Candle Song (Ugly Kid Joe Cover)
While revisiting my old musical catalog, I came across a forgotten pearl. About 25 years ago, our band was working on its second album. One of my songs had just been dropped from the tracklist, so I asked if anyone would help me record a few of my own pieces on the side. Our guitarist and drummer already knew the songs from rehearsals, and the guitarist’s girlfriend — who often joined our sessions — knew them as well. When the singer and bandleader had to be away from the studio for a day, we used the opportunity for a spontaneous side session. Together with a friend on piano, we recorded five tracks in one afternoon and evening, almost as a secret test run. Among them was a quiet cover of “Candle Song” by Ugly Kid Joe (written by Whitfield Crane, Dave Fortman).
The singer wasn’t exactly pleased when he found out — reworked by new technology
Candle Song
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I'm absolutely loving this. Never heard this before, and never heard of Ugly Kid Joe before, but man I like this.
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Ugly Kid Joe were a metal / hard rock band from Isla Vista, California. They released the album Menace to Sobriety back in 1995 — I bought it at the time. The very last track was Candle Song. I remember hearing it and thinking: “WOW… did they really write that? What a beautiful song!”
I had only been playing guitar for about a year back then, but I grabbed mine right away and tried to learn it. I changed the chords a bit (used A and B minor instead of C and D major) and played around with the melody. From then on I played it everywhere — at parties, campfires… basically until everyone was almost sick of hearing it 😅
When we recorded it, we had already done four songs for the side session and were all tired and ready to go home. The guitarist’s girlfriend suddenly said, “But we still have to do Candle Song!”
Everyone was like: NOOOOOOO — the drummer was already halfway out the door. But we stayed, did one quick run-through, then hit record on the second take… and that’s the one you hear.
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Wow, just exceptional. I went and listened to the original which I had never heard before. I think your rendition is even better. The singing duet is just so beautiful...I'm goan back for another listen, thanks for posting this.
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Thank you! Yeah — the original version is sensational, but almost nobody knows it. It was hidden as the last track on the album, just like Butterfly by Weezer — another brilliant hidden gem.
The version you hear here is our original recording, just highly polished with new technology
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I guess legally your suppose to pay these guys to cover a song , But its only enforced by majors
Sounds good man
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Wonderful! Never heard the original, but this knocks it out of the park!
Great job!
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Howdy, Stranger!