The newest Green Day cover is upbeat and fun, but doesn't bring anything new to the song.
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Green Day’s steady releases of different classic covers under the name ‘No Fun Mondays during quarantine has been one the highlights of lockdown for me, I can’t lie. This past week, they released another banger; a cover of Blondie’s iconic track, ‘Dreaming’, a fanciful and whimsical new wave track from their fourth album Eat to the Beat.
‘Dreaming’ is already a brilliant song in it’s own right, ranking up there as one of Blondie’s best songs, with the likes of ‘Atomic’, ‘Heart of Glass’ and ‘One Way or Another’. Green Day’s latest take on it doesn’t try to reinvent the track, like they did with previous cover ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’, instead keeping the original new wave rock elements of the song, merely replacing the vocals with that of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, to a great affect. Armstrong’s carefree voice perfectly fits the airy feeling of the song, giving us the same idealistic feelings the original Blondie song has been doing since it’s first release. Also got to give a shoutout to the band for keeping the repeating vocals, giving the lines an echo just as Debbie Harry originally did. The accompanying music video is pretty darn cute too. Following the heartbreaking news of cancelling their ‘Hella Mega Tour’ with Fall Out Boy and Weezer due to COVID-19, the video follows Armstrong’s dogs as they dream of the long-lost days when the band could still tour, before all this madness started.
I will say, however, that this isn’t my favourhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32az2CLr6boite cover ever; I’m penchant to a cover that reinvents the original song, making it their own whilst still paying tribute to the first. However, ‘Dreaming’ is so good on it’s own, I can see why Green Day may have been hesitant to shift into a heavy rock-punk shout-along. Either way, the band have once again provided the world with another great cover of another great song.
Green Day’s cover of ‘Dreaming’ is out now via Reprise.
