An intriguing title, I think. But I’m afraid I might be about to disappoint you (at least I didn’t put ‘bed’ or ‘sex’ in the tags for this piece!). Look at the tag line for my blog: yes, this one is about music, and specifically cover versions of songs.
As you may have noticed, I’m given to recycling older posts that I think may well have slipped under the radar with current readers, who wouldn’t have been following this blog way back when. I use an app called Timehop, which is great at reminding me of post anniversaries. Recently it has given me Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma which originates from November 2015 and shared some of my favourite parody versions of songs. That year was the second, following on from 2014, when I took part in National Blog Posting Month – aka #NaBloPoMo – and committed myself to posting every day in November. As you can imagine, that was hard for an irregular blogger like me, and I decided that twice was more than enough!
If you followed the link to that older post you’ll see that it includes a reference to a piece the previous week, Shake It Off when I’d written about cover versions of songs, and how people can make them their own. Recently I’ve found myself listening on YouTube to a lot of cover versions of some of my favourite songs and I thought I’d share some of these obscurities with you. Many of the covers posted on YouTube are what I’d call vanity projects, where the enthusiasm of the performers isn’t matched by talent, but I’ve found some notable exceptions. There’s no pattern to this – just a selection displaying real talent. In each case I’ll give you the original and then the cover, so that you can make up your own mind.
One of my long time favourite bands is Crosby Stills and Nash (plus Young, when he joined in). Their back catalogue is full of gems, amongst which is this one, which displays their harmonies to full effect:
YouTube suggests videos for you to watch, based on your previous viewing, and that is how I came across this cover version of the song. Stripped down, it shows off its full beauty. I was intrigued to find out more about this, and it turns out that this is a mother, Kappa Danielson, and her daughters Emma, on fiddle, and Halie on mandolin. This dates back nine years, and there are many others from the family since then which show how the two girls have developed their musical talents over the years. Kappa herself made an album in 2010, If I Let Go, and it’s as lovely as you would expect having seen this video: I’m sure you’ll be as impressed with this performance as I was. I’ve watched it many times!
Not knowing how Google works its alchemy with the algorithms for YouTube, I don’t know if it was pure coincidence that they have also suggested another band with a family connection. The many videos of a band called Foxes and Fossils are on the YouTube channel of a guy called Tim Purcell, who features as singer, guitarist and keyboard player. The ‘Fossils’ are Tim and some other gentlemen of a similar age, whilst the ‘Foxes’ are his daughter Sammie and (initially) Maggie Adams, though she has since moved on and been replaced by Chase Truran. When the band started out, Sammie and Maggie were just 15 – as was Chase when she joined. Their videos have clearly gone through some post-production but they all sound amazing and very professional, with great singing and musicianship. There is a lot of talent on display here, but if you search for them you will probably wonder, as do I, why they often seemed to be playing in car parks! Keeping with the CS&N theme, this is the opening track – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes from their eponymous debut album:
As that is over seven minutes long you wouldn’t expect a semi-pro covers band to take it on, but Foxes and Fossils did:
Remember that the two girls are 15 in that performance: I think it’s amazing!
To show that both groups don’t just cover CS&N, I’m sharing another video by each of them. Firstly, this one by Kappa and her girls. This is from two years ago, and shows how much our children grow up in seven years! It’s also beautiful:
And now this one, by Foxes and Fossils, who have recently got back together again and have posted a couple of new ones, featuring all three of the Foxes:
There’s a lot of rubbish on YouTube, but I’m always pleasantly surprised to come across hidden gems like these. You should try it sometime: I’d be interested to know what you find. You could do a lot worse than visiting the two previous posts I linked above – plenty more to enjoy there 😊
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the cover of Southern Cross was great as was the one of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes;
it was then nice to see the cover bands a few years later to see how they have improved…
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Glad you enjoyed them. Kappa seems to have been quiet of late, but F&F have, of necessity, been concentrating on studio recordings. They are all excellent, and get big viewing figures on YouTube. You may recall I featured them in the Advent Calendar – a very talented bunch.
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I thought F&F sounded familiar…
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😂
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These are great songs but I think this posts popularity is more about the title of this post.
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You think? If that’s the case I’ve disappointed a huge number of people in the past fourteen months!
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That is just my thoughts, Clive, but you should see if there were spam comments left. I could be completely wrong, but titles do draw readers.
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It’s the only reason I can think of, too., Robbie. I regularly check spam, but this one doesn’t seem to attract more than others. I guess I’ll have to use more titles with suggestive meanings!
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Absolutely [smile]
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Some lovely cover versions, Clive. I don’t know any of these originals or the cover versions. I don’t go to YouTube that often but I imagine its like all social media, some good and some bad.
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They are lovely, aren’t they. I think you have some catching up to do with CS&N’s back catalogue, you’re missing some fantastic music. I spend a lot of time dropping down the rabbit holes that YouTube open up for me with their recommendations: this year has featured a lot from a couple of folk bands – one each from Russia and Germany – and I’m thinking of putting them into a post just to blow people’s minds! You’re right, there’s a lot of rubbish on there, but plenty of good stuff to make up for it.
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Oooh, folk bands sound great, Clive.
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Maybe I’ll give them a try, just to confuse people!
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Or entertain them [smile]
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I’m sure they would entertain – I can’t speak a word of Russian but can still enjoy their music and videos. I’ll store the idea away for the new year 😊
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Well, I wasn’t following you a year ago, so these posts are brand new to me. I always used to be loyal to the original group, but there are times where I have to admit that I like the cover even better.
By the way, who couldn’t love a group named Foxes and Fossils? Great sound!
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It’s a great name, especially when you know that it just came to one of them as they were about to play their first gig. Their following on YouTube has grown massively in the past year, and they have put out quite a few new videos – all excellent.
Kappa seems to have been taking a break from music: divorce, a new engagement, university degree…and to show how time flies, the little one in those videos got married a few months ago!
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Reblogged this on Take It Easy and commented:
I wasn’t planning on posting again today, after yesterday’s Tuesday Tunes post and having plans for tomorrow and Friday. But then Timehop reminded me that it is the first anniversary of this post. It hasn’t scored highly on the ‘like’ count, but for some reason it has consistently picked up views: it is my most viewed individual post so far this year, by a distance. I’ve no idea why, but as I rather like it I thought I’d give it another airing for its birthday.
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Ah, Southern Cross, a lovely song. I’m also a fan of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
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Glad to hear it! They have made so much great music.
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Hi Clive, I like your idea of recycling older posts that may have fallen under the radar. It’s always interesting to see what you come up with and your fun finds on You Tube are a good reminder of the good stuff that is out there. #senisal
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Hi Deb, many thanks for this. I’ve recycled quite a lot over the years but at least this time I wrote a new post and just dropped the links to the older ones! YouTube is a little goldmine of good music, though sometimes you have to look hard to find it!
I hope you’re enjoying your stay here and all is well with your family, especially little Dottie 😊
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Thanks Clive, all is going well despite the darkness and cooler temps. Dottie came home yesterday so it’s been very exciting and a bit nerve wracking!
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I’m so glad to hear she’s home. I remember our first one coming home as being a time of total chaos, and she was only two weeks early! Hopefully you’ll all soon settle into a routine, even if it is cold and dark outside 😊
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Thanks for the memories Clive. Some great listening and what talent. Thoroughly enjoyed listening.
If you and your readers like covers here’s a bit of a plug for my daughter who recorded a few songs a couple of years ago. I posted this last Christmas so maybe it’s timely to review it for this year.
https://artin.artinnature.co.uk/a-moment-in-time/
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Glad you enjoyed them, Clive. I’ll give your daughter a listen – always good to find new music 👍
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Clive, thank you for sharing this musical feast with us! All new songs and performers to me but thoroughly enjoyed them. It is wonderful when you come across ‘gems’ like this on youtube!
Haha! The title is great …one to hook us all in! 😀
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Thanks, Annika, glad you enjoyed them. As for the title, maybe that marketing degree wasn’t entirely wasted, then 😉
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This was great! I have music to listen to for the entire day!! Thank you!
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Glad to be of service, ma’am 😉
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What a selection of gems, I love the last one. I have never got nto searching YouTube, too many other things to do on line, but I love seeing the eclectic finds of other bloggers.
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Thank you, Janet. I find it a relaxing way to pass time in the evening if there’s nothing worth watching on tv. Headphones on, fire up the iPad. The best sessions are the unplanned ones, just following links – that’s what found these for me.
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I know from watching my grandchildren navigate YouTube that there is a lot of rubbish there. I have to watch what I allow them to watch from that site! I have to admit you lured me in with yout=r title, but I enjoyed the content very much. I am a CSN (and Y) fan too!
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At least most of the stuff on YouTube is fairly harmless, but the occasional naughty bits do appear despite their strict policing. Glad you enjoyed it and are a fellow fan. Having lured you in with that title I now need to think of an excuse to call a post ‘Between The Sheets’ 😂
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