Beyonce Salutes Canada With Alanis Morissette, Sarah McLachlan Covers

Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce tour arrived in Canada, where the singer celebrated our neighboring country's rich musical history by performing songs by two of Canada's most well-known female artists at her opening show at Edmonton, Alberta's Rexall Arena. In the video above, Beyoncé and her all-girl band segue out of "If I Were a Boy" into an awesome abbreviated version of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." Later, Mrs. Jay-Z donned a wedding dress for an a cappella version of "Angel" by Nova Scotia native Sarah McLachlan (video after the jump.) With three more Canadian shows in cities like Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Vancouver on the way, here's hoping Beyoncé busts out some Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Feist before heading back to the States. And no Nickelback covers, please.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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