Greatest Covers Week, part I: Let's Dance
Covers Week, part I: "Let's Dance"--
M. Ward covers David Bowie.
M. Ward covers David Bowie.
Ciao lettori. I need a break from attempting to read unintelligible Italian drama. I had an idea today for doing a week of the greatest cover songs-- Please feel encouraged to respond with your favorite covers!
The first installment is M. Ward's absolutely magnificent cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance." Here are iTunes samples of each, in case you are unfamiliar with them.
This ranks among my favorite covers of all-time because M.Ward is able to take an already spectacular song and completely reivent it, unlocking the lyrical beauty and fragility that was always present in Bowie's rendition but somewhat obscured by Bowie's general fabulousness.
It is impossible to say which version is "better" as they are so completely different. What you can say is that their incredible difference really unlocks the endless possibility of the dance as an image-- at once both a boisterous expression of funk and a tender expression of beauty. Just listen to the way in which each of them delivers the climactic line "Tremble like a flower."
On an unrelated note, the phrase "The Serious Moonlight" is still in contention for the name of my first album (which will be recorded in my bathroom when school ends).
Covers week will be continued all this week, submit your favorites!
posted by Sweet John at 10:00 PM
2 Comments:
Bowie's fabulousness, general and specific, is pretty hard to overcome.
M. Ward is pretty hardcore, though. Does he get an album review?
I have thought of doing the album that you gave to me, which I never listened to for like 2 years but I absolutely love now. The production quality on that album is astonishing. I'm going to play it now.
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