The perfect version.

I tend to discover music on the internet; so I have a constant dilemma. Namely, there are lots of versions of most songs, and a lot of them suck. This is especially true if the artist isn't well known, or the song isn't yet released; however, this can still be a problem with more well known songs.

A song which I have been listening to a lot lately is "You Don't Know Me" by Ben Folds (w Regina Spektor), from the album Way to Normal. Someone posted it on facebook. I loved it upon first listen, and bookmarked the page, and for a while I just listened to that version. I'm pretty sure it was this one:



After listening to that version about 400 times just by loading the youtube video, I decided to download it. And since I really like Ben Folds, I decided to do something I rarely do: pay for it. I was sad to find out that the version I downloaded from iTunes was slightly different. Maybe it was just the settings on my iPod, but the version I have seems to have less bass and Ben's vocals are weaker. So I tried to find a downloadable version more to my liking. In my search I quickly found that there is a version with a music video created by Tim and Eric linked here:


http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1829946

(College humor linked since it has no ads and youtube does, but it is not embeddable.) It has the same version of music as the previous video, but fans of Tim and Eric may enjoy it. It has all of the usual nonsensical awkwardness and cross-dressing typical of T&E works.

Next I found a version which I liked pretty well, a live version from Jimmy Kimmel Live. There seems to be a more complete band this time, but annoyingly there is an intro and outro; something I don't like in a playlist. This can be easily remedied, especially in iTunes, just by setting different start/end times. But, I also didn't care for the delivery of the line, "say it," towards the end of the song, and I have plenty of time, so I kept the search for a perfect version going.

The unlikely winner was from the rehearsal of the Conan performance. I can't find the actual Conan performance, which is odd, but the rehearsal was just splendid anyways.



Here is an example of one out of the many very sucky versions.



It is a cell phone capture from a concert. The video is grainy, the audio quality is so poor it might as well be filmed from inside the stomach of a bleating goat with something stuck in his throat.

Another fun thing about doing these searches is that you come across cool versions like this one:



It's an acapella rendition by a group from UVA called the Sil'hooettes. It seems to be recorded inside of a bathroom, which may not have been the best idea since it echos a lot, but they may have been going for that. (Is this what girls do when they all go to the bathroom together?) But if you are recording a song and someone comes in to take a dump it can ruin the atmosphere. They have another version of the same song on their youtube channel if you care to search for it, but I prefer the one posted above.

Sidenote, is it wrong that when I sing along with this song I always sing the Regina part? Please say no.

Another song I have had an extensive search for the perfect version is "I was a Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me. I heard a live version a long time before it became a hit at 3 in the morning on the radio. When it became a hit I thought, "Oh yeah, this song, but why is it so much worse now?" It was so tame, so subdued; the term "neutered" comes to mind.



I remember it sounding so much more raw. The one linked above almost seems sarcastic; I guess that's the result when you sell out in doing a song about anarchy. Youtube offered a few decent renditions.



This version is Okay. Ironically it sounds more intense to me even though it's acoustic, which seems contradictory to me. The delivery of the titular line is so much more convincing and fulfilling. Still though, it isn't the way I remember. I have given up my quest to find that particular version; I have already waded too far into the pool of available versions. I feel like little Pete Wrigley from The Adventures of Pete and Pete, unable to find the song I'm looking for, but unlike Pete I will not start a pirate radio show in furtherance of my search.

Thanks for reading, comments make the voices stop.