little epiphanies

“I Wanna Be Your Man”
Performed by AG
Written by Lennon/McCartney

I’ve seen Adrianne Gonzalez perform a few times with her crew of singer-songwriter pals (mostly women, each of whom has enough talent and confidence to make you forget about every popstar who’s ever been called a role-model to young ladies.)

This is the first I’ve heard her on her own, or recorded.  Now I’m thinking the AG she’s going by for this EP of Beatles covers has nothing to do with her initials, but really stands for Amazingly Great.  

Beatles covers are hard.  Everyone knows that.  These are the songs we’ve all been listening to since birth (for the younger ones), or at least the birth of our love for rock & roll.  They are in our DNA.  So, when someone messes with a Beatles song, it gets personal quick.  

But AG treats these covers exactly how I always wish people would when playing someone else’s music.  One, she changes them.  A lot.  It’s not just another person with a nice voice singing “Yesterday.”  No.  She’s changing the mood on a lot of these songs, which are from the Beatles early, happy-go-lucky recordings, to have a darker, more mysterious vibe.  It works beautifully.  And two, she’s not worrying about the gender of the songs, which is something I just hate.  There’s nothing worse, in my opinion, than taking a song everyone’s heard five million times and changing the sex of the object of your affection to fit your real-life situation.  It’s selfish and unnecessary.  Granted, AG may not have altered the lyrics because they fit with her personal preference, but I like that she takes it even further and makes the gender of the song the subject of this video. 

The 6-track EP is called Reimagine: The Beatles By AG, and every song on it is beautiful.  Just wait ‘til you hear Misery … chills!  The recording just came out on October 9th (John Lennon’s birthday), and is available on iTunes.  You can also download this track for free here.