This reminds me of a great post on Some Velvet Blo…

This reminds me of a great post on Some Velvet Blog a while back. 20 Covers That Are Better Than The Originals

And now, a cover that is vastly better than the original

I’d go on a limb and say that on most days my favorite David Gray song is “Say Hello Wave Goodbye,” the beautiful, winding, 9-minute behemoth from White Ladder. It’s not catchy, no chorus that sticks in your head; it reminds me more of a confessional poem of a complicated relationship. I have a hard time articulating exactly why I love it so much, but from those opening notes (do it, click the blue arrow) it just seems to encapsulate some ephemeral longing and an intangible sadness.

Say Hello Wave Goodbye – David Gray

The nine minutes give the lyrics time to unfold and breathe –it is long enough to tell an intricate, sad story with the brutal refrain of “Take your hands off me, hey. I don’t belong to you, you say. Take a look at my face for the last time. I never knew you, you never knew me. Say hello, goodbye . . .”

To me, it’s about a mismatched pair that nonetheless feels that inexorable pull: “We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit, but it just wasn’t me. You’re used to wearing less, and now you’re life’s a mess, so insecure you see.” And perhaps I like the line about how he claims to want “a nice little housewife who’ll give me the steady life, and not keep going off the rails” — but the subtext of the song tells me that he really wants her and not that at all.

My jaw dropped to the floor when I learned that this is originally a Soft Cell song (yes, they of the Tainted Love fame), and it is horrific, clunky, and synthy. In retrospect, perhaps I should have known, though — do songs get any more ’80s than one that starts with the lyric, “Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo crying in the rain”?

I had that recent post about cover songs that are awful, this is one cover that actually redeems the original.

Say Hello Wave Goodbye – Soft Cell

Gray also adds his own outro to the original lyrics, and it always gets to me:

We were born before the wind, who are we to understand?
We were born before the wind . . .
Say goodbye
Through the rain, hail, sleet and snow
Say goodbye
Get on the train, the train, the train and
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
In the wind and the rain my darling . . .
Say goodbye

In the wind and the rain my darling . . .

And with that, as you listen you can almost picture the train start moving on the tracks and pulling away from the station. It’s cinematic.

*************************************************************
And just since the mood kind of fits, here is one other interesting cover, from Embrace‘s Ashes CD single (the b-side):

How Come – Embrace

How Come – D12 and Eminem
(the original – ha!)

The CC’s used to play “Unsatisfied” (Replacement’s…

The CC’s used to play “Unsatisfied” (Replacement’s version) over the PA as the last song before they came on stage during “August and Every…” tour. I thought now this is a cool band that puts that song on before taking the stage…

Malin mesmerizes at Bowery

Jesse Malin‘s excellent new album Glitter In The Gutter came out on Tuesday and he ushered it in with a “record release party” at the Bowery in NYC . . .

MALIN MESMERIZES AT BOWERY
By DAN AQUILANTE

Jesse Malin – the former D-Generation punk mastermind – is poetic in the way he makes a few words explode with meaning.

His melodies range from ballads to Bo Diddley beat rockers, but what made him so compelling at his Bowery Ballroom gig Monday was his quintessential New York cool.

Malin is the successor to Lou Reed’s crown as the lord of the City’s underground. In his songs like “Riding on a Subway,” “Brooklyn,” “Hotel Columbia” and material from his latest solo record “Glitter in the Gutter,” Malin captures the vibe of the city with sharp, in-your-face city attitude. He mixes sarcasm, humor and enough innocence to make even his lies sound true.

In his between songs he pokes fun at the Williamsburg hipsters who cross the bridge nightly to invade the Lower East Side, and he likes his obscure film references – quoting “King of Comedy” character Rupert Pupkin, “It’s better to be the king for a night than a schmuck all your life.” Malin even asked the “Marathon Man” question a half a dozen times “Is it safe?”

Without the dental work, the answer was yes.

Malin was in his element, even when he left the stage to sing from the center of the dance floor. Before he started, he convinced everyone to sit on the hardwood strewn with beer cups for what he called the concert’s U2 moment.

If there was a single disappointment at this show, it was that everyone at the Bowery was buzzing about how Bruce Springsteen was going to show up to help Malin reprise their duet of the song “Broken Radio” off of the “Glitter” album. The Boss stayed home, but Malin delivered the song with a vehemence that said the Bruce assist wasn’t essential to the number’s goodness.

Malin is an underrated, old school player who is finally getting recognized as one of New York’s great hometown voices.

Broken Radio – Jesse Malin with Springsteen

BUY: Glitter In The Gutter

I saw this very show one time on Frontier Airlines…

I saw this very show one time on Frontier Airlines. They have Direct TV on the plane, and I was on my way to Mexico (after running into you at the airport with you!) and they were playing this. I was rocking out and it helped keep me from having a breakdown when the plane took off (I hate flying). It was such a high energy, crazy awesome rocking show that I watched the whole thing. Thanks for reminding me of it!

If your sound system has a built in tape deck AND …

If your sound system has a built in tape deck AND has auxilliary output RCA jack sockets, you get a cable with RCAs at one end and a 3.5mm stereo jack at the other, which connects to the sound input on your PC soundcard. Depending on what audio software you have, either record as an mp3 direct or record as .Wav and do one pass of editing to take out the tape hiss (I still use Cool Edit 96 with no problems) before converting to mp3.

Sure, Beth:Emmaline mp3Enjoy!

Sure, Beth:

Emmaline mp3

Enjoy!

thanks Brian! I meant to email you and ask, but go…

thanks Brian! I meant to email you and ask, but got inundated…and kind of thought it was cool regardless. Thanks for the background. Very cool.

Brian H here…the band pic is from 6th St in Aust…

Brian H here…the band pic is from 6th St in Austin one night….that band just set up in that little corner and rocked out (that area is usually taken by some guy that does mystical spray paint paintings)…very cool band…

Heather, thanks for giving blood. Politics aside, …

Heather, thanks for giving blood. Politics aside, those young men and women deployed right now just want to do their jobs and come home. Your few minutes may well allow one of our injured Soldiers to return to his or her loved ones. That is worth more than a thousand silly yellow ‘support the troops’ magnets on people’s cars. Thank you.