John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Can't Get There From Here

I was sad to hear that R.E.M. was packing it in; after just over three decades, why not just take a hiatus, or go away and not tell anyone it was actully over? Surely they've earned a rest.

Here's one of my favourites.

It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Rapture this, dudes. It's Great Big Sea covering R.E.M.

Fall on Me

Buy the sky and sell the sky. Um ... sure.

R.E.M., from 1986.

Great Big Sea gets a nod in R.E.M. covers list

When I saw that Paste magazine has compiled a list of the best covers of R.E.M. songs, I thought to myself, "I sure hope they know about Great Big Sea."

Of course they do. The GBS cover of It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) is there, with a particular nod to the mandolin. It's a daunting song to cover, if only because of the speed-train of a beat and a truckload of complicated words.

You can sample the whole list here.

Here's the Great Big Sea cover:

Here's the R.E.M. original, from 1987:

Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom.