Wicked Game
I woke up this morning with the song Wicked Game in my head. I have a back injury and most movement is painful so I wasn’t going anywhere for a while, just doing my best to remain still. So I opened Spotify and found the song to satiate my thirst for it. I find my subconscious is expert at recommending songs on slow mornings to set the mood for the day for me.
I didn’t know who the artist was; I didn’t even know the name of the song at the time. I just started typing the lyrics I could remember and the name came up and I recognized it then. I hit play on the first result that I saw, I believe by Gemma Hayes. Then I backspaced and typed the actual song title in under the song tab and saw there were quite a few covers.
The song hit the spot and I figured I’d listen to a bunch of the covers. Then I had a “brilliant” idea and decided I’d listen to ALL of them to determine the best ones and to have a benchmark of what makes that song good. As I write this, around three hours after this wicked game of a journey began, I’ve only just reached the threshold of how many times I can listen to the same song in a row and have finally had to shift to some different music.
After those few hours, I had listened to nearly 30 versions of the song—several of which I really liked and listened to on repeat a number of times. I started to wonder about how long this venture would take me so I began to scroll…and scroll…and scroll…and scroll…and I realized that there have been endless covers of this song. Endless!
Needless to say, for sanity’s sake, I won’t be listening to every version of this song that is available. I did however enjoy the journey, and found country, rock, instrumental, and a more house version of the song mixed in, among many others. I learned that the original was by Chris Isaak, released in 1989. A few top personal favorites of mine are by Parra for Cuva (feat. Anna Naklab), Celine Dion, Y.V.E. 48, Boy & Bear, Bthelick / 9Ts / Seren & Chillion, Stone Sour, and Widowspeak.
With my all-time favorite to date being by Theory of a Deadman! Executed to perfection with all the feeling and suspense I believe the song requires.
Music is far-reaching. Songs are powerful. The nature of discovering music is so different today with immediate and infinite access. Like nearly everything in the world, pros and cons of that can be argued until earth is ended and the very last beat, note, or lyric is sounded. I will simply say that this little foray into the depths of one single song leads me to gratitude for the nature of music appreciation and how a song can be so regarded, meaningful, or catchy, to so wide a swath of people across time and borders, that there exists innumerable versions to satisfy every form of musical taste out there.
Write, Sing and Play on, artists and musicians—as songs continue to become the diaspora of genres that reach each and everyone in some meaningful way, and in what I hope is a continued mode of uniting humanity and cultivating community.
