Like any Christmas classic, there are endless covers of this one too: Silver Bells. The original is composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, but the first recorded version is by Bing Crosby & Carol Richards in 1950. We made a valiant attempt to separate the good from the bad and came up with a list of ten not-to-be-missed covers.
"Ring-a-ling, Hear them ring, Soon it will be Christmas day"
Let's start off nice and quiet with the one and only Billie Eilish (live) and her brother Finneas O'Connell on piano. She owns the track immediately and turns the Silver Bells into pretty delicate golden bells at once.
When Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings sink their cover teeth into something, you know it's going to be good. In 2015, they recorded this glowing soulful version of the classic.
The Annihilators (earlier on the blog this year) came up with this wild 'n catchy, punky pub "woohoho" version.
The Thought Beings from California made Silver Bells sound synthy and digital.
They from She & Him took the plunge in 2010 and came up with a sensitive and basic ukulele only version, carried by the folky sound of Zooey Deschanel's voice.
The famous instrumental version that Booker T. & The MG's recorded can't be missed. They did it for the prestigious Stax label back in 1967 already.
The guys from Ashes To Arrows listened to U2 pretty well, but luckily not enough to ruin the song. What remains is a strong power-pop version of Silver Bells.
Reindeer Tribe are no strangers to CAGG, but they always manage to surprise. Like on their country-a-like version of Silver Bells from 2017.
You can always count on Anni Rossi when it comes to original covers. The New Yorker takes over Silver Bells with minimal resources.
And that makes ten. Time to finish this Silver Bells appreciation post with Silver Bells by The Appreciation Post. So that means no fuss, just loud guitars and going out with a bang!
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