Bozzlife: #whoareyoulisteningto? Same old Song...

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This has been another very crazy week for me. We are just about a month into the school year and things are finally starting to die down a little. My worker and I are just now getting started on some projects that we have been putting off due to the mass influx of help requests the beginning of the year brought.

Amidst all this chaos, there has always been time for music. Whether lightly playing in the background or cranked up to 11 in the car en-route to a distant location for a service call that I was dreading.

A funny thing happened music-wise this week. There is a song that I love, that a lot of people know and love as well, but they probably have some misconceptions about it (I know I did). The funny thing about it is the fact that I heard not one but two covers of the same song this week from two very different angles. I knew right away that I needed to highlight said song in my #whoareyoulisteningto post this week.

So here we go:


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Ah yes, pretty much the theme song from the 1967 Summer of Love according to Wikipedia (I am going to take their word for it since I was not alive yet). I think the biggest misconception about this song if you have never heard it before is that it is being sung by Van Morrison or some other major artist.

In fact, as you can see by the video it is sung by Procol Harum and without looking it up on the Internet I challenge you to name one other song they have sung...

Okay, so give it a listen. I think you will agree it is a pretty awesome song. While I didn't listen to the original at all this week, it really hit me out of left field that I would hear two different versions in the same week without purposely trying.


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So here is how it happened... I was listening to some Roxette via Spotify because I love Roxette and when the album I was listening to finished, Spotify started playing other stuff from different artists that it thought I might like.

This song just happened to come on and quite honestly I had never heard the Annie Lennox version of it before. I know some people don't particularly care for Annie. I am not sure if it is her voice or her look, but I don't have a beef with her.

I love her cover of this song. It keeps the same vibe as the Procol Harum original, but I think it takes it on a different tangent due to the uniqueness of her voice.

I am not going to say I like it better than the original, but it is definitely a close second.


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Then, a couple of days later, the unthinkable happened... You are going to laugh at me I am sure, but I love "elevator music". You know that orchestral stuff where they sometimes take an easy listening song and cover it with just strings and some brass?

When I was a kid, we had a radio station that played that kind of music all the time. There were far less distractions when I was a kid, so some of our rainy Saturday nights would be spent as a family playing name that tune with that radio station on.

I can't tell you how old I was, but I remember one time I baffled them all by knowing that the particular song that was on was "something stupid" a 1940's? song that you might be familiar with because it was covered in Moulin Rouge.

Anyway, I was in the mood for something different to listen to on my drive into work when I found this awesome Sirius/XM channel called "Escape". It is pretty much non-stop that floaty waltz-like music from my youth. Some of the stuff are original compositions, but imagine my surprise when this version of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" came on as arranged by Ronnie Aldrich.

I was absolutely floored and I knew right away it was a sign. So there you go, you can thank the music gods for todays post.

If you have been listening to something awesome this week, let me know about it in the comments. Better yet, write your own post and use the #whoareyoulisteningto tag!


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10 comments
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It is an unusual song with the weird lyrics. It did rip of some Bach for the tune. I am not sure I had heard Annie's version, but she has a great voice. I didn't know she was a 'furry' though ;)

I remember various 'easy listening' instrumentals of popular hits. Jeff Love was another exponent of this style. Personally I prefer my listening to be difficult :)

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Yeah, I like a little bit of everything. According to wikipedia he heard the line from the chorus at a party and the rest just came to him.

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(Edited)

The original tune is familiar from my youth. There were a whole series of these ads when they could advertise cigars on TV.

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Procol Harem I have so enjoyed hearing again, have not heard that in many years and such an awesome number.

Various musicians covering same song happens quite often, somehow I always enjoy the original, if possible on vinyl.... call me old fashioned

Have an amazing weekend, have not been here much so been missing many posts of late Jay.

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No problem! I usually like the original better as well. It was just weird that I heard two different renditions in the same week without specifically looking for them.

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Only the Procol Harem version works with my ears!

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Come on, you can't tell me you don't enjoy a good cello every now and then...

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