My brother who is getting married in October has put me in charge of the music for the reception. I’m supposed to pick four hours worth of songs, big task. I asked him to send me a list of some definite songs he wants to hear and he did just that. I check the email the other day and included was “And we both want Jonathan Coulton’s cover of ‘Baby Got Back’”

Not exactly the most romantic song, but it’s his day. He sends me a link to the song and I must have listened to it five or six times in the course of a few hours. If you ignore most of the lyrics, it’s actually beautiful. Judge for yourself:

In honor of my brother, Jonathan Coulton and well done cover songs, here are some of my favorites you may not know about:

“Nothing But Flowers” - Guster (originally Talking Heads): I had to put Guster in a blog at some point, being my favorite band and all. This song is on their “Guster on Ice” DVD/CD which is a recording of a show they did a few years back. Upbeat, catchy, great for driving with the windows down kind of music. Then again, all Guster songs are.

“Easy” - Faith No More (originally Commodores): For those of you hesitant to even listen to this song because you don’t like Faith No More or hard rock (shame on you!), you’ll be changing your tune…no pun intended. It’s supposed to be somewhat of a somber song, but the music is so laid back and, dare I say, easy going. If you like this song, try checking out Mike Patton’s other projects like Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, Lovage (which has a cover of Sex (I’m a) which you definitely need to give a listen) and The Dillinger Escape Plan.

“Toxic” - Yael Naim (originally Britney Spears): Get over the fact that it’s Britney and then you can embrace this song. Yael Naim’s voice is a unique mixture of French and Israeli and is paired with the piano making this song perfect. You may recognize her sound from a Mac commercial earlier this year which used her song “New Soul”.

“Hey Ya” - Mat Weddle (originally Outkast): This perpetuates my theory of an acoustic guitar can make any song better. This song is great on its own and you can appreciate it even if you hate the original or have never heard. Mat’s voice is gorgeous and just a little strange to hear coming out of a guy who looks like Grizzly Adams. Enjoy!

If you want to more great covers, go to the video section to see some honorably mentions.

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