One of the things that I most appreciate about my training as a musician is the ability to truly listen. Recently, I posted a cover of George Ezra’s “Budapest,” and talked about being able to hear past a recording I’m not at all fond of to recognize a song that has real potential. This week, I finally recorded “The House that Heaven Built” by the Japandroids. This is a song I’ve loved since the first time I heard it. It has this amazing driving energy and sense of freedom to it. I knew it was a great song. The question for me was, “How great is it?”

There are some songs that are amazing, and near perfect the way they are. It’s so hard to do anything with them. John Lennon’s “Imagine” is one of those songs. I’ve heard countless covers, but rarely a good one that does anything new and different with the song. Then there are songs that are so great, they can be done successfully in a multitude of styles. I love Lake Street Dive’s slow, bluesy cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” Or the swing recording I did of Imagine Dragon’s “Radioactive.” I think “The House That Heaven Built” is one of those songs that is so well crafted that it can handle multiple stylings. Here’s my piano driven cover of it: