After Chris’s excellent post on the Bee Gee’s “To Love Somebody” and its covers, I couldn’t resist popping over to Wikipedia to get a list of other covers and then to MOG to listen to them. Wikipedia’s list has some hilarious artists covering it, and for once Mog’s library failed me in ways that please: thank the heavens they don’t have Billy Corgan’s or the double evil of Damien Rice WITH Ray LaMontagne’s version (!?!).
But after having listened to Chris’ versions (of which, I agree, Dara Puspita’s is the highlight) and a dozen more, the song itself still remains incapable of being ruined. Yes, even Bonnie Tyler’s “screaming equals passion” version, Michael Bolton’s douchebag version, Lulu’s just plain worthless version, and The Animals’ House of the Rising Suck version (amidst countless other middling ones) could not fool me into thinking that this song isn’t superb. As country, rock, R&B, or Indonesian garage, it excels.
Given my recent Booker T & the MGs post, it should be no surprise that one of my favorite covers involves Booker T & The MGs. And given my recent countrification, the second shouldn’t be a surprise either. Thanks, Chris, for shining a certain kind of light on this great song. I make no apologies for posting Rod Stewart.
Rod Stewart, “To Love Somebody w/Booker T & The MGs (Early Take)”
Flying Burrito Brothers, “To Love Somebody”
