Home

I decided, in light of the direction my personal blog has taken, to start a new blog just for my thoughts on music. Eventually, the music posts I've written over the past few years will be moved here, but for right now, I have some something pressing to talk about.

My station was securely tuned into country radio, and so when I heard the intro to "Home," originally by Michael Buble, I couldn't help but cringe. I think I actually shouted out loud to the red light in front of me, "No... come on!"

Thoughts of Alabama singing "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time On You," Mark Chestnut singing, "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing," and Jack Ingram's "Lips of an Angel," raced through my mind. Who could have been stupid enough to think they could do a Michael Buble original any kind of justice?! WHO, I ask!

It didn't take me long to recognize the voice as Blake Shelton's.

But, before you get angry at me, I have to admit, there is a bit of a twist to the story.

"Home," was the very first Michael Buble song I heard. I saw him sing on Regis and Kelly, and I remember my complete and utter disappointment at the impression he was failing to make. He was wasn't bad, but he wasn't fantastic either. The voice was fine, but where was its character? Where was his personality? For whatever reason, though, he won me over eventually, and I did come to hold some sort of appreciation for that song. It never was my favorite on the CD; it just didn't hold the life some of the others did.

It only took Blake a few phrases to convince me. I fell in love with his vocal performance. I am not the biggest Blake Shelton fan in the world. But his voice plus "Home" equals perfection.

Guess what else I heard, once I made myself stop singing along? The song features Miranda Lambert on background vocals. Once I realized that, I understood. This song is perfect. It's perfect in every way.

The arrangement is fairly true to Michael's arrangement, actually. The instrumentation is a touch different (with a pedal steel thrown in here or there) but every change that was made was made with discretion and true musical consideration. In spots, I prefer the country version, especially when the strings reach a climax they never quite achieved in Michael's version.

It's not that Michael's recording is bad. It's really quite good, and the song itself, which he co-wrote, is incredibly gorgeous melodically and harmonically and lyrically. But Blake and Miranda singing this song together makes some kind of sense that Michael couldn't have made alone, even if these kinds of songs were his strength.

I fell in love with it, and that surprised me, but I'm glad I stuck around long enough to be surprised.