13 Different Versions Of "Royals" by Lorde

Tonight is the first game of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. For once, I'm actually pulling for one of the teams, instead of just jumping on the bandwagon of whichever team is hot like I usually do. I'm nearly a lifelong Royals fan and am happy to see them finally returning to the Series. In honor of the occasion, I present to you 13 different renditions of the hit song "Royals" by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. For those of you who aren't familiar with the song, Lorde's original version is included first. For those of you who appreciate a bit of commentary with each song, you'll be happy to find it here as well. Enjoy!  ~  JH

"Royals" ~ as sung by Lorde

1)  Craig Campbell  (This guy makes the song sound like it was written AS a country song! Well-played, Craig. Well-played.)

2)  Pentatonix  (This group ALWAYS nails their cover songs – with nary a musical instrument in sight, aside from their amazing voices!)

3)  Puddles, The Sad Clown With The Golden Voice  (He's a 7-foot-tall clown named Puddles. And he croons like a lounge singer. Of course he does…)

4)  Walk Off The Earth  (I love this band! They manage to make their cover songs sound entirely unique, while somehow retaining the overall flavor of the original song. Plus, their music videos are top-notch performance art!)

5)  Sarah Stone  (The creativity and talent of YouTubers never ceases to amaze me! Check out this version, which uses a red Solo cup and two busy hands for its percussion.)

6)  Clean Bandit  (This one was definitely re-imagined, not at all a sound-alike cover like many of the ones you'll find on YouTube. It's not my favorite, but it's certainly unique.)

7)  Jason Derulo  (Real talk: This guy's got such a smooth voice that he could make any song sound good.)

8)  Mayer Hawthorne  (The singer promises to "funk it up" a bit here, and indeed he does. Nice cover, "unexpected" or otherwise.)

9)  Ed Sheeran  (He learned the song in two-and-a-half minutes and OWNED it! Yep, Ed's pretty amazing like that.)

10)  Tyler Ward  (This veteran YouTuber's version of the hit song is uncharacteristically sunny – figuratively and literally – and leaves an entirely different taste in one's mouth. Which isn't a bad thing. It's just different.)

11)  Jim Cheek & Scott Jenkins  (To all of you who were waiting with bated breath for a saxophone cover of this song, your wait is over! And you're welcome.)

12)  Pixie Lott  (Take a catchy pop song, add a sassy "blue-eyed soul" singer, honey-throated backup singers, and a great jazz backing band, and you get this. Magic!)

13)  Dave Days  (What "Royals" would sound like if Avril Lavigne sang it…in 2002…and she was actually a guy. End result: Well…it's kinda crappy.)

BONUS TRACK:  "Weird Al" Yankovic  ~  "Foil"  (Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a great "Weird Al" parody of the song!)

Songs By Awesome Aussie Female Singers, Vol. 1

For whatever reason, I've always had a strong affinity for Australian female singers. In fact, many of my favorite female singers of all time hail from Down Under. Knowing that, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that this post now exists, nor should it be altogether shocking that I couldn't fit all the good songs/singers into just one post. So tomorrow I'll share another 20 of them. Hope you'll enjoy these as much as I do!  ~  JH

1)  Sia  ~  "Chandelier"

2)  Sarah Blasko  ~  "All I Want"

3)  Natalie Imbruglia  ~  "Torn"

4)  Sherrié Austin  ~  "Lucky In Love"

5)  Kylie Minogue  ~  "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"

6)  Gabriella Cilmi  ~  "Sweet About Me"

7)  Olivia Newton-John  ~  "Hopelessly Devoted To You"

8)  Emma Louise  ~  "Jungle"

9)  Lenka  ~  "The Show"

10)  Owl Eyes  ~  "Closure"

11)   Rebecca St. James  ~  "God"

12)  Aluka  ~  "Keep My Cool"

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RViVZUWUOao

13)  Tina Arena  ~  "Burn"

14)  Liz Stringer  ~  "Like A Roll Of Thunder"

15)  Butterfly Boucher  ~  "I Can't Make Me"

16)  Ngaiire  ~  "Glorious"

17)  Vanessa Amorosi  ~  "This Is Who I Am"

18)  Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens  ~  "Little Surprises"

19)  Frente!  ~  "Labour Of Love"

20)  Ali Barter  ~  "Run You Down"

Video wouldn't load properly –  lick clink to view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrwULoNd2w

"Milk" & "Honey" Songs

Not exactly an "Opposites" music post, but the two words are somewhat related. And there are some pretty great songs here. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Roxette  ~  "Milk And Toast And Honey"

2)  Blake Shelton  ~  "Honey Bee"

3)  Eric Clapton  ~  "Malted Milk"

4)  Mariah Carey  ~  "Honey"

5)  Beck  ~  "Milk & Honey"

6)  Lady Antebellum  ~  "American Honey"

7)  Aerosmith  ~  "Milk Cow Blues"

8)  Gloria Gaynor  ~  "Honey Bee"

9)  Rufus Wainwright  ~  "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk"

10)  Shania Twain  ~  "Honey, I'm Home"

11)  Herman's Hermits  ~  "No Milk Today"

12)  Zee Avi  ~  "Honey Bee"

13)  Foals  ~  "Milk & Spiders"

14)  Feist  ~  "Honey Honey"

15)  Garbage  ~  "Milk"

16)  Lou Reed & Metallica  ~  "Iced Honey"

17)  Sea Oleena  ~  "Milk"

18)  R.E.M.  ~  "Me In Honey"

19)  Second Person  ~  "Spilt Milk"

20)  Van Morrison  ~  "Tupelo Honey"

21)  Laura Gibson  ~  "Milk Heavy, Pollen Eyed"

22)  Aretha Franklin  ~  "Honey"

23)  Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside  ~  "Poison Milk"

24)  Haim  ~  "Honey & I"

25)  Beatsteaks  ~  "Milk & Honey"

12 Songs For The Signs Of The Zodiac

Let me preface this post by stating that I put no credence whatsoever in astrology or astrological signs. I just think the names of the signs sound pretty cool, and I figured someone somewhere had written a song about each of them, or at least had written songs with the signs in the titles. And I was right. And here they are… Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  God Is An Astronaut  ~  "Sunrise In Aries"

2)  Steve Vai  ~  "Taurus Bulba"

3)  The Night Flight Orchestra  ~  "Gemini"

4)  My Chemical Romance  ~  "Cancer"

5)  Deep Purple  ~  "Maybe I'm A Leo"

6)  Van Morrison  ~  "Virgo Clowns"

7)  Jane Lui  ~  "Libra Armor"

8)  10,000 Maniacs  ~  "Scorpio Rising"

9)  The Flaming Lips  ~  "Sagittarius Silver Announcement"

10)  30 Seconds To Mars  ~  "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)"

11)  The 5th Dimension  ~  "Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In"

12)  Tori Amos  ~  "Goodbye, Pisces"

"Wax" & "Tracks" Songs

You see what I did there? Well, of course you do! Now enjoy 'em already!  ~  JH

1)  Sponge  ~  "Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina)"

2)  The Civil Wars  ~  "Tracks In The Snow"

3)  Raashan Ahmad  ~  "In Love With Wax"

4)  Smokey Robinson & The Miracles  ~  "The Tracks Of My Tears"

5)  No Americana  ~  "Wax Poetic"

6)  Gary Numan  ~  "Tracks"

7)  Charlotte Campbell  ~  "Feathers And Wax"

8)  Barbara McNair  ~  "The Other Side Of The Tracks"

9)  Loch Lomond  ~  "Wax & Wire"

10)  A Boy & His Kite  ~  "Cover Your Tracks"

11)  Alana Henderson  ~  "Wax And Wane"

12)  The Rapture  ~  "Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks"

13)  Whales In Cubicles  ~  "Wax & Feathers"

14)  Billy Talent  ~  "Runnin' Across The Tracks"

15)  Anamanaguchi  ~  "Space Wax America"

16)  The Tragically Hip  ~  "Frozen In My Tracks"

17)  Chairlift  ~  "Ceiling Wax"

18)  Jacobs Ladder  ~  "Scream (Railroad Tracks)"

19)  Beck  ~  "Hotwax"

20)  Stephen Simmons  ~  "Lay On The Tracks"

21)  Paul McCartney  ~  "House Of Wax"

22)  David Crosby  ~  "Tracks In The Dust"

23)  Thrice  ~  "The Melting Point Of Wax"

24)  Nils Lofgren  ~  "Across The Tracks"