It’s one thing to make a parody of a popular song. It’s quite another to create a cover that transforms that song into something with melodic and emotional depths that the original wasn’t meant to have.
Ben Howard has managed it very nicely:
There’s something in Mr. Howard’s delivery that reminds me of Tracy Chapman—tone, resonance, delivery . . . I’m not sure. But I like it.
(I stole this from Jalisa Blackman’s last Music Monday—she’s introduced me to some amazing stuff)
Earful of Cider 