Every now and then I get a song in my head that I can’t let go, and I consume covers of it until I have a playlist chock-full of every singer in the world doing their interpretation of it. Past songs suffering this abuse at my hands include Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue, Patrick Kavenagh’s Raglan Road, Neil Diamond’s Solitary Man and Harry Chapin’s Taxi.
Today’s victim? This Nearly Was Mine from South Pacific.
The only problem with this is that it seems that every person in the world who can kind of sing a little bit (Frank Sinatra, I’m looking at you, buddy) has covered this song. If I want every cover it’ll cost me something like $200. So right now it’s just me, Howard Keel and Bryn Tyrfel. Just to clarify–Howard and Bryn are singing out loud. I am only singing my mind.
Ha, I recently went through that with “Somewhere” from “West Side Story”. I found a surprisingly likable version by Pet Shop Boys that I bought, and Il Divo’s. But I was disappointed that most covers were by women. That song just doesn’t sound right to me, sung by a woman.
Indigo Girls’ version of Tangled Up In Blue is one of my favorite road trip songs ever.