Originals vs Covers: What a wonderful world [Eng-Esp]

Greetings, Hivers. Starting today I will begin to give life to an idea for rescuing a project that I worked on for a while with my friend Hive account@isauris in the previous platform and I would like to revitalize in HIVE. It's about Originals vs Covers. So every week I will be presenting famous songs in their original version and in one or more of their covers so that you can tell me in the comments which one you liked the most and why. The most creative, original or best argued answer will receive a special gift from me. Would you like to participate?

We will start this musical space with a true classic; it is What a wonderful world, the beautiful song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and premiered in 1967 by the wonderful Louis Armstrong, after having been offered to several singers who rejected it.

Although it had a somewhat cool reception in his country, the song reached the first place in sales in the UK by 1968. Years later, it would be reborn in the hearts of the masses thanks to its inclusion in the soundtrack of the movie Good Morning Vietnam (1987). Since then, this jazz classic has been honored in several films and series such as Twelve Monkeys (1995), Bowling for Columbine (2002), Madagascar (2005) or Sons of Anarchy in its fourth season (2011), among others. The theme, a sort of hymn to optimism and the enjoyment of the simple and beautiful things that life gives us, was conceived as an antidote to the heated socio-political climate of the late 60s and I think it is propitious and medicinal for our souls in these murky and gloomy times.

The selection of the version that will defend the covers today was quite difficult, because in the last five decades there have been several beautiful recordings of this song, such as Natalie Cole's with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras (1995), B.B. King's in his album Reflections (2003) or Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder's (2004), among many others with merit and quality. But, and after several hours of listening and enjoying them, I chose the version included in the soundtrack of Sons of Anarchy, performed by Alison Mosshart and The Forest Rangers, for its warmth and attachment to the spirit of the original version.

Now tell us: Which one did you like the most and why? Leave us a comment and if you think there is an even better version, feel free to share it and enrich our love for good music. The idea is to make this series a space for the encounter of musical genres, idioms and trends in the most universal of the languages created by the human being. If you have any recommendations for future posts or want to support this initiative, of course you are welcome. Until next time, Hivers, and long live the music!