Glass Animals‘ Dave Bayley paid tribute to one of his musical heroes, Bill Withers, over the weekend by performing a cover of his seminal hit “Lean On Me.”
As the third episode of the English indie rock band’s “Quarantine Covers” series, the frontman picked the fan’s song request because, “He’s one of my favorite songwriters of all time…. He’s a genius and by all accounts, he’s one of the nicest people to have ever worked in music.”
Bayley then did the late soul singer-songwriter, who passed away March 30 from heart complications at 81, justice.
He started looping a simple drumbeat in his London studio, where he’s remained quarantined during the coronavirus pandemic, to pay homage to the “super simple, but very clever” original recording, he described the No. 1 hit from 1972. Then Bayley fiddled with the keyboard over his makeshift beat and delved into the memorable lyrics with his bright, clean vocal chops.
Glass Animals previously covered Nirvana‘s “Heart Shaped Box” and Lana Del Rey‘s “Young & Beautiful,” but Bayley wrote that his Withers cover “is prob the most fun I had doing one of these so far,” according to the YouTube video’s description.
Listen to his “Lean On Me” cover below.
