Jewish Musings, Thursday, January 11, 2024

[peachymom1]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[peachymom1]

Good morning! Thank you, everyone, for your support yesterday. It really helps.

Today I’m moving on from weddings to music. One thing I’ve always found interesting is when a singer records a song from another genre, especially when the new version is also a hit.

Last year, country singer Luke Combs had a smash hit with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s pop song, “Fast Car.” In November, Tracy Chapman won two Country Music Association Awards (Single of the Year and Song of the Year) for that song, which had won her the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance grammy back in 1988. I always liked that song and thought of it more as a folk song than a pop song. It’s unusual for a country artist to cover a pop song, especially someone like Luke Combs, who writes his own music, but I’m glad he did. I love that Tracy Chapman won more awards for the song. According to Wikipedia, she’s “the first black woman to score a country number one with a solo composition.”

I do remember another pop song with a country cover: “My Maria,” which was a hit in 1973 for B.W. Stevenson and covered by Brooks & Dunn in 1997, when it won a grammy. I tend to be skeptical when a singer covers someone else’s song, but I admit I love both versions of this one.

Do you have an opinion about singers recording other singers’ hits? I think I’m the only human on earth who doesn’t love Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You,” but that might just be because I didn’t see the movie she sang it in, and I’m not a big Whitey Houston fan in the first place.

Do you have any favorite cover songs? Which ones? Are there any songs that you love so much that you don’t care who sings it? (I feel that way about “Twist and Shout.”) Do you tend to be true to the original version? Do you every feel guilty for preferring a cover?

One thing that has helped me get over my skepticism of covers is listening to Kelly Clarkson’s Kellyoke covers on her show. She’s an incredible singer, no matter what genre she chooses. I especially like her covers of Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady” and Wynonna Judd’s “No One Else on Earth.”

How about you? Tell me about your cover song loves and hates!

[gazelle18]

One song that has been covered over and over is “Halleluya” by Leonard Cohen. And I find that I like the covers, as long as they don’t try to change the pacing too much. I absolutely love this song.

Like Peachy, I’m a huge fan of “Fast Car.” I loved it when it was sung by Tracy Chapman, and I similarly love Luke Combs’ version. I think it I’d because he does the song with enormous suspect to the original. (He even refers to himself as a “checkout girl”, instead of changing the gender.) If you have never heard “Fast Car,” you should definitely do so!

[hollygail]

"Blinded By the Light" was a bigger hit when Manfred Mann recorded it than when Bruce Springsteen (who wrote it) did. Ike and Tina Turner had a terrific hit of "Proud Mary" originally from Creedence Clearwater. Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is another one I loved, although I'm not sure I preferred Jimi's version to Dylan's (I'm a VERY BIG Bob Dylan fan; but then again, I'm also a very big Jimi Hendrix fan...) Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind" (originally by Hoagy Carmichael in the 30s). And probably many more...

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: I like so much music that I honestly don't have any particular favorites, although I do agree with hollygail, about "All Along the Watchtower." That used to be one of my favorite songs in my 20's; now, I haven't heard it for a long time.

I think I'm supposed to do the leads starting on Sunday the 21st; is that right? I'm confused, as usual.

Have a peaceful day, Lee