Forgotten Songs of the '90s: Lightning Seeds

Forgotten Songs of the ‘90s: Lightning Seeds

When the Lightning Seeds covered the song “You Showed Me” in 1997, it already had a storied history. Originally written by Roger McGuinn and recorded by the Byrds, it was covered by the Turtles, who ended up having an even bigger hit with it. Then the Turtles’ recording was sampled by De La Soul in 1989 and ended up changing the course of hip hop history with the lawsuit that followed. But the Lightning Seeds version is different and that’s what so unique and special about it.
As opposed to other Lightning Seeds tracks, this one had more of a trip-hop feel and was more subdued than say “The Life of Riley.” Leader Ian Broudie’s vocals flow along with the beat in a way that should’ve been a hit considering how hip trip-hop was in 1997. As the song loops along, the vocals become stronger and breezier and really envelop the listener in the track.
Even though the song was included on the soundtrack to the first “Austin Powers,” it flopped, as did the album it originally came from, Dizzy Heights. In the subsequent years, people have looked differently at the song and as word spreads, it has started to eclipse the Turtles’ version almost completely which is a pretty cool thing to have happened in the past fourteen years.

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