Katie Melua & Eva Cassidy - 'What A Wonderful World'
Hey, you know me, I'm an honest kind of blog. If a new hit song comes from out of nowhere and I didn't see it coming, I'll hold my hands up and say so...and then put my hands back down again and type something similar. This is partly because it's a bad idea to carry round embarrassing secrets that people can use against you, in your everyday life, and partly because, like all good bloggers, I am not above pompously declaring my own superior moral code and staunch ethical backbone in much the same way that the sea is not above the sky. It's the blog equivalent of showing off...which, if you conflate 'blog' and 'showing' together, should really be called 'blowing off', due to the amount of useless hot air which is produced.
So, in the spirit of honest, up-front, heart-on-my-sleeve decency, I have to admit that I did not know this song was coming out until very recently, and I didn't realise people were going mad for it until news reports (and the midweek charts) started to flash before my very eyes. And there's a really good reason why, even after I knew it existed, this song STILL didn't grace the hallowed review columns of ChartBlog until now, and that reason is this: Who knew if anyone was going to buy it?
Christmas is not only the season to be jolly, it is also the season for bizarre musical ideas to be nailed together in an ill-considered and almost random fashion. Does anyone else remember the year that Roy Wood - of Wizzard fame, and a man who has legitimate claim to be a pop genius - came out with a hybrid of his own 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day' and 'A Wombling Merry Christmas' by the Wombles? You don't remember 'I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Merry Christmas Every Day'? You lucky, lucky people...
Anyway, when it comes to ill-considered ideas, nothing really beats the 'beyond the grave duet' for questionable taste. We don't even know if Eva Cassidy would have liked Katie Melua's music (although, as Katie Melua seems to be a very game girl with a , it's a fair guess that she would've liked her personally).
And, as with all charity records, you're kind of on a hiding to nothing criticising it by the usual musical rules. That's like saying you don't approve of the Red Cross, who are going to receive all the money. So, let's be clear.
a) Red Cross - LOVING YOUR WORK.
b) Duetting with dead singers - REALLY IFFY IDEA.
c) 'What A Wonderful World' - BRILLIANT SONG.
d) Eva and Katie's voices - BLEND RATHER WELL.
e) Louis Armstrong - LOVING YOUR WORK TOO.
f) Louis Armstrong (again) - SERIOUSLY, OMG, THANK YOU, FOR EVERYTHING!
There, that's my journalistic integrity kept intact, I reckon. Be awful if that got broken or dented, wouldn't it?
Download: Out now
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
I love this song originally, but I'm not a big fan of how this was done. They sound fine together, but there's nothing spectacular about it, which there should be. Plus, the tempo is REALLY slow. I mean, come on, it's supposed to be a WONDERFUL world, not a depressing one. I know of a barbershop version that's way better than this one.
And anyway, what happened to the last verse?
High Marks go to Katie Melua for proving that lightning can strike twice in the same place. After last year's duet on "Over The Rainbow" fans of both singers wondered if there was another song which could complement both singers. Duets don't always work as successfully as some involving Frank Sinatra proved. This new effort of Katie's blends the two voices so well that at the end they appear almost perfectly matched. It is as much another well deserved tribute to Eva as it is an equally important gift for the Red Cross. Katie should also be given much credit for the example she has set for returning an important charity to the public's attention.
Very good song and a worthy dethroner of Leona. (I was tiring of that depressing song.) The blending of the voices is excellent and does not detract from the Eva Cassidy original recording. It's not as if this type of thing hasn't been done before (re: Natalie Cole and her father Nat 'King' Cole).
Now as a bit of homework go and compare this version of 'What A Wonderful World' to the brilliant Christmas 1992 indie collaboration of Nick Cave and Shane McGowan. That's a version you may not have seen coming in a million years, but somehow it works! You can find it on YouTube.
(PS Leona Lewis. Mmm sounds like a lesser version of Flemish Pop Idol winner of a few years back, Natalia. Examine her music for yourself and make a judgement.)
Delighted Katie has finally got her hands on a number one!!! She deserves it! I've met her a few times & yeah, I definitly agree that Eva would have liked her personally, as she isn't one of those ones that have got their head in the clouds! They compliment each other beautifully on this record! Also, great to see Eva getting some recognition! Finally getting rid of that Leona one!!!xx