Battle of the Bands ~ Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma

First of all... yes, I'm home again. Alive and in one piece. Not exactly migraine-free, but you can't have everything. I'm really glad I pre-wrote everything that posted in July and early August before I left. Otherwise, the posting would've been very slim around here (as in nearly nil). I kinda wish I'd decided on my Battle of the Bands for the 15th back in June, too. Yep. It's been that sort of insane here.

So... I spent some time wandering around on YouTube just to see what I'd find. There's always tons to find. Doesn't mean it's all useful for Battle of the Bands, but still it's interesting. Turns out I thought I was going in one direction and ended up somewhere else. I'd tell you that's shocking, but it really isn't.

I ended up (quite by accident) in these backyard sessions that Miley Cyrus recorded in 2012. For those of you not familiar, this was before the MTV awards in which she cut her hair (not attractive, but not over-the-top ridiculous) and stepped onto the profanity gesture wagon that many people, myself included, found extremely offensive (not attractive AND over-the-top ridiculous). This foray into offensiveness landed much media attention (which was surely the intention), but begs the question of talent versus antics. Is it possible to achieve superstardom in this day and age without going beserker? It also begs another question: how helpful are the people behind the scenes in trying to help a singer achieve success? Are these string pullers really helpful? In the end, what do they do to the song (by completely messing up the singer)? Miley isn't the first performer to ask this question. Rather ironically, she recorded her cover of Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma before her "song" was irrevocably pushed into the insane corner. It makes me wonder if people have a sixth sense of what's coming before it arrives. (I kinda think they do.)

If you haven't guessed, the song for today is Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma. This song was new to me. I'm fairly certain that the original performer of this song was Melanie Safka. So, let's give her version a listen. Yep, this is contender number one.




Pretty catchy, no? Now, here is Miley singing the same song back in 2012... before they took her song and twisted it all up.




Is that good? Is that good for everybody?


We've got so many new Battle of the Bands players that I'm having difficulty keeping up. (We post a new battle on the 1st and 15th of each month.) For those who've been following this feature/blog for a while now, can you believe that once upon a time -- for a long time-- there were only five of us??? Well, now the list grows each battle. So, if your name is not on here and you're participating, please leave me a message in the comments. Thanks for your patience!

 Also, please vote for the version of this song you prefer. If you want to get into the Ins and Outs of why you like one better than the other... I LOVE long comments!

For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:

• Far Away Series 
• Stephen T. McCarthy's Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out
• DiscConnected (temporarily disconnected from BoTB)
• This Belle Rocks
• Mike's Ramblings
• Curious as a Cathy 
• Book Lover
• The Sound of One Hand Typing
• dcrelief ~ Battle of the Bands 
• Cherdo on the Flipside 
• Angels Bark 
• THE DOGLADY'S DEN 
• Jingle Jangle Jungle 
• WOMEN: We Shall Overcome 
• NovelBrews
• J.A. Scott
• Quiet Laughter