A Little Bit of Wakin On A Pretty Day—Kurt Vile

One of the fun things about music is that it is such a provider of joy and adulation, that to be able to take a song that you love from an artist you admire and somehow make it your own is perhaps one of the most rewarding things about it.

Many of us will find ourselves with a song stuck in our head. We may hum the tune, whistle it while we work, sing along as we drive along the road to wherever we may be headed, and perhaps in the back of our mind the song is ours. We are the rock star.

Of course, I dabble in a little bit of my own original stuff. Certainly my album Pink Flamingoes is an example of that. Just me doing my own thing musically, not caring if there is any real structure to it, and certainly not trying to get rich or famous from it.

Not that that would be a possibility mind you. But there are enough people who enjoy what I do that it makes it all worth it in the end.

But back to songs we love from artists we admire. I have talked much on here about one artist in particular who strikes my fancy, and is always a pleasure to make new discoveries with. That artist would be Kurt Vile, and if you've never had a chance to listen to what he does, you are surely missing out.

One song in particular that I like from him is Pretty Pimpin, and it happens to be...well, pretty pimping.

But there's another song that also made quite an impression on me, enough so that I wanted to try to do that song my own justice. Did I accomplish it? Probably not. But that's not the point. The point is that his song Wakin on a Pretty Day just happened to strike a chord with me, and so I wanted to do a little something with it.

It's fun to sing and it's fun to strum, and so I just had to put my own touch onto it.

Again, did I do it any justice? Probably not. I'm no Kurt Vile, and to an extent I am no musician either. But even more fun is that we live in a time when we can share with the masses whatever we want, and again as well...

There are actually some folks out there who appreciate that. Especially the fans. Often times my own handful of fans will ask me to share some or another cover, and this just happens to be one of them.

Blue Bedroom Sessions MGMT Electric Feel Acoustic Cover

In following along with my theme here, sometimes when it comes to finding great music and great artists—and let's face it, great cover music—you simply have to turn off the radio. Today is the age of the Internet, self publishing, and the opportunity to share with such a larger number of people what you've got.

Let's take the song, Electric Feel. On its own, this is a great song by the brilliant masterminds of music who call themselves MGMT. The song itself sort of sounds like a combination of an old disco sound coupled with a poppy undertone and something from the 1980's, but with a bit more pizzazz and gusto.

It really is a cool song with a great vibe, great melody, and of course as one would expect, lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden delivers the lyrics masterfully. His voice always seems to manage to take you to another place, which in many ways is what music should do for any listener when the music is good.

But there is another version of this song out there, and if you ask me it is just as good, and dare I say, perhaps even better than the original. Maybe it is because I just like the stripped down versions of music—in other words, turn off all the synths, and break down all the sound effects in the backdrop, and just yank out wood and strings and just play.

Take a song like Foster The People's Pumped Up Kicks acoustic version and you immediately get what I mean. I love the song, but when I listen to it these days, it's the acoustic version I go after most often. It's just better stripped down.

And that's exactly what you get when you go over to Katie van Amerom's YouTube page and find a "Blue Bedroom Session" performance of MGMT's Electric Feel. And it is an amazing performance to say the least. Like I said, in some ways it may actually be better than the original version of this song.

Besides the song being done marvelously, you have to admit that Katie's kind of cute as well, and so even if there is not much going on in the video other than her and her cohorts jamming together in a blue walled bedroom sitting on a rather large bed, it is still a fun video to keep an eye—or both—trained on.

And by the way, Katie's voice is as crystal clear, melodic, and take you to another place as is VanWyngarden's. It's just a marvelous performance through and through.

Since hearing this version of the song I have not had a chance to take a look at some of the other "Blue Bedroom Sessions" or Katie van Amerom for that matter (by the way, it is just a coincidence that both her and VanWyngarden have "van" in their names?), but you can bet it is on my radar and I certainly will eventually.

This video deserves a watch, and certainly Katie and the rest of the crew who accompanied her on this song deserve a huge pat on the back for a job well done, and for masterfully making what is already a great song their own without changing much of the basic structure of the song to get it done.

This is art, folks, plain and simple.

While you're at it, why not check out Jim Bauer's cover video of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer," which is also an acoustic version. Not nearly as masterful in any way as the Blue Bedroom Sessions or Katie van Amerom for that matter, but a fun listen in any event—according to a very small group of people. But growing? Who knows. All I can say, and all I know, is that regardless of any "accomplishment" on the song, I had fun doing it. Although I was sitting in a chair rather than lying on my bed.