we see this generation in a state of desperation for Your glory.” Enough said really.
2. "Chemo Limo" - Regina Spektor
Okay if this had a music video it would be #1 on this list, but as it is, it crept down to #2. “Chemo Limo” is a song about a woman dealing with cancer and how it isn’t just killing her it is bleeding her dry financially. I love the word picture of “Crispy Benjamin Franklin” representing money and how she’d rather spend money on a limo then chemo, so she does. A lot of this song it up to interpretation, but for me the most poignant part is when she sings about her four children and ends with, “and Barbara, she looks just like my mom.” It makes me think that the character in the story lost her own mother the way she fears her children are going to. “Oh my god, Barbara, she looks so much just like my mom.” Regina’s voice is so heartbreaking here it gets me every time.
1) "Gravity" - Sara Bareilles
Sara, Sara, Sara… I can’t explain how wonderful she it. “Gravity” is from her first album “Little Voice” and is one of the songs that really sold me on her. Sara says it is about losing her first true love and how she didn’t feel like she could move on from it. The lyrics are sad and tender but it is the melody and the way Sara sings it that makes it so good. I mean even in the music video she seems like she’s about to cry.“You hold me without touch. You keep me without chains. I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.”
Okay, if you read this far I'm surprised and well, leave a comment with your favorite sad song. TIme to go listen to some happy music now!
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