Alright, here’s my spiel. Usually I find indie-ish covers and/or sampling of pop/rap songs, e.g. Ben Kweller’s “Ice Ice Baby,” or that god-awful “Boyz in the Hood” cover by Dynamite Hack, to be quite obnoxious. It’s bad bad the other way around too, e.g. that bizarre new rap song that samples “Hide and Seek,” but somehow I find that sort of thing more tolerable. But really. Ugh. There’s just something so kitschy and unoriginal about cross-genre covers. That joke has been played people, and it’s not funny anymore. I’m not sure it ever was. (OK, confession: I did REALLY love when Eminem sampled Dido in “Stan.” But c’mon, I was 12 then. “Spice World” was still in frequent rotation in my boom-box. Wait, back up, I was listening to “Stan” on my BOOM-BOX. I even remember recording it off the radio onto a cassette tape. Case closed.)

All of that being said, Antony Hegarty is so freaking amazing that I don’t even care. He can cover whatever the hell he wants and I will happily listen, even if what he wants happens to be one of my least favorite Beyoncé songs. Same goes for Cat Power, Iron & Wine, and a million other artists who don’t suck. I mean, I love a good cover when it’s done right. I guess what it all boils down to, is that I’m crazy in love with this video:

Just for good measure:

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