'Never Leave Me'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Ah! I wondered if it might be Nip/Tuck.
The cover of Wicked Game is stunning. It's a sort of raw, hard edge punk cover of the song, with minimal drums, a very crunchy, dirty guitar, and a female lead singer who can wail like a banshee. That version of it gives me chillls.
Serial:
Nope, I lied. There's also a very minimal bass in the song, but everything but the singer and the dirty guitar seems to fade away under the languid, dream/nightmare qualities of this cover. It's by turns wistful, then sorrowful.
Or where a cover of a song you hated turned out to be fantastic?
"The Sign" by Ace of Base - a song I never really cared for is wonderful when done by The Mountain Goats. I like putting it on mixes because it always surprises people.
__________
Tommyrot, I saw the sad news in Beep Me. I am so sorry for your loss. I had to put down my 12-year-old cat, Sophia, on April 02. The first three weeks were really tough - and I still miss her terribly - but it does get easier, and I am starting to just feel happy about the good life she had when I think of her - and not feel traumatized and guilty by how tough it was for her at the end. I hope it gets better for you soon.
You have my sympathy, too, Tommy. I had to put down my beloved 12-yr-old dog Molly in late 2004 and I miss her all the time. Tina's right; it does get easier. But losing pets is a different sort of hurt than losing people.
I feel I ought to have a pat answer for the favorite cover that improves the original question, but my brain isn't responding as well as it should. For the acoustic versions of unlikely cover songs, I like Richard Thompson's "Oops I Did It Again," Mark Kozelek's take on AC/DC songs, especially "Rock & Roll Singer," and Robbie Fulks's cover of "Believe." But I actually like the early AC/DC stuff, too, so maybe Kozelek shouldn't be included. Also, that reminds me that the all-too-brief Macha & Bedhead collaboration featured their own excellent cover of "Believe." The Minutemen covered "Ain't Talking About Love" in less than 30 seconds, getting everything you need from the song. I'll have to think on this some more.
...And Richard Lloyd has announced that it will be his last Television gig: [link]
I feel I ought to have a pat answer for the favorite cover that improves the original question, but my brain isn't responding as well as it should.
If your brain starts working better, Corwood, I would love to hear your question-improving answers.
Thanks, Sean! The noggin's still refusing to cooperate, although I can recall the sinking feeling of hearing the original of a song and realizing how much it sucks. So it's happened, although I can't think of any examples right now.
Jon, have you seen this?
In a move that has greater symbolic significance than mere real estate hopscotch, Galapagos Art Space, the pioneering bar and performing arts space that helped put Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on the cultural map, is moving a few neighborhoods down the East River, to Dumbo.
Interesting!
"We’re doubling our size and halving our rent," said Robert Elmes, who started Galapagos in 1995
It's hard to argue with those economics!
At first, I thought you were going to link to Jon Pareles's review of the Sandinista Project: [link]
A few Clash imitations show up, but so do multidirectional time warps. Songs skew toward Appalachia with banjos, plunge into psychedelic loops and echoes, unleash theremin on "The Call Up" and the Persian wail of Haale on "One More Time." Members of the Clash wanted their songs to reverberate worldwide; "The Sandinista! Project" proclaims that they succeeded. And it not only insists that the original album hung together but goes on to take the sprawl of "Sandinista!" even further.