Music For Robots

March 9, 2005 | Posted by mark at 3:54 PM

I Can Breathe For the First Time

In the grand Robots tradition of posting acoustic double-cover versions, we bring you this little acoustic gem of Ted Leo covering Kelly Clarkson's amazing "Since U Been Gone." About two-thirds of the way through he breaks into a quick cover of Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Maps," which is only OK, although the guitar part sounds nice on the acoustic.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I fucking love the Clarkson version. That song is just an incredible, meaty, wall of awesome. I think she's great, and I'm glad she finally got a song that suits her voice and is right with the times. Kudos to the whole songwriting team, and to her awesome performance.

This track from Ted was ripped from an acoustic performance on UGO. THere's a bunch of videos on there worth checking out. For those of you who don't know Ted Leo, you should check out his website. You can purchase all of his incredible albums from our friends at Insound. His albums The Tyranny of Distance and Hearts of Oak are both highly recommended.

And you can also go download the original Clarkson version (from her album, Breakaway) through our friends at iTunes.

Comments

What did you use to clean up the audio? The version I ripped doesn't sound nearly as good.

Posted by: nelson at March 9, 2005 4:05 PM

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's been in my head since we saw him perform it a few weeks ago. Finally I can sleep.

Posted by: ghost.frog at March 9, 2005 4:54 PM

funny how you have 251 comments one day and then 0 the next. heard you on mtv the other day, programmed the link into my brain, remembered it today, and here i am. ta da.
yea. riiighhht. question. do the shirts come in youth sizes possibly? if so then huzzah but if not then bleh.
also i noticed that you guys have a lot of shows the next few days in austin. after you are done there you should all come out here to tyler texas. it's only like 3 or 4 hours away depending on how fast you drive...don't you want to do that? i could hook you up with a spot.
spread the news you know. introduce you to eisley or something.

Posted by: emily at March 9, 2005 5:32 PM

One-man acoustic covermashups. Ted Leo continues to amaze!

Posted by: brian at March 9, 2005 6:06 PM

not really a fan of the original but i loved this one its good stuff

Posted by: Ethan at March 9, 2005 6:08 PM

thank you so much for posting this. i will be happy the rest of the day now

Posted by: patrik at March 9, 2005 6:45 PM

Hysterics is AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: john at March 9, 2005 7:37 PM

Ted Leo is cool, but his stuff with Chisel was better. Just check out the song "Your Star Is Killing Me" or anything of of Set You Free

Posted by: glassjaw413 at March 9, 2005 8:42 PM

check out www.projectmotivation.com
totally original new style of heavy music

Posted by: promomind at March 9, 2005 9:15 PM

Ted Leo is the man.

Posted by: Richard at March 9, 2005 11:16 PM

I love Ted Leo, and the song too. However, this is crap. It's got none of the good aspects of either.

Posted by: borrowed_tunes at March 10, 2005 12:06 AM

thats hot. ted leo is a crazy kid...mad cool. ha..i like how he goes to "Maps."
oh and the hysterics by the way..AMAZING

Posted by: poland at March 10, 2005 7:46 AM

Oh man, I expected it to be so much better, because I love Kelly's version and I love Ted Leo. I love that he tried it, but the falsetto's just too much.

Posted by: Robot David at March 10, 2005 9:23 AM

I thought so...

Posted by: leticia at March 10, 2005 9:49 AM

kelly is amazing, i don't care what the nerds say. and now she's hot. and ted leo, well, of course.

pretty much the most perfect cover ever. or, exactly what i needed today.

Posted by: penelope at March 10, 2005 11:23 AM

Now that I listen to the Clarkson version again, I hear that the guitar part after the bridge is totally a rip-off of the solo at the end of Maps. Good ears, Leo!

Posted by: Robot David at March 10, 2005 12:06 PM

i love this cover.. its really really good. these guys were on conan obrien.. good stuff.

Posted by: dorie at March 10, 2005 12:36 PM

having said that,the acoustic solo at the end of the maps/since you been gone Leo cover is also reminiscent of the acoustic version of Foo Fighters Everlong the Breakdown part..

Posted by: dorie at March 10, 2005 12:42 PM

yeah. . . you guys did an amazing job cleaning that track up. i had pretty much tossed out my rip of the song, thanks for the save.

are we seeing the birth of an "mtv-kids VS blogger-kids" developing in the comments? eh? one can hope. . .

Posted by: sucka pants at March 10, 2005 3:56 PM

hahahahah "these guys were on conan" hahaha like they are a new buzz band or something hahahahahah "top bands to watch in 05"

Posted by: at March 10, 2005 8:52 PM

Dude, MTV is neat. And by "neat" I mean "shut up about The Hysterics because none of them want to date you and nobody cares that you saw them on MTV".

Posted by: Morgan at March 10, 2005 9:20 PM

relax, Morgan. Let the kids have their fun, OK?

Posted by: robot mark at March 10, 2005 10:45 PM

Ted Leo is the motherfucking man. The end. And for whoever said the falsetto was too much, that's one of his strong points. You hear it done and done well on every one of his records. "Shake the Sheets" was probably the most underrated album of 2004.

Posted by: pete at March 10, 2005 10:55 PM

I like the falsetto on his other records, I just don't like it here, because I feel like he's not hitting the notes.

Posted by: Robot David at March 11, 2005 8:37 AM

YOU'RE an incredible, meaty, wall of awesome.

Posted by: zach at March 11, 2005 8:53 AM

"hahahaha" arent you cool privy to all the old "new" music....rolls eyes.. wouldnt have seen them if they werent on conan o'brien why is that funny? der

Posted by: at March 12, 2005 11:04 AM

Somebody linked me to this on myspace. I liked the original, I'm afraid to say, but I can be proud about liking this cover - it's really good.

Posted by: MoeFaux at March 13, 2005 7:46 AM

am i gay for loving Kelly Clarkson?

dont answer i think i know

Posted by: monkey so sexy at March 13, 2005 9:26 PM

oh i didnt see MoeFaux's comments ... see there's a little Kelly Clarkson in all of us

Posted by: monkey so sexy at March 13, 2005 9:27 PM

i like the original better but its pretty cool all the same

Posted by: Chris at March 14, 2005 5:25 AM

kelly clarkson is tight lik that, and also does anyone hav her c.d. its really good, she has this song called afraid and hazel eyes that are REALLY good. Im serious

Posted by: nick at March 14, 2005 2:02 PM

Yeah, so Kelly Clarkson isn't usually on my playlist but I listen to EVERYTHING and try not to discriminate, and I was really impressed with "Since You Been Gone" too. I love stuff that has that kind of...raw emotion behind it. I think she has an awesome voice and good stage presence. Hope she keeps making stuff like this!
~Nat

Posted by: Natalia at March 15, 2005 10:34 PM

it was a good try...the guitar is great...but his voice is not the best.Like the original way more. But u can't blame the guy for trying.Kelly's cd rocks...cant wait for the "Beacause of You" video to come out!

Posted by: Rachel at September 2, 2005 6:35 PM

Both songs are awesome. I didn't give Kelly Clarkson a chance til I heard Ted Leo's cover. But I have to disagree that the Yeah Yeah Yeah's cover is just ok. Including this bit totally makes the song. It's brilliant.

Posted by: jylcat at November 6, 2005 2:44 PM

This band I've come across on MySpace does a really great cover of "Since U Been Gone". The male lead sings pretty well, but there's a slightly off key chorus that just feels right. Check it out here:
http://www.myspace.com/funclub

Posted by: Steve at July 26, 2006 9:38 PM

Maps, the YYY's song combined with the Kelly Clarkson song is about how the writers of her song stole the rif from the YYY's. I have been reading about it here: www.stereogum.com/archives/002296.html

Posted by: RaeRae at August 30, 2006 6:07 PM