‘It Had to be You’: Which post-rock era singer has released the best Great American Songbook album?
A Far Out Magazine feature explores the recurring trend of rock and pop-era singers releasing albums of Great American Songbook standards, tracing the phenomenon from Bob Dylan's quiet fascination with the genre through to the wave of artists who followed. It argues that while such records became something of a cliché, seen as sentimental or a sign of creative exhaustion, Dylan's own Songbook albums stand apart because he approached the songs as "uncovering" rather than covering them, letting his weathered voice diverge from the smooth crooning style most other singers tried and failed to emulate.
The piece charts how Dylan sought permission from Columbia Records to record standards after hearing Willie Nelson's 1978 hit Stardust, only to be refused, before eventually releasing Shadows in the Night. It notes earlier and contemporaneous efforts by artists including Harry Nilsson, Rod Stewart (five such albums between 2002 and 2010), Carly Simon, Paul McCartney's Kisses on the Bottom, and others such as Chrissie Hynde, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Sinéad O'Connor and Lady Gaga, framing Dylan's take as the most distinctive within this broader tradition.
- Far Out Magazine examines rock stars' albums of Great American Songbook standards
- Bob Dylan's Songbook records are singled out as the finest example
- Rod Stewart, McCartney, Nilsson and others also tackled the classic canon
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Post-rock era singers have long been drawn to the Great American Songbook: the body of jazz-age and mid-century standards, mostly written between the 1920s and 1950s, by composers such as Gershwin, Berlin and Cole Porter, and popularised by crooners like Frank Sinatra. Since the 1970s, a string of rock and pop artists have recorded albums covering these old standards, often departing sharply from the sound they built their careers on. Bob Dylan is one of the most notable examples, releasing several such albums in the 2010s.
These records are often viewed with some scepticism, seen by critics as a sentimental or "safe" move, sometimes associated with an artist running low on original ideas. Beyond Dylan, singers including Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Annie Lennox and Lady Gaga have all released their own takes on the genre, each bringing their own vocal style to songs originally written decades before they were born.
The wider discussion, then, is about how these very different artists have approached the same repertoire, and whether any one interpretation stands out from the rest. It matters to fans of these musicians because it touches on questions of artistic reinvention, authenticity and how well a singer's own voice and history can serve material that predates them by generations.