Petra Haden Makes Me Question All My Musical Assumptions
It’s been pretty well-established that I’m lukewarm on “funny” cover versions of songs, and four years at a major Midwestern university have caused me to shudder involuntarily whenever the words “a capella” are uttered. So why am I so into Petra Haden’s version of “Don’t Stop Believin'”–which itself is part of an all-“guilty pleasures” covers album that’s actually not 100% terrible? Maybe it’s because any time I hear “Don’t,” I get reminded of my second-favorite Flash animation of all time, or maybe it’s because I’ve been entranced with Haden’s weirdly spooky covers before–her MySpace has her lovely take on “God Only Knows.” Or maybe it’s just because I have no memories of an army of Petras (wearing matching crew-neck sweatshirts, natch) interrupting my bleary-eyed cereal-and-Pepsi dinner. Either way, her ability to mimic Journey’s keyboards is pretty fantastic, and I only wish she’d gone as all-out on the song’s chorus as Steve Perry does:
Petra Haden – Don’t Stop Believin’ [MP3] Petra Haden [MySpace] Guilt By Association [MySpace]
