a vote for democracy: derek webb to release "democracy: vol. 1"

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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

a vote for democracy: derek webb to release "democracy: vol. 1"

last year, when derek webb released his album, stockholm syndrome, several “tiers” were sold with various combinations of physical copies, digital copies, t-shirts, dvds, stickers and other assorted items. in several of the upper tiers, one of the intriguing inclusions was voting and, ultimately, free downloads of a promised 2010 project called democracy, vol. 1. this would be a monthly demo project in which he would record one cover of a song as voted by the fans.

today, he sent out the final voting for the year’s worth of recording. a couple weeks ago, there was an initial round where each person nominated 3 songs (my 3 votes were brandi carlile’s downpour, sufjan stevens’ john wayne gacy, jr.—which made the final list—and anything by elbow). that list was then narrowed to the 68 following songs. from this list, each person could choose 12 of them (1 for each month).

i thought the list was relatively intriguing and since it’s limited to those who “bought into” the project, i thought i’d share it here. the songs i voted for are in bold.

which of these would you have chosen?
are there songs not included that you’d love to hear derek webb cover?

1. A Day in the Life – The Beatles
2. All You Need is Love – The Beatles
3. Amazing Grace
4. Bad – U2
5. Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
6. Bless This Mess – Dave Bazan
7. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

8. Boots of Spanish Leather – U2
9. Bullet the Blue Sky – U2
10. Chicago – Sufjan Stevens
11. Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing
12. Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
13. Every Grain of Sand – Bob Dylan
14. Faith My Eyes – Caedmon’s Call
15. Falling Slowly – The Swell Season
16. Fix You – Coldplay

17. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
18. Gotta Serve Somebody – Bob Dylan
19. Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley / Leonard Cohen
20. Hard to Get – Rich Mullins
21. Heartless – Kanye West
22. Hey Jude – The Beatles
23. Hide and Seek – Imogen Heap
24. Hurt – Johnny Cash

25. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
26. Imagine – John Lennon
27. Jesus Christ – Woody Guthrie
28. Jesus Freak – dc Talk
29. Jesus, etc. – Wilco
30. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. – Sufjan Stevens
31. Karma Police – Radiohead
32. Landslide – Fleetwood Mac
33. Let It Be – The Beatles
34. Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
35. Livin’ On a Prayer – Bon Jovi
36. One – U2
37. Paranoid Android – Radiohead
38. Pokerface – Lady Gaga
39. Pride – U2
40. Single Ladies – Beyonce
41. Somewhere North – Caedmon’s Call
42. Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
43. Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2
44. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
45. Table for Two – Caedmon’s Call
46. Tangled Up in Blue – Bob Dylan
47. The Lust the Flesh the Eyes and the Pride of Life – The 77’s
48. The Maker – Daniel Lanois
49. The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
50. The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Bob Dylan
51. Theologians – Wilco
52. Tiny Dancer – Elton John
53. To Make You Feel My Love – Bob Dylan
54. Trouble – Ray LaMontagne
55. Up to the Mountain – Patty Griffin
56. Viva la Vida – Coldplay
57. Wake Up – Arcade Fire
58. What You Want – Caedmon’s Call
59. What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding – Elvis Costello
60. Where the Streets Have No Name – U2
61. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles
62. Who’s Gonna Save My Soul – Gnarls Barkley
63. Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – Larry Norman
64. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
65. With God On Our Side – Bob Dylan
66. Wonderwall – Oasis
67. World’s Apart – Jars of Clay
68. Yesterday – The Beatles