Really? REALLY???

So, Scarlett Johansson covered "Last Goodbye" by Jeff Buckley, one of my favorite songs of all time.

WHO LET THIS HAPPEN??? WHO??? I WANT TO KNOW!!!! GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Okay, okay, I'm breathing, I'm calming down. I got a little out of control there, and I apologize. But, really, why? It's her vocals and a piano, the song length is almost cut in half, and it seems to have a rather lounge-y feel to it (which in that particular case, my favorite lounged-up version of a song is Ben Folds Five covering "She Don't Use Jelly" by The Flaming Lips, and I hold that as my high standard).

The original version of the song evoked so much emotion--it wouldn't be uncommon for me to well up a little bit when Buckley starts belting "Kiss me, please kiss me. Kiss me out of desire, babe, and not consolation." She barely emotes at all there. It's almost like she's yawning when she sings those lines. Oh, sure, she brings it up a notch or two in emotion with the following line, but it's unconvincing. Maybe she didn't even try with those lines because she doesn't quite have the vocal chops to carry it off without her voice cracking in an unflattering way. I'm only speculating, of course, but I heard a song or two when she tried covering Tom Waits, and it seems like, for all she's tried, she's either picking the wrong songs for her range, or, well, she just shouldn't be trying to record and sell music. However, if she tried to write and record some of her own material sometime, I'd probably give it a whirl, just to see what she could come up with.

For the time being, I'm going to pass judgment and say that her interpretation of this great song is far inferior to the original, and it makes me wonder why she made the attempt in the first place.