You Are the Everything – Redbird (R.E.M. cover)
Great cover of a great song. This has always been one of my favorite numbers in the R.E.M. catalog. It’s got a wonderful simplicity. But as with most good R.E.M. songs, the lyrics are a bit hard to fully process, evocative imagery that’s more about a texture of feeling than about clarifying details. The ambiguity works wonderfully here. Is it a song for a lover? Probably. But it’s also plausible to read it as a mother’s lullaby for her young daughter. Or as an old man singing about his companion of many decades, who is “so young and old” – old in reality, but forever young in his memory. It’s also one of Michael Stipe’s best vocal performances. For a guy with no range to speak of and a fairly unimpressive voice, he’s got a je ne sais quoi that goes beyond technical proficiency.
This cover is from Redbird, a group/abum composed of Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst and Peter Mulvey. It’s a pretty faithful rendition, but is rescued from being mere imitation by the instrumentation, which is loose and joyful – giving the song less of a elegiac feel.