obadiah-parker-hey-ya

While I typically get mocked for my love of “garage band, emo, slit-my-wrist music” (PS according to my house music-obsessed friends that means bands like Connor Oberst, Death Cab for Cutie and the like :P), I think this acoustic cover of a once overly-played and never truly engaging song will slightly redeem me in their eyes. Outkast’s “Hey Ya” was of course a HUGE hit when it came out- but hey, so was Mambo #5… Still, the song wasn’t exactly what I would call… affective. NOW, in comes Mat Weddle, AKA Obadiah Parker (his band’s name). While this guy has no bling and no huge following up to his version’s release, his acoustic rendition of Andre 3000′s original is nothing short of brilliant and moving.

I am an absolute sucker for acoustic and for remixes of songs I’d once believed used for all they were worth (god that sounds like the last guy I dated ;), so this song has basically become my new obsession. Obadiah looks like a lumberjack teddy bear with his Rip Van Winkle beard and gentle demeanor. His powerful but emotive voice will definitely have you either playing this video more than a couple times or running for Limewire to bust this hit to the top of your “recently added” playlist.


I recommend searching for his “live” album via torrent once you’ve got the acoustic version of this song (while the live version is also great, there’s just something about that unplugged twang ;). My second fav from the compilation is “Idioteque”… takes about a minute to get started but well worth the wait.

Enjoy!!

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