Watch Ben Gibbard Pay Tribute To Adam Schlesinger By Covering Fountains Of Wayne
Yesterday, Adam Schlesinger passed away due to complications from coronavirus. We reflected on his career a lot today, from 11 of his lesser-known songs to his most enduring work.
Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard paid tribute to Schlesinger on his livestream show today, which recently transitioned from being a daily occurrence to a weekly one. He covered Fountains Of Wayne’s “Barbara H.,” which is off their 1996 debut album. Before playing it, he talked about how Schlesinger was part of the reason he was picked to write a song for the Monkees’ first new album in 20 years back in 2016:
I owe him a huge debt of gratitude because he was integral in picking “Me & Magdalena” for the Monkees to record four years ago. I always thought, as one always does in life, that you’ll have plenty of time to say thank you or I love you or give somebody a compliment or what have you, but that day obviously did not come. But to the bottom of my heart, I’m so grateful for him to help me realize a life-long dream…
Listen to his cover below. He followed it up with Death Cab rarity “Song For Kelly Huckaby,” which was on their Forbidden Love EP — looks like they haven’t played it since 2004!