This week, I’ve had Regina Spektor’s version of the Beatles’ classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” #OnRepeat. It was recorded for the recent stop-motion animation movie, Kubo and the Two Strings.
This song actually gave me an opportunity to become more familiar with Regina Spektor and her music. Spektor is a singer, songwriter, and pianist originally from the Soviet Union, who emigrated with her family to the United States when she was nine years old. She began playing classical piano and writing her own original songs in her teenage years, gaining popularity with songs like “Better,” “Fidelity,””Small Town Moon,” and “You’ve Got Time” (the last of which being used as the theme song for the Netflix original series, Orange is the New Black).
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a song written by George Harrison–one of the band members from the Beatles, in case you didn’t know–from their 1968 album The Beatles (also called the White Album). The song’s lyrics have themes of relativity, which reflect themes of the storyline of the movie, Kubo and the Two Strings. In the movie, Kubo accidentally summons a vengeful spirit and must then go on a quest (with a monkey and a beetle) to find his father’s armor and save his family, all the while battling monsters with with his magical instrument.
Regina’s interpretation of the words for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” are both haunting and surreal, yet have an element of simplicity and innocence. It’s always interesting to hear new interpretations of classic songs. The addition of Asian instrumentation to this arrangement, although mainly for purposes to relate it more to the movie, makes the song sound brighter and more contemplative. Listen below:
Are there any musicians or groups that you can’t stop listening to? Leave a comment below!