The sixth installment of the so-called philosophical song series. The previous was here:
https://www.scivillage.com/thread-2918-p...l#pid46536
What's Up?
Like "
Mr. Jones", at first glance this might be a stretch even in the everyday person, non-academic school of thought camp. But "brotherhood of man" and "revolution" are directly mentioned, so intellectualized radicals do have something to project upon.
The feel-good, saccharine quality of the song is a big reason why it became and remains globally popular.
However, bear in mind that songwriter/singer Linda Perry hated the studio demanded presentation and performance of it in that context, as well as the rest of the album:
"I’m not supposed to tell you this and my publicist said to me ‘please don’t say this’ [...] I didn’t like the record at all. ... I did love ‘What’s Up?’ but I hated the production. When I heard our record for the first time, I cried. It didn’t sound like me. [...] I wanted to say, ‘We’re a f#cking, bad-ass cool band. We’re not that fluffy, polished bull#hit that you’re listening to.’ It was really difficult." --Linda Perry Forms New Band, Admits She Never Liked 4 Non Blondes
The original is here:
https://youtu.be/6NXnxTNIWkc
An acoustic version by Linda Perry
is here, but it involves multiple instruments.
Below is arguably the best,
minimalist vocal cover of it I could find -- yet it's not like I dug to the very deepest bowels of the results. (Well, there is
this one with Linda Perry herself playing a lone acoustic guitar and Pink singing, but non-celebrity or lesser celebrity covers are usually my embed game here, if possible.)
The Running Mates: cover of "What's Up?" - 4 Non Blondes ...
https://youtu.be/ntM5jkJwI6s
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ntM5jkJwI6s
Below is Quevedo's solo guitar instrumental version of it. The melody part stands out as articulately as it did in her cover of Wonderwall -- as clearly as if those notes were being sung or played on a piano.
Gabriella Quevedo: cover of "What's Up?" - 4 Non Blondes ...
https://youtu.be/9D7cJMzK4G8
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9D7cJMzK4G8