#justabouteveryone covers Amar Pelos Dois

Not even a week has passed since Salvador Sobral won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with his sister’s song “Amar Pelos Dois”, but already there are fantazillions of cover versions popping up all over the place. And who can blame artists for wanting to be part of the wonder that is Portugal’s first ever win in the contest we all love so much?
It would take forever to share all the versions I have found today, but here is a handful. Some are covers of the Portugese version, others are translated to other languages and yet others are sort of “interpretations”…
Ást fyrir tvo (Icelandic- Love for two)
One of my favorite (and also one of the best!) contemporary Icelandic authors, Hallgrimur Helgason, has translated the lyrics into Icelandic, and they are heartbreakingly good. Singer Guðrún Árný, who has taken part in Söngvakeppnin several times, recorded this version in her studio, accompanying herself on the piano.

Unofficial English version by Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak has been a fan of this song all along, praising it for it’s simplicity and intense emotions that touch people of all languages. He has made (up) his own version in English, but it is in no way a translation of the original. In a comment to his version on Youtube he says;
“I assure you, the Portuguese lyrics are much better, deeper and touching than the ones I wrote, and it’s a song meant for SALVADOR AND HIS UNIQUE VOICE. But since I saw that so many people dismissed this beautiful melody only because they didn’t understand the lyrics, and since I saw there are no English versions yet, I just made my own tribute in English to attract more people for this music.
The only thing that binds the original lyrics and the ones I made (up), is the story about a boy who is not together with his love anymore. Direct translations (even remote ones) never work in the world of music. Just consider this the “Disney” version, if you like.
And when the annual “Eurovision discussion” is over, I hope this version will work in the future as a “teaser” for the main event, which is my man Salvador Sobral.
Peace”

The brass version
Brassical, an Estonian brass quartet has also done their own, very powerful, cover, which should please Salvador greatly, since he also plays the trumpet!

Cifre, a version in Spanish

Austrian jazz singer Karin Bachner – An English version
As she says on her Youtube channel; “Touched & inspired by the breathtaking performance of Salvador Sobral at the Eurovision Semi Final 2017 I wrote this english version of Luisa Sobrals unique song Amar pelos dois. Hope you enjoy!”

Danny McAvoy has covered all the Eurovision Entries this year, this one both in Portugese and English. As one of the comments on the Portugese version said that it was impossible to understand 80% of what he was singing, I decided to go for his English cover. Another quite different way of doing it!

I assume we will soon see covers of this song in all kinds of genres; and I have to admit I can’t wait! Give us this song as rock, blues, latin, metal, country, schla…well, let’s stop at that…
Have you heard a cover version you think more people should listen to? Please share it in the comments so that the rest of us can enjoy it too!