Jesse Lacey - Oh Comely (Neutral Milk Hotel)

[markkklol]

I was expecting him to butcher it terribly, but kudos to him

[RAZALAS92e]

this is awesome :D 

[SkaPow138]

I cover this song, it's not easy. The hardest part to sing is at 2:27 in this video, though.

[monicakicksbooty]

the last part was a little out there, but he does do NMH justice :)

[kakakatie04]

This is a great cover.

[holdsteady25]

He really does nail this.

Brand New and Neutral Milk Hotel are my two favourite bands right now

[cheeryyou]

sogood.

[bentupcigarette]

this is absolutely beautiful.

original song is amazing, and he does it justice and completely nailed it with his own version.

i fucking love nmh, and i fucking love jesse lacey.

[zathorg]

It's still pretty easy to sing and play. The best, if maybe only good thing, about this song are the lyrics.

[SammytheEskimo]

hah try singing it as well.

[wesman427]

What? How is Oh Comely not an easy song to cover? It's 3 chords.

[backpackingjunkie]

yeah and i'm sure you have the voice of an angel asshole. post a video of you doing this song in your bedroom in front of your ru paul and playgirl posters and then we will see how easy it is

[pr00de]

4 actually. And come on now, there's more to playing a song than playing the right chords and singing the right words over those chords. You'd technically get the song right, but there's a whole world of difference between that and actually performing the song well.

[Evanx225]

because jeffs got a voice like no otha

[jsteeez]

@wesman427 i don't know why people are giving you a thumbs down. apparently if you say a song is easy to cover, people assume you think that takes away from the power of the song.

[wesman427]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. He did a great job of capturing the emotion behind the lyrics and chords. I'm saying that this song has to be one of the top 5 easiest songs to play.

[markkklol]

@wesman427 who gives a fuck? How hard something is to play has really nothing to do with the impact a song can have

[wesman427]

@markkklol My opinion has not changed: this song is easy to play. The chords used in the progression are some of the most fundamental chords that beginner guitar players learn and the tempo is slow enough that the lyrics are easy to sing over them. It's really what makes the album so good; it's simple, powerful music that you can listen to over and over again. I'm not arguing that music that is easy to play can't be good. Please understand this. Read my last comment over again for clarification.

[rockon6191]

@wesman427 This song is incredibly simple to play on guitar. But it has one of the strangest, most bizarre, and straight up difficult melodies I've ever heard. Singing this song as it was originally performed is very challenging.

[lyinglikelions]

jesse lacey. <3

[xXPureMorningXx]

wow. this quality of a cover of a song that i was pretty sure couldn't get any better has made me smile : )

[lifeisublime]

my two favorite bands come together at last

[InfectedxWithxYou]

I'm so impressed. NOT an easy song to cover, he nailed it.

[saosinchic4812]

amazing song, covered by an amazing singer.

[deekay629]

this is not an easy song to cover.

[myfragilesin]

Seriously, guys, she was!

[buildingabetterx]

Why do you keep leaving these comments? Just curious.

[myfragilesin]

Because the world needs to know that she was like "what?"!

[buildingabetterx]

It wasn't me. It was a girl that was standing behind me. Either way, it's not relevant.

[myfragilesin]

Guys, she was like "what?".

[iamcoolalot]

3:56

now, i never thought i'd say this.

but . . . this cover is pretty damn good.

the emotion is conveyed very well.

i mean, he's certainly no jeff mangum, but he's pretty damn good. making it his own like this.

[FightHatemongers]

This is pretty good, but I don't like the screaming at the end. Seems more intense when that line is quiet. My fav is still the Pillow Army cover with violin & cello(also here on Youtube)

[jagster525]

know all your enemies!

[myfragilesin]

Guys. She was like "what?".

[shoebrush101]

does anyone have any idea of what Jeff Magnum was talking about when he wrote this song, the lyrics make no sense to me, there's all this semen, fetus, and anne frank imagery all over the place.

[popham05]

its about an unfaithful relationship. at least most of it is. the part where it says "your father made fetuses with flesh licking ladies" its talking about how the father cheated on the mother. He cheated on her in the garden, hence the "smelling of semen under the garden" line.

[CassieGodspeed]

God, when we breaks into "know all your enemies" its just incredible.

he so does this song justice, its breathtaking.

[MajestySnowbird]

This makes me sad. :(

It's like... a representation of the manufactured dribble on the radio these days contrasted with the diamond-in-the-rough brilliance of Jeff Mangum.

[briman727]

Are you calling Brand New's music manufactured dribble?

[MajestySnowbird]

Naw, I'm just saying they're in that same vein of popular music these days. I guess it's hard to word it carefully. I have nothing against Brand New's music or anyone's taste, it's just not for me.

[shoebrush101]

all that from just a harmless cover, maybe if you read up a bit on jesse lacey and brand new, and listened to a bit of deja entendu and devil and god you might understand why this cover might suit other people's tastes. And anyway, how many artists today even bother covering neutral milk anymore, if anything i'd love to see more of the artists i listen to today to do covers of nmh.

[MajestySnowbird]

Ah, I see. It's true that not a lot of artists cover Neutral Milk Hotel, but I prefer it that way. Nothing can really compare to the originals.

[brighterwest]

yeah but i would have never found out about neutral milk hotel if it wasnt for brand new so at least brand new is introducing new people to great music...

[eobigdaddy]

Heck yes! This is how I found out about NMH.

[poeticxtragedy]

i saw him play this live in brisbane in jan and i fell in love with it. jesse lacey is amazing and so is this song, its easily one of my favourite songs now.

[myfragilesin]

She was like "what?".

[ColorsSlowlyBleed]

jesse lacey's voice is nothing short of amazing<3

[blahhedout]

the point of music is to just listen to it..if u don't like it than u don't like it...i like this song and cover of it...but the next person might not. you have the freedom to like what you want. however when it gets to the point of name calling...common guys...i just really don't get the joy in being a hater...

i don't believe haters have any respect for music

my opinion...someone might have a different idea. that's fine.

[jone7724]

does this song justice i think...

i saw some video of some fag band butchering holland, 1945 and it was godawful

[nickfromdtown1992]

When he played this at House of Bules Dallas, he was getting so into it he was almost screaming. Also Aaron Weiss and Greg Jehanian were singing it with him. It was so intense.

[bmijal]

Did Aaron Weiss and Greg Jehanian from mewithoutYou not perform with him, also? They did when I saw them at the House of Blues in Ohio. That was probably one of the best moments I have ever endured. This video is great, though. Kudos.

[upsidedowni]

i love when he plays this at concerts... i can't believe the crowd isn't going more crazy.

[xXnewbiexninjaXx]

he played it when they were in toronto. sooooooo good

[upsidedowni]

if you mean a week ago, i was there too! and he played it in toronto in may, too. great show eh?

[Velourium]

do you really expect the majority of those people to even know who NMH is?

[lightupmyroom]

hahhaha.

[ViciousSatsuma]

well there were some pretty enthusiastic cheers at the end - a respectful silence from those that know the song, and understandable silence from those that don't.

[webbyness]

Hahah, I was there too. It was great.

The people around me were confused as hell. I heard things like "Come on Jesse, play a song we know". And here I was belting out the song as loud as I could.

God that was amazing.

[Gwojcik]

who can get me the mp3 of this song?

[WaMBaMkThNX]

what are you talking about because he said brains instead of breathe? are u a retard

[theorynumber13]

no Im talking about the 7 times i just counted that he effed up the lyrics.

YOU sir.

are the retard.

[ViciousSatsuma]

i don't think anyone's a retard but if he wants to he can sing slightly different lyrics. who gives a shit? it's his own version of the song, not an exact copy.

[popham05]

thats the whole point of indie music

they just let the music flow through them

they dont sing the exact same version every time like all the other crappy genres.

[tinyvoices19]

jeff changed lyrics so often, just watch a video of baby for pree/where you'll find me now

[popham05]

Excatly, Jeff isnt the only person that does it.

just look at live songs of modest mouse, sunset rubdown and even the Arcade Fire

[elleigirl2332]

this is absolutly spectacular

[theorynumber13]

hahhah the dummy doesnt even know the lyrics.

silly jesse.

still love him.

[thestormlscoming]

does anyone have this on mp3 that they can send me. i found some of his covers on limewire, but this one didn't come up. i really want it

[raleighbulmer]

i don't know if you still want it but i got it

[Gwojcik]

can u get a mp3 version of this?

[thestormlscoming]

yea, you can, if you want it i can send it to you

[thestormlscoming]

thanks, but i got it =]

[Gwojcik]

how could you sent it to me?

[Unknowndude]

holy shit

[brandxnew281]

this video took my breath away.

going on my myspace, fer sher haha.

[obregono1987]

Maybe it's because I've come to love Jeff Mangum's singing, but I feel like Jesse doesn't do a decent job at covering this song. I think it's such a personal song, that nobody could really sing it, except whoever wrote it.

Jesse Lacey is good, but I'd rather hear him playing his own stuff. He cannot compare to Jeff Mangum.

[thestormlscoming]

i get what you're saying, but it is a cover, so you can't really compare the two in that way, they're both separate.

[Danbizzle1984]

I wish that girl didn't talk lol

[coop2230]

wow, i hate Brand New, but at least the dude covers great music (NMH, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse)

[cmhcasd]

how can you hate brand new?

have you listen to the devil and god are raging inside me?

[coop2230]

idk. i just don't like them, i shouldn't say i hate them. yeah i've listened to that record 4 or 5 times, i remember thinking a couple songs were pretty good, but they just sounded really overtly modest mouse influenced. maybe ill give it another listen soon.

[jone7724]

being influenced by modest mouse isn't a bad thing.

[combine12365]

Yes it is.

[jone7724]

? would you rather their music sound like radiohead and smashing pumpkins? because i sure wouldn't, not that we cant have different opinions. but when i hear the devil & god, the modest mouse-like riffs (jesus christ is really the only song i've even noticed, im not sure where all the comparisons come from anyway...) sound pretty kickass to me.

not that i really give a shit if you disagree, thats just how i feel

[aestheticirony]

Lol, that's what I always say :D

[caleyboyer]

......

jesse lacey is just fucking amazing.

[Howdymills]

One of the best covers  jesse does!

[garyhampton]

One of the greatest, most honest songs ever written and Jesse does a great job playing it.

I hope this might help more people discover the brilliance of Neutral Milk Hotel.

[foreverxstoked]

amazing, thanks for sharing

[mkamadi]

Jesse's voice sounds amazing. I agree, great sound. :)

[RawrDegausser]

Yes it's really good sound. 5 stars for you! :]