Tight Like This.
A quiet, overcast Fourth of July, with only the occasional waft of grill smoke as a reminder of the holiday. Appropriate, somehow. I just realized that I don’t care for the 4th, and haven’t since I was shooting off bottle rockets and checking for chiggers on my great-grandparents’ farm in the Old Country. (And that was a long time ago.) But this year in particular, it’s a little hard, with a president so unconcerned about public opinion that his Independence Day gift to the electorate was to practically pardon I. Lewis Libby. Home of the free, land of the brave.
The Scamp and I spent much of the day listening to WKCR’s annual Louis Armstrong Birthday Extravaganza (to be repeated on August 4, his real birthday, in addition to the day he thought was his birthday), and one of his versions of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” got me thinking about about fine art of song interpretation (I was mentally comparing it to Billie Holiday’s go, which I just listened to a couple of days ago). My favorite remakes aren’t just the ones that are better than the originals — say, Ryan Adams’ “Wonderwall” (Oasis), Camille’s “In a Manner of Speaking” (Tuxedomoon), Michael Andrews’ “Mad World” (Tears for Fears) — but also the ones that tease out other levels and don’t necessarily best the originals, just deliver something different and equally amazing. Here, I’m thinking of Courtney Love’s “Pale Blue Eyes” (Velvet Underground), Roberta Flack’s “That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” (Leonard Cohen), or Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold the World” (David Bowie). There are songwriters whose works are often better performed by someone else — like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and occasionally David Bowie — and those whose works seem like they should almost always come from their own mouths — like Joni Mitchell, Prince, and also David Bowie (I can’t imagine anyone ever delivering a better “Ashes to Ashes”). But is it a bigger testament to the greatness of a song or the talent of the deliverer when it can be made brand new all over again?
There go the fireworks. One last tidbit, for those who like to curl up with a little fiction at the end of the day: My friend Hilary Davidson has published a sweet little short story, “Anniversary,” in Thuglit #17. The devil is in the details. (”Small minds are much distressed by little things.” - La Rochefoucauld)
[Photo of Charles Mingus and the flag from Music & the Civil Rights Movement.]