Listen to Evanescence Singer Amy Lee’s Cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Going to California’
You need to put your own unique spin on the original if you want to cover a song as well-known as "Going to California," and that's just what Evanescence singer Amy Lee set out to do with her recently posted take on the Led Zeppelin classic.
Lee's recording, part of an ongoing series of covers, was assembled with help from her manager and friend Jordan Berliant, and has been posted with an accompanying video, which you can watch above. She explained her choice in a Facebook post, calling the original "a classic that I've loved for as long as I can remember."
Noting that "Going to California" puts her "at peace," Lee said she was inspired to record her version after hearing the instrumental bed, which Berliant recorded "for fun." While coming up with a vocal arrangement, she discovered that the song made the perfect musical accompaniment for putting her son to sleep during his nap time, and it made the set list during Evanescence's fall tour.
"It's a pleasure to sing a song publicly that is such a part of who I am offstage," Lee wrote. "My roots, the style of music that we always played around my house when I was growing up, and still at every big family gathering, singing and playing music with my dad."
Lee's version of "Going to California" follows covers of U2's "With or Without You" and Portishead's "It's a Fire," both of which you can hear on her Facebook page.
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