Mary Chapin Carpenter : Grow Old with Me

Grow old with me
The best is yet to be

"Grow Old with Me" is a tune penned by John Lennon.  He never really made an official recording of it, but it showed up on his posthumous 1984 album, Milk and Honey.  John was never really about the love songs.  Not like Paul.  Or even George.  He was a cynical bastard with shitty parents.  At five, they forced him to choose between them, and he ended up with his mom, who a year later gave him to her sister.  Most of his songs betray those never-healing wounds.  They're full of the anger and condescension of a hurt little boy who suddenly finds himself with a megaphone and a world stage to shout from.  But then, something weird happened.  He grew up.  Maybe it was just his getting older, maybe it was his deep, loving relationship with Yoko Ono, but half his songs after the Beatles broke up are simple  paeans to love.  "Jealous Guy", "Beautiful Boy", "(Just Like) Starting Over", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)".  Sure there's still some cynicism, but it's tempered through the lens of peace and love, less angry than bemused and bewildered at the idiocy of a world's populace that is so eager to destroy itself.

"Grow Old with Me" as recorded by John is a horribly produced song.  He clearly recorded it on an old Radio Shack tape recorder that was completely in another room under a pillow or something, because it sounds awful.  It's dressed up with the worst kind of schlocky strings and orchestra you can imagine, and is just by all accounts horrible.  Had I heard that song alone, I would have skipped past it after the first few seconds.

But props to Mary Chapin Carpenter, another of those "country" artists who are about as country as Michael Bolton.  She digs it out, strips it down, shines it up, and offers a beautiful little diamond in the rough.  With her simple (though slightly sappy) orchestration, she allows the song itself, the lyrics and melody, to shine through.  And shine it does.

This one is dedicated to my wife of 14 years.  God bless our love.

"Grow Old with Me" is from Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1989 release, Party Doll and Other Favorites.  The original can be found on John Lennon's posthumous Milk and Honey.

---

The Puppini Sisters : We Have All the Time in the World

The Puppini Sisters are a vocal team (not actually sisters, although one is actually named Puppini) who perform swing music with close vocal harmonies, much like the Andrews Sisters and other similar acts. They perform all sorts of tunes, from old swing standards like "In the Mood" to more modern tunes like "Heart of Glass", "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Crazy in Love", as well as some originals.

"We Have All the Time in the World", originally sung by Louis Armstrong, was written by John Barry for the soundtrack to On His Majesty's Secret Service. The lyrics were penned by Hal David, who was the other half of the classic Bacharach/David songwriting machine.  The song is played over the closing credits of the movie as James Bond cradles his dead wife, so in the movie there's a sort of sad irony to the lyrics.  But it's a gorgeous song with a lush melody that expertly straddles the line between joy and pathos. 

Here the sisters turn this hidden gem into a slow, stilted cabaret-style waltz in a surprising 5/4.  The song is primarily scored with an acoustic jazz trio, but it starts and ends with some plaintive accordion and is enveloped in the middle with sumptuous strings.  And of course they bring their gorgeous voices to bear on some exquisite harmonies which you won't find on the original, but which send the song truly soaring.

You can find "We Have All the Time in the World" on the Puppini Sisters' most recent release, 2007's The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo. Everything I've heard off this album has been top notch, and it's at the top of my "to buy" list.

[You can listen to The Puppini Sisters' "We Have All the Time in the World" by navigating to the post "Song099" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

José Feliciano : Golden Lady

A touch of rain and sunshine made the flowers grow
Into a lovely smile that's blooming
And it's so clear to me that you're a dream come true

Stevie Wonder is pretty good. I don't think he's quite the genius everyone works him up to be, as he has a lot of output. He has put a lot of song to tape. And while some of it is fantastic ("Sir Duke" for example), a lot of it is just boring, or worse, crappy. "Golden Lady" is not one of those songs. "Golden Lady" is a fantastic love song, nothing fancy but funky and cheerful. It's purely celebratory.

We've discussed José Feliciano in passing earlier in this blog. Aside from penning the ultra-mega-super Christmas hit, "Feliz Navidad", and of course the excellent theme to "Chico and the Man", hit the charts primarily with his covers. He usually brought a nice casual latin groove with his fabulously expressive voice and simple acoustic guitar.

His take on Stevie's "Golden Lady" is no exception. He brings his trademark latin flair to the original, taking a great song to the next level. Where Stevie's tribute to his woman was a laid back affair, José injects a passion that crescendos throughout the entire piece. By the end, there's no doubt how he feels about his woman.

I'm dedicating this one to my woman, with heaven in her eyes.

"Golden Lady" is from José's 1974 release, And the Feeling's Good, which was literally just re-released. My copy came from the most excellent most excellent compilation, As We Travel: Folk Funk Flavours & Ambient Soul, which also gave me the song from American Gypsy and several other amazing tunes.

[You can listen to José Feliciano's cover of Stevie Wonder's "Golden Lady" by navigating to the post "Song098" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

Uminski : Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Philippe Uminski is a French artist who I don't know much about.  There's nothing in Wikipedia to help me out and precious little on his last.fm page.  But that's okay.  We're really here to talk about his cover of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".

Considering that the awesomeness of the original lies primarily in its jazzed up funk based on Edwin Birdsong's killer riff and use of vocodered vocals as the main instrument, this rock cover should fail.  It has no funk, and there's nothing jazzy about it, instead opting for a straight-ahead four-on-the-floor hard rock riff straight out of a 60's garage, with power chords that would make Pete Townshend weep with joy.  There's clearly no synthed-up vocals, or synths of any kind.  Instead the lyrics are shouted with a ferocity and intensity that turns them into a punk rock call to arms.  Plus there's those background "Wooooooo!" vocals that can't help but make you smile.  At the halfway point, there's a bit of a reprieve with a little Deliverance sample and a tasty funk intermission, but then it's right back into the fray, non-stop to the very end.

It really shouldn't work, but it really does.  This awesome cover can be found on Uminski's 2005 release, Sain & Sauf.  I have no idea where you could buy it from.

[You can listen to Uminski's cover of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by navigating to the post "Song093" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

John Gregory : Six Million Dollar Man

The problem with John Gregory, aside from his having two first names, is that there are a lot of them out there. There are all sorts of John Gregorys and a bunch of them are musicians. But the John Gregory I'm talking about is the British composer and arranger from the 60's and 70's who also recorded albums under the pseudonym "Chaquito". And man, could this guy arrange the heck out of a tune.

Like most 70's cop and action TV themes, Oliver Nelson's theme for The Six Million Dollar Man is a tiny little gem of orchestral funk.  It's great listening in its own right (especially if the six million dollar sound effects are included). John takes this already fabulous tune and cranks the knob to eleven to create a rip-roaring brass-fueled musical adventure.

It starts with these crazy horn runs that swing back and forth between the speakers. Then the backbeat starts and the horns go to work on the main theme, but the flutes and other winds are still flurrying around the stereo spectrum. This little, almost disconcerting motif continues throughout the entire tune. Somewhere in the middle the band drops out and we get a nice drum and bongo solo. Then the band jumps back in and hits the theme again with even more gusto than before, if such a thing is possible.

It's a whirlwind of a piece and if you're lucky you can find it on John's 1976 release on Pye Records, The Detectives, which is, as it sounds, an entire record of funkified brass-driven detective themes. Yes, this album is awesome, and you should own it. I don't actually have the vinyl, but I do have Six Million Dollar TV Themes which is a compilation that includes this album, plus other cop show themes from other albums, almost all of which are just as awesome. Definitely worth grabbing.

[You can listen to John Gregory's "Six Million Dollar Man" by navigating to the post "Song090" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

John Martyn : I'd Rather Be the Devil (Live)

This is another psychedelic folk number, like Jake Holmes, Tim Buckley or American Gypsy.  John Martyn was a British singer who was a pioneer in the folk-rock and blues-rock traditions developing across the pond in the late 60's.  Apparently he was pretty good friends with Nick Drake, another psychedelic folker who you might see pop up in these pages in the next year.

John began working with a jazz bassist for this album, which might explain it's general funkiness and meandering song structures.  They vary in energy from the nice light straight-up folk of "May You Never" to the harder blues edge of Skip James' "I'd Rather Be the Devil" which is the star of the album.  I've selected the live version because it's a little edgier than the album version, but they're both excellent.

The song kicks of with some acoustic guitar played through an echo pedal, which sounds distinctly similar to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd.  Then the bongos kick in and the song launches itself, buoyed by near constant tom work.  It lurches forward from verse to verse, full of tension that rarely, if ever, dissipates at all through the song.  You do get the feeling that the devil is really riding out after him.  John has a unique way of singing, a slurry, sibilant, almost falsetto (see: Nick Drake), that further pushes the song into psychedelic territory.

You can find this live version of "I'd Rather Be the Devil" on the re-release of his seminal 1973 release, Solid Air.  It's a fantastic album, great listening for a dark, rainy night.

[You can listen to John Martyn's "I'd Rather Be the Devil (Live)" by navigating to the post "Song077" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

Lindsay Mac : Use Me

Lindsay Mac is a cellist with a bit of a unique streak.  She wants to be a singer-songwriter and has taken to playing her cello standing up, strapped like a guitar over her shoulder, so she can sing more easily.  That uniqueness comes across in spades in this cover of Bill Withers' classic tune "Use Me".  This is no dainty string quartet.  This is a full-on cello-fueled piece of electrified funk.  Normally, takes on this song turn me off because the original is just so... so... so damn awesome.  "Use Me" is a song that expertly combines both joy and despair, hope and hopelessness, and just plain raw lust, into a simmering cauldron of deep funk.  Lindsay does not forget this.

She manages to keep the power of the slow funk while updating the song with a bit of electronic studio play and, of course, cello.  She's got a real drummer driving the back beat behind her while she tears up the bass lines on her favorite instrument.  That's all accentuated with a little bit of scratching and of course she sings.  It's a little bare, but I think that's it.  There are couple of flourishes here and there, but I think those are primarily overdubbed, electronically-processed cello.

She also does really great trick where somehow her own vocals are scratched.  I'm not sure if she recorded them to vinyl first or if it's a studio trick, but it's damn cool.  Especially effective is the start of the second verse, where she hollers 'My brother!' and the DJ totally breaks it down.  It's ass-kicking-ness of the first power.  It got me thinking that it would be a completely awesome move if, in her live shows, she only played the cello part and really did let a DJ play her vocals off a record.  Even cooler if she somehow managed to switch back and forth between live and recorded vocals.

Anyway, the song is an amazing version of an amazing song.  Extremely well done, and it really does what a cover should do, which is to give you a familiar touchstone while still presenting everything an artist has to offer.  It makes me want to buy the album, which, by the way, is called Small Revolution.

[You can listen to Lindsay Mac's "Use Me" by navigating to the post "Song052" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

John C. Reilly : Starman

Strangely enough, the music for the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is pretty top notch. John C. Reilly can really sing and the writers did a great job of parodying a variety of musical styles and clichés throughout the film.

This tune is a fine example, skewering both the disco movement and the of washed up and B-list musicians and actors who hopped the disco gravy train.  You've got a tremendous variety of square going on here. You've got the past-the-prime musician trying to be hip.  You've got him delivering a peculiarly smarmy loungey disco song (I especially love the stilted way he sings "let the children boo-gie"). Then you've got the song choice itself. "Starman" was relatively minor hit for David Bowie from 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a slightly wacky, tripped out number about a cool rock 'n' roll alien communicating with the children over the radio. It's chock full of hipster language, like "hazy cosmic jive", "far out" and "blow our minds", plus clear drug innuendo.  It's a bizarre choice, and the whole thing is laughably weird, in a reality TV kind of way.

And John really nails it. It's an exact recreation of a whole slew of records that came out in the late 70's. Plus, it's a damn good cover of a great song. The disco vibe is perfect, with the traditional funk bass and chicken scratch guitar. John's delivery is just stellar.  His vocal is solid, but he keeps it decidedly unfunky over the funk. It's a fun tune.

You can find John's performance of "Starman" on the soundtrack for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

[You can listen to John C. Reilly's "Starman" by navigating to the post "Song051" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

Delaney & Bonnie and Friends : Come On in My Kitchen

There's not much too this song, except that it's a nice version of a Robert Johnson classic. Delaney & Bonnie were a married couple who recorded some albums in the late sixties and early seventies with such heavyweights as Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers, Leon Russell and George Harrison backing them up. They were somewhat popular for their time, it seems.

The tune follows Robert's blues structure pretty closely with some gospel influences. There's just a little bit of acoustic guitar and piano for accompaniment, with some bongos thrown in as well. It's a very sparse, stripped down sound, so it's very reminiscent of Robert's original, and it sounds like they actually recorded this in a motel somewhere deep in the south. Again, not a blockbuster, but nice.

You can find "Come On in My Kitchen" on Delaney & Bonnie and Friends' 1971 release, Motel Shot. If you'd rather the originals, check out Robert Johnson's 2-disc Complete Recordings box set

[#37]

Ted Heath & His Music : Light My Fire

There are a lot of covers of "Light My Fire" out there. Just a ton. It's one of those songs that somehow became an easy listening staple, and every pop orchestra that ever tackled a rock song managed to cover it.

Actually, I know why. It turns out, the bands aren't covering the Doors, they're covering José Feliciano's Grammy-award winning cover from 1969. Usually you can tell, because they include José's little three-on-two breakdown at the end, as they do on this version.

The songs starts out soft, with some acoustic guitar, vibes and bongos. After a bit, the rest of the band comes in, nice and easy, but like Ike & Tina, Ted takes the beginning nice and easy, but ends the song nice and rough.

Well, as rough as you can get with this crowd.

The horn work is great, and there's not one, but two bongo solos, with another acoustic guitar break halfway through. Also, there's a little bit of organ to spice it up at the end. The arrangement is just impeccable; there's a little bit of everything to make you happy.

"Light My Fire" is off Ted's 1970's release, The Big Ones, which includes excellent covers of "Spinning Wheel" and "Nights in White Satin" among others. The record came out on the Phase 4 Stereo label. There are a number of excellent records on this label & they are distinctly recognizable by the big 4 on the cover. You can't really go wrong with one of these.

[You can listen to Ted Heath & His Music's "Light My Fire" by navigating to the post "Song036" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

Celia Cruz : Yo Viviré

We had landed in Orlando and were heading into DisneyWorld. I thought, as I rarely do, let's see what's on the radio. But rather than flip on the FM dial and tune into the same homogenous satellite-driven pap, we'd scan the AM dial to see what showed up. I turned it on, tuned it up, and lo and behold, out of the speakers came this driving latin beat, distinctly Spanish, but also vaguely familiar. We're cruising over the blacktop, the sun is shining, everyone's excited about Disney, and the rhythm and horns are just lifting me up. I'm driving and grooving (at the same time, which always makes my wife nervous), and suddenly, as the strings crest over the chorus, I realize, "Holy shit, that's 'I Will Survive'!" and I'm catapulted into sheer giddiness.

Yes, a killer upbeat ass-kicking salsa version of the 70's disco classic. There's not much else to say about it, except that it keeps the fiery spirit of the original, but it's even spicier with the latin rhythms, the horns and the chanted Spanish background vocals. If you're not dancing around the room while you listen to this, you may not have a soul.

Celia Cruz is apparently pretty popular in the latin music community and released a flood of albums between 1958 and 2003, when she passed. You can find this cover on her 2000 release, Siempre Vivire.

---

The Lost Fingers : Careless Whisper

The Lost Fingers are a gypsy-jazz band from Quebec, which is in Canada. You may not have heard of them, but in 2008, they sold the second most records of any Canadian band (in Canada), right after Nickelback, who you probably have heard of. Named after Django Reinhardt's missing digits, the group models their sound after the same sort of acoustic jump-jazz Django was so great at.

Armed with two acoustic guitars and a stand-up bass, they attack 80's standards (?) with gusto and a Quebecoise accent. They do fantastic takes on "Billie Jean" and "Straight Up" among others. Here, with a little funk and the singer's strained vocals, they nail the raw frustration coursing through this classic Wham! confessional and take it from the dancefloor to a dark, smokey coffeehouse where it belongs.

You can find this tune on their 2008 debut album, Lost in the 80's. It is truly a fun, fabulous album.

---

Jon : Les Sucettes

Before 50 Cent and Lil Wayne there was Serge Gainsbourg. He penned a little ditty for France Gall called "Les Sucettes", which means, I'm pretty sure, "The Lollipops" in French. While ostensibly being about Annie's anise-flavored lollipops, it's actually full of erotic double entendres and dirty French puns, mostly about lollipops. Go figure.

Serge's popularity went through a little surge back in the late 90's. Like Bacharach before him and Leonard Cohen today, it seemed like anybody who wanted to be taken seriously as a performer had to cover a Gainsbourg tune. About this same time, John Zorn was curating a (sadly short-lived) series of compilations called "Great Jewish Music", in which he would choose a composer of Jewish heritage and get his stable of Tzadik artists to cover a slew of their songs. They handled Bacharach & Gainsbourg, and later Marc Bolan. Sadly, they never got to Paul Simon, Leiber & Stoller or Gene Simmons. Or Barry Manilow. Oh, or Neil Diamond!

Jon, as this artist is known, is another matter. She's Japanese and she plays a pump organ. And that's all I know, as "Jon" doesn't exactly Google well.

I think I promised somewhere that I wouldn't post anything I didn't actually enjoy listening to. And that's important, because there are people who like stuff simply because it's so weird and/or awful that you couldn't possibly actually like it. You should know that, if I offend your ears, it's not because I'm trying to somehow aurally gross you out. I really do enjoy listening to the music on some level. So, no Three Stooges Christmas albums or William Shatner singing Rocket Man, just music I enjoy and think is interesting enough that you should hear it too.

Jon definitely falls into that 'avant-garde' or 'weird' category. First, her voice sounds like a twee little six-year-old, which is somewhat appropriate (and creepy) given the nature of the song. Second, her organ sounds like it's dying of old age. You can hear every creak and moan, every push of the pedals and puff of air. You can almost hear the dust floating about in the dimly lit haunted-house of a room this must have been recorded in. And yet, that's what gives the recording it's appeal for me. The music isn't just in the song, but it embodies the Cagian idea that all aspects of the performance are part of the music; that the wheezes of a dying organ are just as musically important as the notes and lyrics Serge originally penned. I couldn't listen to a whole album of this stuff, but this tune is both fascinating and enjoyable. I hope when you listen to it, you get a chance to revel in the artifact and the atmosphere.

You can find the tune on the excellent Tzadik compilation Great Jewish Music: Serge Gainsbourg. Most of the rest of the tunes are far more traditionally musical than this one (though a few aren't). While you're at it, you should grab the Burt Bacharach one as well. You can skip the Bolan one. I believe they missed Marc's whole point with that comp, and as such, it's just not as good.

---

Mirrorkicks : Bleeding Love

Don't know much about Mirrorkicks, except they are from Britain (I think) and they have a website and a myspace page and a facebook page and a youtube channel and all the accoutrements of a new millennium band trying to make it these days. What they don't have is an album in the stores. I think they've released a single, but that's not this.

This is a cover of "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. It's from CokeMachineGlow's Fantasy Covers of 2008. Apparently this site rounds up a bunch of up-and-coming indie bands and gets them to cover popular songs from that year. Somehow Mirrorkick ended up with this one.

The song itself is interesting to parse. At first it sounds like a paean to the self-sacrifice sometimes necessary for true love: I'm so in love, it just bleeds out of me, I can't even help it. But on further reads, you notice the singer's friends are trying to pull these two lovers apart, and you realize that maybe the cuts and bleeding might not be metaphorical. There's definitely a "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)" vibe going on here.

Did I mention it was co-written by Jesse McCartney? Weird.

Madam Leona's version is somewhat plaintive. It's got a nice modern soul vibe to it, but it's wrapped in a swath of modern production and it ends up being a little glisteny, a bitter pill, but sugar-coated.

Mirrorkicks grabs hold of the song though and bruises it up, dragging it back into the real-life grimy world we all live in. Their track is heavy, loaded down with thick guitar and a loping, tom-heavy 6/8 drum beat. The singer nails the vocal: ragged, raw, pleading, but hopeful. They do such an amazing job, they actually made me like the original more. Give it a listen.

It's not available on any album that I know of, but you can grab it from the CokeMachineGlow website, along with some other great covers. There's a good cover of MIA's "Paper Planes" up there too.

---

Jimmy Smith : I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Babe

"Well, I got ...
More bounce to the fuckin' bump
And if you want to know why,
It's 'cause I'm motherfuckin' truckin' ..."

I gotta admit, what first excited me about this tune was the opening bars which are sampled pretty plainly by the Beastie Boys on "Professor Booty" from their Check Your Head album. Very few things get me more excited (musically) than catching a sample reference I've never heard before, even one so gratuitous. After that second tom fill, my brain immediately jumps to the Beastie's ingenious lyrics.

From there though, the song opens up into those gorgeous ringing female vocals. With only a hint of lyrics around the the chorus, they carry that sparkly 70's vibe that makes you feel like you've just been swept aboard the Mothership on its way to Studio 54 for some seriously laid back funking. You can just imagine the afro-sporting, rhinestone-jumpsuit-clad backup singers "oooh-ing" and "ahhh-ing" their way through the sessions with the sweeping hand gestures and slow camera pans.

You know what else those vocals remind me of? That Eastern Airlines ride at Disney World back in the 70's, where they showed movies of folks singing and celebrating all around the world over a super-groovy soundtrack. There's something about some of the music from that era that for some reason really brings me back to that ride, ostensibly one of the more boring rides for kids, but I just lo-o-o-oved it. Now we know why.

The track itself is a relaxed, sexy groove, and who would expect anything less from a Barry White cover? The song really belongs to the vocals and the rhythm section, who lay down a nice sustained rolling funk shuffle throughout. Jimmy Smith jazzes around the organ pretty well, though he's buried down in the mix a bit, so you have to really listen carefully to catch his far-out solos.

This tune was featured as a rip from a 45 back in November 2009 at the always great Funky16corners blog, in case you missed it. It's also available on Jimmy Smith's 1974 LP, Black Smith.

[You can listen to Jimmy Smith's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Babe" by navigating to the post "Song008" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

---

Linda Draper : Mother's Little Helper

I said at the beginning, "The music should just be really good, or at least interesting." This one falls into the latter category. Don't get me wrong. It is good. I enjoy it, and I wouldn't put anything up here that I didn't like. But posting this song is more about giving you something different than giving you something great. I don't think this song rings with the same universal appeal that the previous posts might have had, so if you don't like it, I won't think any less of you. But you should still hear it, because it's cool.

I couldn't find much about Linda Draper. She's apparently a folk/indie singer, which means she's probably a singer-songwriter who either wants to be Tori Amos or Norah Jones. I haven't heard anything else she's done, as is the case with many of the covers I've heard, but I'm sure she's wonderful if you like that sort of thing.

Here though she provides a stripped-down take on the Rolling Stones' Mother's Little Helper. Draper lilts her way through the song with nothing but a little bit of double-tracking and a tambourine. Where the original rocks, this version sort of ... floats. The weird thing is, it doesn't really sound full enough to have originally been imagined as an a cappella recording. Even most solo vocals have a sort of weight that seems to be missing here. It's almost as if they instead took a song that originally had all the parts, bass, drums, guitar and whatnot, and stripped them out, leaving only the backing percussion and the voice. Or maybe it's just a matter of some weird equalization. Either way, the result is a flat, dark, empty take on the song, which resounds with the subject matter quite nicely and makes for a vaguely unsettling experience, like driving down your neighborhood street in a light snow at three in the morning: familiar, yet eerie.

Mother's Little Helper can be found on Linda's 2009 album Bridge and Tunnel.

---