and you know how i usually loathe covers.

i have waxed pretty regularly about my contempt for most cover songs. so many attempts are lackluster imitations of a perfectly good song. and to cover a beatles song takes massive cojones. that, or completely narcissism, i suppose. the sheer perfection of some songs doesn’t stop people from giving it a go. (yesterday is the most covered song. ever.)

that being said, from time to time, someone gets it right. and that one in this case is stevie wonder, no small talent himself. i was reminded of the truly awesome nature of this cover during the gershwin awards program honoring macca last month.  so many of the people singing mccartney’s songs fell flat. (the jonas brothers? REALLY?) but steveland? he rocked the house.

so here’s my end-of-summer present for you. get down; get funky. and get back up again.

(just remember your motrin if that latter bit is challenging for you.)

ok, not too old. and not very guilty. but very well-loved.

sometimes, what i miss most in a lot of modern rock are signs that there are thinking people behind the songs. don’t get me wrong; i’m not one of those cranky oldsters who thinks that nothing good has been written since the beatles broke up. and while i try to desperately steer my kids toward modern alternative that actually might speak to them, i often come up empty. so much sounds so derivative to me. so much sounds forced to me.

i feel often like i have heard that song before.

and that’s why i was so delighted to listen to crowded house’s new album. sure, the lineup is a bit different — drummer paul hester sadly took his own life a few years back, and neil finn is fronting it without his brother, tim, who was around for woodface, a stellar effort. but i sometimes think of neil finn as the energizer bunny of rock and roll — he just keeps at it. (his son liam, who we saw perform with him on this tour, is following steadily in dad’s footsteps, too — really well, i would add.)

while some of the new effort doesn’t do much for me, there are a few songs that stand out. and the best of the bunch, methinks, is the cerebral amsterdam. apparently, he had one strange, strange day in the netherlands; i’ll let you listen to it and make your own interpretation. i love the poetry of his words and how they fit, hand in glove, with the slow, moody music.

i know i need to give new bands more of a try, and i’ll continue to keep my ears and mind open about it all. but i must confess a certain delight when old faithfuls come out with new and intriguing stuff.

you can thank eastenders for this one.

first, the song.

and then, the explanation.

paul weller is not exactly a household name in america. but plenty of people have heard of the jam and even the style council, two bands in which weller was instrumental. (har de har har. i made a funny pun there, kids. wreke really needs to drink more coffee and stop being such a dork…but i digress.) weller has gone on to become a very respected and awarded artist in britain; pity he hasn’t gotten more attention here in the US.

anyway, what does paul weller have to do with eastenders?

we in the US are seven — yes, seven — years behind what people in the UK see on the long-running soap. people walk the streets on my TV who have since gone on to the end of their storyline. and some people, like my beloved kat and alfie, are actually making their return now (though they’re not gone yet from our storylines here.) kat, the proverbial eastend tart-with-a-heart, and alfie, a goofy but kind wide boy, are meant for each other. but the getting together part? a bit complicated, and it makes for one of the funniest, if not the funniest, eastenders episode ever.

but still, their passion is left, er, unconsummated, despite the insane lengths alfie goes through to try and get a condom in the middle of the night. yet when we realize that moment what a gentleman alfie truly is, paul weller’s song is playing in the background, a languid testament to those deep feelings of love.

i bet this one gets a lot of play at weddings in the UK.