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

[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!