Cover Of The Day-Happy Together/Stand By Me

I'm headed to Disney World over spring break because I really love Disney princesses.

Getting that tatted on my back one o' these days.

Gotcha! My choir taking our trip there, which means we have to perform once. Believe me, the last thing I would like to do is sing typical choir songs to uninterested tourists in the middle of Epcot, but what can you do. My director wanted my quartet to do two songs; the classic "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and the Turtles' hit "Happy Together".

I started reading some of the notes in the back of Happy together and the arranger had listed a few bands who had covered the song, the most important of which being Frank Zappa. Lightbulbs flashed in my head and a few minutes ago, I looked it up. Meh. It's pretty much the same song. However, determined not to leave empty handed, I started looking up covers on Grooveshark. Eventually I ran across English rocker Johnny Panic's version of the song. The song takes new direction, following more of a slow punk rock song with big guitar melodies and hammering drum spurts, starkly contrasting the pretty mellow vocally based original. Johnny Panic sort of sounds like Ted Leo, who is basically my dad's BFF thanks to The Best Show on WFMU. It's kind of musical experiment, but it has a positive outcome.

Then, somewhere in the middle of that first paragraph, I thought that there had to be some great covers of Stand By Me, and, believe it or not, I WAS RIGHT AGAIN! Iz crazy, I know. I find the original absolutely incredible. Old time R&B at it's best. Ben E. King's voice was powerful, but absolutely calming to the core. If you've never heard of it, don't talk to me. After a little more research on Grooveshark, I ran across "Stand By Me", by Ry Cooder. Now, I'm not going to lie, I was a little intimidated by the name; pictures of Big & Rich raping the song to death with their twangy fists rushed to my head. However, I was pleasantly surprised, right off the bat. An accordion sets the tone of a soft Secilian lullaby, floating over the streets of Little Italy in the wee small hours of the mountain. After the intro, the song breaks into a slow groove and Ry croons through the song, adding a little bit more ease and relaxation to the already soothing ballad.

"Happy Together"

"Stand By Me"