Lady Gaga's country-fried version of "Born This Way"

Proving that she's more than Madonna 2.0, the little monster releases a twangy cover of her own hit single

Published March 25, 2011 5:26PM (EDT)

Dolly Parton, eat your heart out.
Dolly Parton, eat your heart out.

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is a seven-minute sprawling epic music video, the trumpet that heralds in the singer's (performance artist's?) second studio album of the same name. "Born This Way" is why Gaga was in an egg during the Grammys, and for all its epic weirdness, its lyrics are a joyful celebration of sexual preference, with lines like "No matter gay, straight, or bi/Lesbian, transgendered life/I'm on the right track baby/I was born to survive."

"Born This Way" also sounds (like most Gaga songs do) exactly like an early Madonna track. Which still doesn't explain why this morning the Internet was introduced to an alt-country version of "Born This Way" that sounds suspiciously like Gwyneth Paltrow's attempts at the genre during "Country Strong."

Maybe it was an attempt to make country music more inclusive: after all, you don't hear a lot of lyrics about gay people in Lady Antebellum songs. Or maybe country-pop really is getting that popular after "Need You Now" swept up both the CMA Awards and the Grammys. Whatever her reasoning, I'm at least grateful that this diversion has distracted the Internet from making another Rebecca Black remix to commemorate what day of the week it is. Oh wait, nevermind.

 


By Drew Grant

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew.

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Country Music Lady Gaga Music Television