Mixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is

[venta]

It's Friday, it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).

I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...

Today's cover version [link to mp3 expired]

That was Dubstar covering St Swithin's Day, originally by Billy Bragg.

Sorry I'm a day late with this. Yes, I know it's Friday today, but it was St Swithin's Day yesterday. And it rained, which I think means it's going to rain for the next forty days.

I'm wondering if Billy Bragg should be a recipient of the Bob Dylan award: notably, his songs are often a lot better if sung by someone else. Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Bragg but he really can't sing very well, and he's very easily parodied. On the plus side, he's well aware of this (by his own admission all you need to be Billy Bragg is "a guitar and a flat nasal delivery"). He's got a sense of humour about it all (I've heard him duet on Unisex Chipshop) and he also writes very good songs. He's fascinating live, mixing songs with anecdotes and frequently rewriting his songs on the fly to comment on the weather, the audience, the news or the latest celebrity du jour. He claims it's the only way he can keep ahead of the bootleggers.

I pretty sure I've recommended Dubstar's Disgraceful before (didn't we Boogie to Popdorian many years ago?), but if you've not heard it you really should. For some reason, every time I hear it I think that feanelwa would like it (which is patently ridiculous, because I have no clue as to her tastes in music at all).

Comments

[lnr]

It's weird, I know this really well, and had *never noticed* it was a Billy Bragg cover. Despite having the album with it on! I shall now listen to the original and try to work out why I never twigged.

Hmm, yes, I really like this one too, and I can see they're the same song if I really listen hard :). Musically they're so different!

It only rained at night here yesterday, so hopefully it'll rain every *night* for the next forty nights and stay fine during the day, best of both worlds :)

I do like Billy Bragg, I know what you mean about not singing *well* but I like his singing nonetheless.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem with Only Love Can Break Your Heart, which I knew as a St Etienne song. I heard the Neil Young original any number of times before I grasped that it was the same song :)

[lnr]

I mean I have the *Billy Bragg* album with it on. I probably even knew it first. Daft!

never noticed

[ewx.livejournal.com]

+1

[zotz]

Back in Nineteen-Eightymumble I saw Skint Video do their Billy Bragg song at Glastonbury, and I know Billy didn't mind because he was on that stage straight after them and only mentioned that they'd been playing Hunt Balls before he started joking about the size of his nose (Andrew Ridgely was rumoured to just have had a nose job . . . "I think it's more of an artistic challenge to get the public to accept the nose.")

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Does that mean you're a Kirstyist?

[venta.livejournal.com]

You make that sound like something filthy :)

I think the KM version has more popular appeal; I actually quite like BB's version. Especially since her death, when he started singing it again and putting in the extra verse.