Because Matt Nathanson Covered Romeo & Juliet By Dire Straits

How I spent my day:

coverlaydown.com

It's a blog dedicated to collecting and promoting folk and bluegrass covers of popular songs (and also other folk and bluegrass songs). Covers are awesome.

"Sometimes you hear something and you think to yourself, 'That song is so good, I wish I'd written it' and that's why the cover was invented" -Rob Thomas

Covers can be hilarious. Who can forget The Gourds Gin 'N Juice? (cue illicit youtube copy!)

Or the classic Dynamite Hack version of Boyz N Da Hood!

BUT, those are just for starters. The real magic starts when good artists cover good songs. There's a reason Dire Straits' Romeo & Juliet has been covered eight hundred times: it's a Great Song. (Incidentally, it's also got the best ending to a music video ever:

Right?) (Yes, that was a parenthetical video embed)


Anyway, here are some favorites which are included in the coverlaydown archives. (In reverse chronological order) (and I'm not hyperlinking, you'll have to click though to the oringal post (which all have plenty of other covers))

-Elanor Rigby, The Beatles covered by Butch Ross
-Chelsea Hotel No. 2, Leonard Coehn covered by Regina Spektor
-True Colors, Cyndi Lauper covered by Caroline Herring
-Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen covered by The Band (the post has 7 other Boss covers)
-Come Sail Away, Styx covered by Jonathan Rundman (not especially great, but I'm including here it for Donny)
-Jump, Van Halen covered by Mary Lou Lord
-Oops, I Did It Again, Britney Spears, covered by Laura Tsaggaris
-Nothing Compares To You, Prince covered by Ben Taylor (son of James Taylor)(saddest song on the list)

And, the best cover I found today:

-Stairway to Heaven, Led Zepplin covered by Dolly Parton.

-t

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