At 11pm Sunday night I was still in my jammies from Sunday morning. (In fact, I’m still in my PJs from yesterday morning. Gross.) Yesterday was devoted to cleaning house, paying bills, doing laundry, and wrapping Xmas presents, and today will be more of the same. Whenever I clean house I load up the full playlist and turn up the computer speakers, and thanks to paper thin walls you can hear the music all through the house, even in the basement.
As you know, I like me a good cover song. Get out your mops and your headphones.
This cover of “We Can Work It Out” by Stevie Wonder has been posted before, but it’s so damned good I have to share it again. While you’re at it, listen to Al Green cover “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” In my opinion these surpass the Beatles’ originals by far, but you can expect that from pure genius.
Another excellent cover that I recently acquired is Jon Brion’s version of Queen’s “Play The Game.” You’ll know Brion from his production on Aimee Mann, Kanye West and Fiona Apple albums, in addition to his work on the soundtracks of Punch Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine. He put out a wonderful solo album several years ago on an independent label because it initially got shelved somewhat like Fiona’s finally-released recent effort. Get ahold of his song “Walking Through Walls” and fall in love like I did.
Our final brilliant cover song for the day is Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) and Matt Sweeney doing Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” I hate Springsteen almost as much as I hate John Cougar Mellencamp, thus admitting my incredible love for this cover is difficult to do in public. Meandering guitar and half-spoken half-sung vocals get me every time. It’s artsy and stuff. Last minute Xmas present for the aging hipster.
One non-cover song that graced my ears yesterday includes Bobby Conn singing “Never Get Ahead.” The boyfriend introduced me to Conn via this video of Conn singing a cleaned up version of “Never Get Ahead” (giving head to The Man/saying yes to The Man) on a kids’ public television show. It’s especially amusing when the kids in the background try and maintain a straight face when this wee little man goes nuts at the end of his performance. Listen long enough to hear him nearly flub the clean version and give the kids an entirely different kind of lesson on the politics of The Man.
Another non-cover is an old standard that I adore playing on the piano, “Lullaby of the Leaves.” This slinky, southern version is performed by Jerry Dougles and Peter Rowan. If you ever catch me playing this song when I think I’m alone, you can hear me singing along. Poorly.
Finally, don’t forget to catch Don Lennon making fun of Dave Matthews and DMB fans. We don’t pass up chances to poke fun at easy targets.
Also: I expect contrary and laudatory reactions and comments below. Give it up.