Beck, Jack White, and Colombian musician Juanes have shared the official lyric videos for their contributions to the Song Reader album. The album, released last month, saw a host of popular musos recording songs taken from Beck’s Song Reader project – an ‘album’ composed entirely of sheet music.
Considering the typically esoteric and absurdist nature of Beck’s lyrical output, the idea of official lyric videos for a Beck song is already an intriguing concept, but the videos take things one step further by animating each song’s sheet music so that viewers can actually play along with the covers at home.
Since Song Reader was really just a collection of sheet music, this could, on some level, be considered an artist pirating their own work. To help the process along, check out Jack White’s rendition of I’m Down, Beck’s ‘cover’ of Heaven’s Ladder, and Juanes’ take on Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard below.
White’s honky tonk interpretation of I’m Down is hardly the first time he and Beck have collaborated. Just last month, White crashed Beck’s encore performance at a concert in Rhode Island and the two previously recorded several songs that ended up as B-sides to the White Stripes‘ Conquest single.
Watch: Beck Song Reader feat Jack White – I’m Down (Official Lyric Video)
Watch: Beck Song Reader feat Beck – Heaven’s Ladder (Official Lyric Video)
Watch: Beck Song Reader feat Juanes – Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard (Official Lyric Video)
