Michael Campion, a classically trained, multi-instrumentalist from Albany, NY was so moved by the song, within an hour of viewing will.i.am's video on YouTube on Saturday, February 2nd, he recorded his own version of the song in his bedroom. As the first cover of the song, it has become immediately popular on YouTube, with over 14,000 hits the first week it was online and one of the top 50 most viewed musician videos that week. The cover of the song was recorded live, with no edits and within one hour of seeing the original video. "I printed the lyrics, figured out the chord changes and hit record on my laptop." Campion comments about his improvised performance. "This is a true folk song in every sense".

Taking that concept a step further, Campion created a fully arranged and produced version of the song using Apple's Logic Studio music creation program. Campion played guitar, keyboards, percussion, bass and sang on the recording. Using Apple's iPhoto, Campion used still images from Barack Obama's flickr site to create an inspirational video, which was later converted in Apple's iMovie for YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Vimeo, Imeem, Gather, Bebo, MTV Think and other video and social networks.

While not officially affiliated with the Will.i.am and Jesse Dylan project, or the Barack Obama campaign, Michael Campion is unofficially lending his talents to the support of both ventures.

At the request of many YouTube viewers, Campion has also published the Guitar TAB for his version of the Yes We Can Song, which varies slightly from original. Campion adapted and added some of the chords heard in his versions of the song.

"The Internet and inexpensive or free creative technologies such as blogs and video distribution give musicians, artists and everyday people the ability to ability to transmit their ideas to a worldwide audience immediately. This is an exciting time," Campion comments.

Celebrities featured in the will.i.am and Jesse Dylan video include: Common, Esthero, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kate Walsh, Nick Cannon, Nicole Scherzinger, Scarlett Johannson, Tatyana Ali, Tracee Ellis Ross, will.i.am.