How to Cover Hall and Oats

The good folks at Herohill asked me to participate in a year-end challenge of sorts.

The question: Would I cover a Hall and Oats song for their site?


.: A sweet gift circa 1981 :.

My immediate reaction involved visions of messy, awkward high school dances, but once I got past that horror, deeper H&O memories came racing back to me.

It was around grade 4 when one of my friends Linda Switzer moved away with her family to California. While still fairly far away today, the west coast State was worlds away to a young kid from Glengarry in the early 80s. I was sure I'd never see her again and I was right.

But a few months later she did something that I've never forgotten. She sent me a 7" record in the mail. My grade 4 prepubescent brain was beyond thrilled and incredibly touched. The record was the hit single 'Private Eyes' by Daryl Hall and John Oats.

When the Herohill guys came knocking, I thought it would be fun to tie their plan to that nostalgic record and I immediately went digging through my collection. I was bent on covering the B side, regardless of what that turned out to be (I had obviously long forgotten, not even sure that I had ever listened to it in the first place).

The result was 'Tell Me What You Want'. While not remarkable in the lyrics department (most pop songs aren't), to my surprise it is a great, catchy number!

My version is on the 80s-dance-track-killer side of mellow, but I encourage you to check out the original once you've given mine - and the other great covers here - a listen.

The Herohill guys will love you for taking the time to do both.

Cheers.