When You Say Nothing At All
In the cab today, the radio was playing the Alison Krauss version of "When You Say Nothing At All", which basically pummels the Ronan Keating version into the ground and makes it beg for mercy.
I discovered the Krauss version, admittedly, by watching the Notting Hill DVD with the commentary on and learning that it was Krauss's take on the late Keith Whitley's song that inspired the producers to hire Ronan Keating to cover it. Why not use the Krauss one, then? Of course, the same producers also hired Elvis Costello to cover Charles Aznavour's "She", but at least you could argue in that case that they needed a more straight-up and bright rendition, rather than Aznavour's somewhat louche melancholic rasp, for the context in which the film used it.
The original Whitley version of "When You Say Nothing At All" is great stuff too. The song needs singers with a country/bluegrass background to work, methinks.
I discovered the Krauss version, admittedly, by watching the Notting Hill DVD with the commentary on and learning that it was Krauss's take on the late Keith Whitley's song that inspired the producers to hire Ronan Keating to cover it. Why not use the Krauss one, then? Of course, the same producers also hired Elvis Costello to cover Charles Aznavour's "She", but at least you could argue in that case that they needed a more straight-up and bright rendition, rather than Aznavour's somewhat louche melancholic rasp, for the context in which the film used it.
The original Whitley version of "When You Say Nothing At All" is great stuff too. The song needs singers with a country/bluegrass background to work, methinks.
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The Alison Krauss and Union Station version totally runs laps around Keating's version!
Never did hear the original version though.