You might already know I love to whistle (see previous post on Andrew Bird — Cataracts), so obviously Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn, and John is my indie-rock anthem. Given this fact, it might seem strange that the songs I chose to post today have NO whistling. But all of these covers are so excellent that I don’t even care if there’s no whistling–each one makes this song his or her own, and they’re so good I just can’t wait to post them.
The first one is quite short, and it doesn’t contain the whole song. It’s by a youtuber called marthinan. She’s got a great voice, but what I really like is that she plays around a little bit with the rythym–it threw me off at first, but now I can’t stop listening. Maybe if we all ask her to record the whole song, she will.
Enjoy:
This next one is very interesting. Youtuber scarymonster9 shows a lot of skill on the guitar, and I really like that he plays the chords while tabbing out the whistling part in the original. He recorded his voice on a mic and added what sounds like reverb–I think that’s a nice tribute to the original. The guitar part is also very pulsing and rythymic, so I think it makes up for the lack of drums. Here’s the video:
This last one is my absolute favorite! It’s from a youtuber named dianou92. There are so many good things to say about this–not only the does she have a great voice, but she also self-harmonizes (I think) with a French accent, AND she does the cover on the ukulele! So many creativity points. Even the ba-ba-bas in place of whistling make me smile. Watch, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
And finally, of course, here’s the original, with whistling and all: Peter, Bjorn, and John — “Young Folks” on youtube.
Amateur Covers of the Music You Love 