Songs That Not Even American Idol Contestants Can Butcher

Driving in today I was listening to Laura Cantrell‘s take on one of the most lovely, slightly sad songs I know, Burt Bacharach and Hal David‘s “Trains and Boats and Planes”.

Laura Cantrell, “Trains and Boats and Planes”

I grew up with a Dionne Warwick/Bacharach/David-loving Mom. The Warwick version is fantastic, and every other version I’ve heard works. It’s not that this is my favorite Bacharach/David song, mind you, but the rolling, slightly suspended, extremely deliberate construction of the song seems to give any decent musician a toehold for injecting his or her own special feel. For example, here’s an essentially instrumental version by Fred Frith.

Fred Frith, “Trains and Boats and Planes”

I’ll go one further, and demonstrate that this song is so tightly constructed that not even the man with a “voice for songwriting,” Burt Bacharach himself, can screw it up.

Burt Bacharach, “Trains and Boats and Planes”

I try very hard never to watch American Idol, but when I do catch a minute or two, I’m usually horrified at contestants’ ability to butcher well-known songs. I believe that “Trains and Boats and Planes” is a song not even AI contestants can butcher. I have no proof of this, but two YouTube clips on the following page make the case that Bacharach and David might be the songwriting team equivalent of Bruce Willis‘ character in Unbreakable.

So I ask you, Rock Town Hall…What songs do you believe are so well written that not even American Idol contestants can butcher them?

AI contestants avoid butchering Bacharach/David tunes!

With surgical focus they continue to avoid disaster!