Old vs. New

Hello gentle readers. I'm sorry I've been AWOL for a bit....I hit a corkscrew on the emotional rollercoaster and had other things on my mind other than making daily blog entries. I will spare you the whiny details and just say everything is fine - for the moment at least - and I'm SO very ready to be on the up again!

I have discovered a new song (and like usual I discovered it YEARS after it was popular...this case a few years after I was born) which I do occasionally from our random "radio" at work. This time it was Loco in Acapulco by the Four Tops...reaching it's popularity in 1988 lol. However, I loved this song and of course then made it a personal mission to find and *ahem* procure it for my listening enjoyment. I decided after I found it that I would build a new "Feelin' Good" playlist built around it and so ventured forth into the depths of the 10,063 songs of my iPod.

Now, I will just say as a side note that going chronologically through my iPod is basically a musical scrapbook of my life in recent years. This brings on a whole gamut of emotion, usually resulting in an "AW!" or a laugh, which is a good thing. It never ceases to amaze me how things can remind you of specific events, times, people.... crazy. I enjoy digging through the recesses of my music collection and remembering things, it's a reminder to me that I've come through a lot and made it just fine, and so will I make it through this and be able to look back and remember how I got through this too.

On a less heavy topic, there's a few songs that I love a lot and tend to download different versions or covers of. Actually, I'm a sucker for covers in general, since I like to see how well (or not...) they're done. Most of the time I wholly agree that the original is far superior. However I've run across a few that I really can't decide. I thought I'd leave it open for debate. And, in case you haven't heard the covers to the following, I would suggest you find them... they are quite good. And I believe that all of them (original and cover) can be found on YouTube. :)

The first, King of Wishful Thinking. Originally done by Go West in 1990, this cover was done by New Found Glory apparently just last year. Now while the original conjures images of the white background, stone washed jeans, leather jacket music video (only in my mind...I've never actually seen the music video. I could YouTube it, but later) the new version kinda makes me want to head bang a little bit. Admittedly, I actually went to the trouble to make the new version my new ringtone on my phone. That doesn't necessarily mean I favor it per say. I actually anticipated it to be crap, even though I do like New Found Glory and their "bubblegum punk" style as one of my friends put it.

Next, Walking in Memphis. This one actually has a few different covers, but I will address the one by Lonestar. This song came out in 1991 by Marc Cohn and was redone in 2005 (from what I can see...) by Lonestar. I really hold a special place in my heart for the original of this song, as I fell in love with it at a very young age and it has been one of my all-time favorite songs. The Lonestar version does seem to have a bit more "body" though, more layers of music that makes it very comforting. Can you really replace Marc Cohn though?

And last for this installment, Witchdoctor. Oh yes my friends...say the magic words. Ooo eee ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang. Originally done in 1958 by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr (had to do some looking for that one!) and then again later with collaboration with none other than Alvin and the Chipmonks, this cover was done by a group called (apparently) the Cartoons DK in 1998. You should really look up this one on YouTube. The video is pretty great too. I will say though, this particular cover (the song has apparently been covered a LOT) I find to be awesome, and I think does squeek by the original for me personally. Just...makes you happy, and who doesn't love that?

Well...those are the thoughts for this evening. If you feel like leaving a comment about any of these particular songs, or just to say hi, please do. :) Until next time, I'm gonna try to go get *some* sleep before I have to work tomorrow. Cheers!