I'm reluctant to merely republish the content of others .. but » HERE's something you shouldn't miss (Susan Boyle's rendition of I Dreamed a Dream .. from Les Miserables). I actually paused the video and broke out my headphones.
I think what makes her version so special - other than the sonic excellence, of course - is that her life seems to resemble that of the character .. providing that 'something extra.' And then there are the lyrics themselves, with lines like:
And still I dream...
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I know that place .. all too well, I'm sad to say. But who doesn't? If you liked that, you'll probably also enjoy » THIS.
Neither one of these folks are pretty. They're not one of the beautiful people. Their dress unglamorous.
But their performances obviously had nothing to do with pretty appearances. Which made them all-the-more believable and genuine, especially when she belted out the final lines:
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I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
You could feel her pain more than if some super-model-looking singer had sung the same lines. Inspiring heart-felt performance.
For more along these lines, here's a Google search preconfigured for the query » susan boyle i dreamed a dream