Battle of the Bands Result and Inspirational Song Friday

Hello friends. Today is the 7th and I promised to post the results from Battle of the Bands. The song was Time After Time, made famous by Cyndi Lauper, but she didn't compete. Instead various covers of the original battled it out.

Here is how the vote tallied in the end:

Quietdrive - 7
Eva Cassidy - 11
Miles Davis - 4

So, even without my vote, the clear winner here is Eva Cassidy.

There were two abstentions in this race. In the beginning it was neck and neck among all three participants. Then Eva pulled ahead of the pack and it was all over. It kind of reminded me of that game in the Olympics where the snowboarders raced in packs of six to the finish. And most anything could happen, and did. I can't think of what it was called, but it was very exciting.

My vote? Not that it matters, but I love love love the Eva Cassidy version. I remember thinking it was better than Cyndi's version the first time I heard it. Such a smooth voice and I really feel the song when she sings it. That doesn't mean I no longer have any appreciation for Cyndi's version (or the other covers, for that matter) because I do.

So, if you voted, thank you for your participation. I will be serving cake promptly at 7:00pm this evening to thank you for your service:)

A LONG time ago, I used to run a regular feature on here called Inspirational Song Saturday. It was basically just an excuse to feature 80s videos, because I was one of those teens glued to MTV back in the 80s, and it allowed me to travel to a different space and time. I also posted whatever song was inspirational in the here and now... from any decade. With that in mind (and my post from Wednesday if you read it) I am going to give you Inspirational Song Friday, minus the whacky facts from the 80s. Ironically, the song is from the 80s. Or maybe not so ironically. I think I might be stuck there...




So, are you happy with the outcome of the Battle of the Bands vote? Can I mark you down for cake? Does I'm Still Standing make you want to stand up and run a victory lap? What do you know?.... Me too!

BATTLE OF THE BANDS ~ TIME AFTER TIME

Despite all of Arlee's hinting about this upcoming Battle of the Bands, it didn't really penetrate this addled brain that the 1st was TODAY until YESTERDAY. What's up with that????

So, I sat down and looked over my list of potential match-ups and decided that Time After Time was perfect... given my own inability to handle the realities of time... and I am well acquainted with "falling behind."

As always, I was surprised by the number of covers out there. What I had written down was Cyndi Lauper vs. "someone"... but then I decided to switch things up. For one thing, if I used Cyndi's version of the song, I just knew that I would get an earful from Stephen T. McCarthy. He is not a fan. ::understatement:: Plus, I do read your comments and SO OFTEN we are swayed by the version we heard FIRST. It is the one we grew up loving, or have a memory association, etc. So, what if we toss out the most known version (the Cyndi Lauper one) and let the covers battle it out??? Yeah, I like it, too.

I found three very different covers of this song. It is not my first choice to put three songs on here because of the time it takes to listen to them all.  Yep, I am aware of that. Keenly. It also splits the vote three ways instead of two. That also is less than wonderful. However... I hope that you will have patience with me and give them all a listen. Appreciate that all three of these artists listened to this song and then applied their own brand of musicality into the original song. In the end, the "feel" of each one is different. And that is what we respond to as listeners... the feel of the song.

First up is the version that *I think* most closely resembles what you are used to hearing (and it may garner more votes simply because of that). Quietdrive uses different instrumentation than the original, but the pacing of the lyrics is similar. It was released in 2006. Wikipedia describes their style as Alternative Rock.

Take it away Quietdrive:



Eva Cassidy died in 1996 of melanoma (cancer), but her second studio album, Time After Time, was released four years later. Cassidy was unwilling to confine herself to a specific style of music. She wanted to be able to sing it all. And she did. The Washington Post commented that "she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered."

Take it away Eva:


Last up is Miles Davis. I really hope that I don't need to educate you on who this guy is. In 1985 he released his version of Time After Time.

Take it away Miles:


Now comes the hard part... or not... decide which version you like best and tell me all about your reasoning for that decision in the comments.  What did you like and not like about each version? I will be back on the 7th to declare the winner based on your votes. 

Other battles can be found by clicking the following links, so be sure to visit them and cast your votes there!

Faraway Series

FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS

Tossing It Out

DiscConnected