For those of you out there who think that Twitter is nothing more than a fad, well, we’d be hard-pressed to come up with a strong argument that would win you over. Still, those who follow the microblogging phenomenon closely enough are occasionally rewarded with flashes of tweeted brilliance that can make you smile, no matter how hung over from green beer you are (trust us on this one). Like, for example, just about everything that Diddy composes or, more recently, the songwriting contest that Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy began. For the uninitiated, back on Friday, Meloy issued this challenge to his Twitter followers: “ok: experiment. Write a song and youtube yourself playing it and I’ll post the best one here. Topic: Linda Ronstadt.†While it’s tough to quantify exactly how many people played along, Idolator tipped us off to the fact that Meloy announced the winners yesterday and, well, they’re FAMOUS (at least in indie-rock circles). Follow along to see the winning entries; one was composed by Rebecca Gates of Spinanes fame, the other by Steven Page (formerly of the Barenaked Ladies).
Here’s Rebecca Gates and her totally awesome “Laurel Canyon Hotpantsâ€: