Ben Gibbard Pays Tribute To Adam Schlesinger By Covering Fountains Of Wayne: Watch

Yesterday, Adam Schlesinger passed away due to complications from coronavirus. We reflected on his career a lot today, from 11 his lesser-known songs to his most enduring work.

Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard paid tribute to Schlesinger on his livestream show today, which recently transitioned from being a daily occurrence to a weekly one. He covered Fountains Of Wayne’s “Barbara H.,” which is f their 1996 debut album. Before playing it, he talked about how Schlesinger was part the reason he was picked to write a song for the Monkees’ first new album in 20 years back in 2016:

I owe him a huge debt gratitude because he was integral in picking “Me & Magdalena” for the Monkees to record four years ago. I always thought, as one always does in life, that you’ll have plenty time to say thank you or I love you or give somebody a compliment or what have you, but that day obviously did not come. But to the bottom my heart, I’m so grateful for him to help me realize a life-long dream…

Listen to his cover below. He followed it up with Death Cab rarity “Song For Kelly Huckaby,” which was on their Forbidden Love EP — looks like they haven’t played it since 2004!