About this time of year I start looking for new songs to throw my bands (Slumpbuster and The Dungarees) and I end up finding hidden gems. Luckily my travels let me to one of the most precious musical gem I've ever heard. Glen Campbell's cover of Good Riddance by Green Day.
To fully appreciate how good this cover is you have to look past the musicianship, the arrangement and even the song itself. It's the backstory that will make you cry and if you don't shed a tear while listening to it you literally may not have a heart.
I grew up listenting to Glen Campbell and not Rhinestone Cowboy. Galveston. By the Time I Get to Phoenix. Gentle on My Mind. Which by the way is basically a song about a guy who marries women across the country and at some point realizes being homeless and eating soup out of a can can in a trainyard is a better life for him. But I digress. Bottom line is he was a musical genius.
Glen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010 but instead of fading away, he chose to go out on tour and film his entire battle capturing it all in a documentary titled "I'll Be Me". It is difficult to watch. It shows every bit how cruel this disease can be. But it also shows the depth of his brilliance.
Granted, this song was recorded two years before his diagnosis, but when you listen to the lyrics now aware of what the future was holding for him, it takes the song to higher level than it's ever been at before.
So if you ever need a good cry put this on your playlist and hit repeat. You won't be disappointed.