I Hate Beatles Covers Pt. 2

So this blog totally died in the face of finals week, in which the four of us here probably wrote a composite 200 pages and then took some finals. In other words, I'm sorry for neglecting last week's post, but I had other things to write.

Two nights ago, I had a revelation. I was at my aunt's Christmas party, and my cousin, jokester that he is, decided that it would be a good idea to play Aretha Franklin's cover of "Eleanor Rigby." And then guess what. I DIDN'T HATE IT. It was hardly the same song as that second track on Revolver, but I can't actually say I liked it that much either. It's pretty obvious to me that Aretha wasn't trying to pay tribute to the Beatles in any way--she made it into an Areatha Franklin song. Which isn't to say that it's as good as "Think" or "Respect" either. It's just sort of a song that I would turn up the volume for if it come on the radio.

I'm not really sure what there is to say about that, though. That in the hands of masters, Beatles songs can just become regular songs, and not abominations? I guess it's silly to think that I'd hate Aretha Franklin's Beatles covers in the same way that I hate Fiona Apple's (I maintain, in the face of many of my close friends' fury, that Fiona Apple is pretty wack). But I also think that if Aretha can't make me like a Beatles cover, no one can.

In the past two weeks, though, I can't say I've figured anything about the whole performance thing, although I've thought about it a lot. Maybe you can.

Oh, so I guess that everyone else in the world is saying something about their Top Whatever tracks/albums of the year, so I'd just like to say that Alopecia by Why? is pretty great. I'm pissed that it didn't even make Teh 'Fork's top 50, although "Fatalist Palmistry" was their 94th pick for best song. At least it made it big on the reader's poll. Democracy Rules!