In with the old, out with the new

Well what do y’know, an old song is covered by a new artist, featured in a £6m ad campaign and it’s suddenly everywhere, getting hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, and likely to become a chart topping hit. Sound familiar at all? It’s certainly not the first time this has happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

On the 23rd of April John Lewis launched its new ad campaign featuring Billy Joel’s “She’s Always A Woman” performed by Fyfe Dangerfield from the Guillemots. Within two days the ad had already gained over 320,000 views on YouTube and it looks like John Lewis, Billy Joel, Dangerfield and all record companies involved will substantially profit from the enormous success this simple syncing has had. Dangerfield’s version has already rocketed up this week’s UK singles charts to number 7, been added to 108 radio stations playlists and has just broken the record for the most tagged track in Shazam’s history.

Although it wasn’t used in an advert, at the end of last year Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing also experienced similar meteoric fame thanks to X-Factor’s Joe McElderry and fox’s musical comedy, Glee. Personally, I can’t fault the call to rejuvenate old songs and give them a new lease of life. Ok, so I know a lot of people whinge that the remakes aren’t as good as the original, and to be fair in a lot of cases I have to agree, but I can’t help but think that without the rehashing of these old classics, entire generations will never be exposed to a whole host of amazing songs, and I personally feel that’s more of a travesty. So, for those who aren’t acquainted with the original, here’s Billy Joel, doing what he does best....




Katie