In a continuation of Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin’s Hanukkah Sessions, they released a cover of Barry Manilow’s song “Copacabana.” This is the 3rd song in the Hanukkah Sessions for Grohl and Kurstin, as they intend to do a song by a prominent Jewish Artist for each day of Hanukkah. While Grohl is not Jewish, he started recording Hanukkah songs with his close friend and producer Greg Kurstin last year, and decided to make it an official tradition this year by doing it again. Last year they released covers of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” for Hanukkah among other songs. They previously had released Christmas themed tracks, but shifted over to Hanukkah after the pandemic. He previously released covers of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones and “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb on the first two nights of Hanukkah.

In the impassioned performance of Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana,” Grohl is emblazoned with a shiny tuxedo and microphone in the small studio, with Kurstin on the keyboard and occasional background vocals. With the tropical-sounding song and fitting lyrics describing a resort scene in an idyllic location and the ensuing stories stemming from it. In the video performance of it, there is constant cutting between Kurstin and Grohl playing different instruments that make up the diverse backing instrumentation of the track and the main singing and slight dancing of Grohl. It is a pretty accurate remake of the original as they share the same tropical instruments and rhythm, as well as even the same intonation and vocal similarities shared between Grohl and Manilow. The original has much more instrumentation breaks, but Grohl and Kurstin keep the spirit of it alive.

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Shulz