Thursday, July 10, 2008

The End Of Medicine (Day 81)

Nina Simone - "Isn't It A Pity"
Rogue Wave - "Publish My Love"
The Roots - "Long Time"
Oneida - "You're Drifting"
Johnny Cash - "Bird On A Wire"
This is another great Cash cover, this time of an amazing and classic song by Leonard Cohen. I have no empirical evidence, but my first thought was that this has got to be a frequently covered tune. A quick glance at my iPod revealed I had the Cohen version and 2 Cash versions (and a song called "Bird On A Wire" by Rogue Wave that unfortunately was a different tune). But, I'm not wrong. Among the artists to officially release a cover of "Bird On A Wire" are: Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Fairport Convention, Tim Hardin, k.d. Lang, Willie Nelson and The Neville Brothers. (Plus some others I've never heard of.) This seemed like a good opportunity to do one of those YouTube round-ups of other cool covers of the song I could find, including any by "regular" folk. Big waste of time! There are many, and they are mostly pretty bad. But, this was not a total waste of time. Because I found this:



It's a "Bird On A Wire" line dance! Please try and ignore the version of the song being played in the background. Instead, enjoy this great version by the songwriter himself.



Yo La Tengo - "Sugarcube"
Neko Case - "Stinging Velvet"
The New Pornographers - "The End Of Medicine"
Bob Dylan - "Sally Gal" [outtake]
Sebadoh - "Violet Execution"
Pernice Brothers - "My So-Called Celibate Life"
Weezer - "Dope Nose"
Coleman Hawkins - "There Will Never Be Another You"
The Magic Numbers - "I See You, You See Me"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 14
Total minutes of music (approx.): 53
Song with the most previous plays: "The End Of Medicine" - 14
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Mets win 5th in a row? Pinch me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It might be a good song but Leonard Cohen is the most overated blowhard in the singer/songwriter universe. Can anyone explain his popularity to me?