lame-o
Yesterday, on my way to work, I was listening to K-LOVE. (Yes, I listen to K-LOVE on the way to work. "Positive" and "encouraging" is good in the morning for me; plus, I would rather hear music than vapid attempts at witty banter all morning. Ok, all 30 minutes.) Anyway, back to my story. So, they played a Selah cover of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." Yes. Now, don't get me wrong--it sounded really good. It wasn't a cheesy, dippy cover. Selah has some talent, and their voices worked very well for the song. Here's my issue: they sang it to the exact, same musical track. I kid you not. It was like they just deleted Groban's voice and put their voices in instead. I was fairly baffled. The only difference between to two songs is the performer. So apparently, any old vague song can be put on K-LOVE, but only if a "Christian" artist is singing it. Don't take me the wrong way on this--I'm not saying that's what I think. Frankly, I think they should have played the Josh Groban version. What's wrong with his? Is it somehow more spiritual if we know for sure that the performer is talking about God in the song because they have the label "Christian" next to their group name? I just found it really bizarre and kind of lame. What do you think?
Comments
I think you're right. "Can only drink milk from a Christian cow" said Steve Taylor, back in the 80's.
I'm just impressed you have a good enough ear to match the sound tracks!
As for remakes, I think anyone who remakes a song and doesn't improve on it should be sent to Yuma, Arizona to stay for a full Summer on the first offense. The second offense should be exile. Just my thoughts.
Posted by: Mike greiner | January 19, 2007 01:15 PM
I think anyone who remakes a song and doesn't improve on it should be sent to Yuma, Arizona to stay for a full Summer on the first offense. The second offense should be exile. Just my thoughts.
That, my friend, is a fabulous idea! There should be an added penalty for Christmas carols that have already been done over 5 times.
Posted by: dramatic ren | January 19, 2007 02:30 PM
Hey, Renee. Jody and I were just talking about that. We were listening to our Christian station and they did the same thing with Celine Dion's "Because you loved me." Pretty nerve-wracking to me, as well. And with other songs too that don't come to mind. I think it's cheap.
Posted by: Sarah | January 19, 2007 10:34 PM
You have a 30 minute commute every morning?!
(You're always so kind to comment on my site...and I realized I hardly ever do on yours...I'm going to work on this.) :)
Posted by: Marlo | January 20, 2007 03:07 PM
I just heard that same cover on Friday and I noticed that the music was the same too. I thought, "Did they go by the Josh Groban track cd and just use that on their album?"
Although they did add in the second verse, which is not on Josh's cd, so we have to give them that.
Posted by: Jill | January 22, 2007 06:06 AM
That should be "buy the cd," not "by the cd."
Also, I was thinking after I commented, possibly Selah is under a label that is owned by the same company that owns Josh's label? You know, many of those music labels are part of big conglomerates.
We have The Fish here for our Christian station. Do you have that annoying married couple on KLove as the announcers in the morning? We did in Memphis. Ugh. I'd rather listen to nails on a chalk board than those two in the morning. : ) Our Christian morning personalities on the Fish actually sound like normal DJs instead of just being hokey.
Posted by: Jillian | January 22, 2007 09:33 AM
You made me curious, so I looked it up--different labels completely. Selah is on an independent label called "Curb" while Groban is under Warner Brothers conglomerate labels. Oh well.
Yes, we have John and Sherry in the morning, but when I'm in the car they play mostly music. And you would not believe the stupidity of the other morning shows around here. The only good one is Kidd Kraddick, but they don't play enough music for me. If I don't get enough singing done in the car, I'm not very much about talking when I get to work. :)
Posted by: dramatic ren | January 22, 2007 01:36 PM
Oooh, we had Kidd Kraddock in Memphis, too, but you're right--they talk way more than they play music. Usually they don't even play a whole song. But Big Al is way funny.
Posted by: Jill | January 22, 2007 03:08 PM
I have the Selah cd with that song on it. I have not listened to it for a while, so I will find it, listen to it and then let you know what I think.
Posted by: kylee | January 23, 2007 08:06 AM