Category: Simon and Garfunkel


Single Song Saturday: A 9/11 Memorial

September 11th, 2010 — 01:18 pm

We’ve got a full post coming tomorrow, as usual. But I couldn’t let today go by without saying something about the way that music crawls into our psyche and stays there, especially in times of crisis and loss, when we most need it.

Only it turns out I’ve said it before. May this song, and the words which accompany it, serve you as they have served me on this day of remembrance.







This Simon and Garfunkel cover, recorded at a Philadelphia concert in August of 2001 just a month before the world changed irrevocably in the wake of 9/11, has long been one of my favorite coversongs, hands down. Some of that is the performance – it’s hard not to hear the hope and despair, the loneliness and love in this song come together perfectly in Shawn Colvin‘s sweet, soaring vocals. But some of it is the context, the pure coincidental combination of time and space, my favorite folksinger in the prime of her pre-pop career, the innocence we all felt just before the skies came crumbling down: the plane in the first line, the lonely city of the lyrics, the sentiment of saying that we’re all gone half of the time, and we don’t know where, but here I am, alive and grounded…

For me, it’s personal. I had a friend of sorts on the second plane to hit the World Trade Centers on 9/11 – a fact I only discovered after I had spent the morning watching his soaring coffin smash into an office building over and over and over again on TV, without knowing it was him in that metal and glass. Like so many coworkers, he was one of those friends that was always on the verge of becoming closer, except life kept getting in the way – in fact, we were due to head out for a drink the week afterwards, our first true outing outside of work, but to be honest, we had cancelled a couple of dates in the months before, and there’s good chance we might not have made it then, either.

Music hits us funny, sometimes; I have no idea how all this stuff got tangled up in this song, this performance, this moment for me in the first place. But I can say that listening to this song – any version or performance, really, but this one especially – hurts, now. And I’m sorry, in a way, though we need sad songs as much as we need happy ones, perhaps more.

But it will always and forever be my best way of remembering my almost-friend, of thinking about the worlds that could have been. I will forever hear it in my head when I see the towers fall, in photos and on video. And since the world will never forget, I will never forget my friend, either, I guess.

And for that, I offer it back to the world. With thanks for the time we have, though it is never as much as we hope it will be.

We miss you, Chris.




This post exists because of the Shawn Colvin cover above – if you haven’t downloaded it yet, now’s the time. But this Everything But The Girl version isn’t bad, either, especially when you factor in the video images and that etherial choir…


1,005 comments » | Shawn Colvin, Simon and Garfunkel, Single Shot Coverfolk

Guestfolk: In the clearing stands a boxer…

May 21st, 2008 — 03:07 am


Hi everybody. I’m Jamie from Fong Songs, a cover blog you may know since Boyhowdy has been over once or twice (or thrice) to guest post. Unless I completely imagined it, there was an open invitation at some point for me to return the favour and guest post here on Cover Lay Down. Boyhowdy’s still hampered with technical difficulties at the moment, so it’s a perfect excuse for me to step into his usual Wednesday timeslot and lay down some folk covers for you. If you go back to the very first post ever on Cover Lay Down, Boyhowdy once praised my “incredible ability to compile cross-genre coverlists the likes of which [he's] never seen”. That just warms my little ego, but I think what he’s getting it at is that I sometimes come up with bizarre excuses to thematically link random cover songs. With the prospect of producing an all-folk cover post, I struggled to come up with an appropriately Fong Songs-esque theme of folk covers, but luckily whatever I do is inherently Fong Songs-esque.

As Boyhowdy can attest to, the definition of folk music is rather elusive with modern folk festivals pushing the boundaries of what’s considered folk music. I’ve gone with some relatively safe bets: Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and a couple “man and an acoustic guitar” covers. I strongly associate folk music with storytelling and that certainly applies to the following batch of cover songs… even if it’s the story of Rocky Balboa.

Today on Cover Lay Down: tales of boxers as told via folk covers.

  • Ani DiFranco, Hurricane (orig. Bob Dylan)
    
In 1966, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a pro middleweight boxer, was arrested and later convicted for a grisly triple murder, a crime for which he steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 1974 while in prison he wrote his autobiography, which inspired Bob Dylan to take up his cause and write this protest song. Eventually he was released on appeal in 1985 after nearly 20 years in prison. Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison directed a film version of Carter’s story, 1999′s Hurricane, with Denzel Washington in the title role. Even though there was controversy regarding the fictional liberties taken in the film (in addition to debate of Carter’s innocence in the first place), I remember it being an excellent film with strong acting as usual from Mr. Washington who seems to be drawn to these real-life roles. Just don’t ask me what really happened.

  • Lucas, Harry Kein (orig. Bob Dylan)
    Here’s an acoustic Spanish language cover of Hurricane by a musician that simply goes as Lucas. My Spanish is downright non-existent, so for all I know this very well may be a Spanish parody about a guy named Harry Kein.
  • Colin Linden, The Boxer (orig. Simon & Garfunkel)
    I remember taking my dad’s Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits CD, lying in the dark, and cranking The Boxer on my discman. Li-la-li, kaBOOOM! Still gives me shivers when I’m in a particular mood. I first heard this cover by Colin Linden (woo, Canadian content!) during the end credits of the Coen Brothers film Intolerable Cruelty. I’m somewhat notorious among friends for lingering around to watch movie credits and sometimes it’s just because I’m listening to the music (plus the song credits always come at the very end!).
  • Bob Dylan, The Boxer (orig. Simon & Garfunkel)
    I’m not particularly well-versed in the Bob Dylan canon, so needless to say I was shocked to hear this “other” voice he sometimes sings with, completely unrecognizable from the oft parodied Dylan vocals. From 1970′s poorly received Self Portrait, a double album of mostly cover songs, Dylan takes on the now classic ballad by Simon & Garfunkel, though the original itself had only been recorded in the previous year. Some have speculated that Paul Simon actually wrote The Boxer about Bob Dylan, but there doesn’t seem to be any solid evidence behind this claim.

  • Josh Joplin, Eye of the Tiger (orig. Survivor)
    
This great acoustic cover is from the Australian cover compilation Andrew Denton’s Musical Challenge, which features artists covering unlikely songs. Want to hear children’s group The Wiggles cover Lou Reed? Now you know where to go.

Today’s bonus coversongs (and bonus non-coversongs):

  • Cassius Clay, Stand By Me (orig. Ben E. King)
    Yes, Muhammad Ali recorded an album titled I Am the Greatest under his birth name Cassius Clay in 1963 at age 21 before his name change and even before he became World Heavyweight Champion. I haven’t actually heard the whole thing, but I understand it’s a spoken word album with poetry readings, sketches, and him answering questions from a live audience. The track listing includes titles such as I Am the Double Greatest, Funny You Should Ask, and Will The Real Sonny Liston Please Fall Down. Luckily for our purposes, Ali also recorded a cover song of Ben E. King’s classic Stand By Me.

  • Bette Midler, Boxing (orig. Ben Folds Five)
    From their debut self-titled album, Ben Folds wrote this poignant song about an imaginary conversation between Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell, in which Ali contemplates hanging up the gloves. Probably the only studio-released cover of any Ben Folds Five song is by, of all people, Bette Midler, who recorded this for her 1998 album Bathhouse Betty.

  • Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People, The Ballad of George Chuvalo
    Meet George Chuvalo, he’s from Toronto, he is the hero of this here story.

    And so begins the tale of George Chuvalo, legendary Canadian heavyweight champion who twice went toe to toe with Muhammad Ali, though lost both by decision. Known for having never been knocked down in the ring in 93 fights during a professional career that spanned over 20 years, perhaps his greatest legacy evolved outside the ring. As told in this tribute by Ontario musicians Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People, Chuvalo tragically lost three of his sons and his wife in drug-related deaths (full story in this in-depth Maclean’s article). True to his stalwart nature, since 1995 Chuvalo became a tireless anti-drug advocate and today still gives talks to students, parents, and other support groups. In 1998, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his work. Visit George Chuvalo’s Fight Against Drugs for more on Chuvalo’s story and cause.

  • Colin Linden, George Chuvalo
    Colin Linden, who is also one-third of folk group Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, wrote his own tribute to George Chuvalo. Little bit of trivia for you: Chuvalo took on some bit parts in films over the years including a bar patron named Marky who has an ill-fated arm wrestling match with Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Check the CBC digital archives for numerous fascinating video and audio clips of George Chuvalo including the original CBC radio broadcast of his fight with Ali and his 1977 appearance on a CBC talk show with his thoughts on the newly released Rocky. Amusingly, when he’s introduced by host Peter Gzowski, the house band plays a 15 second muzak version of The Boxer as Chuvalo walks on stage.

Thanks to Boyhowdy for letting me stop by and share some folk covers with you. Hopefully his computer issues get sorted out soon!

71 comments » | ani difranco, Ben E. King, Ben Folds, Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, Cassius Clay, Colin Linden, Friendly Rich and The Lollipop People, Guest Posts, Josh Joplin, Lucas, Simon and Garfunkel, Survivor

Covered in Folk: Simon and Garfunkel (Indigo Girls, Jonatha Brooke, Shawn Colvin, and more!)

January 23rd, 2008 — 11:52 am

Hope no one minds two Covered in Folk features in the same week; in my other life I’ve got student grades to process and a new term starting up Thursday, so I needed something quick. Upcoming features include the coversong repertoires of some stellar voices from across the folk spectrum; in the meantime, here’s a post I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks, ever since our feature on the solosongs of Paul Simon.

You need me to say something about Simon and Garfunkel? THE Simon and Garfunkel? Okay, how about this: every single person I know knows the lyrics to at least one Simon and Garfunkel song. Me? I can sing Cecilia in my sleep. In harmony.

Rolling Stone lists Simon and Garfunkel at #40 on their most influential artists ever; by “influential”, they’re talking about the effect of this American folk rock duo on the world of professional music, the stuff that garnered them a lifetime achievement award at the 2003 Grammy awards. But much more noteworthy is the fact that, three generations later, their songs have become part of the base set of popular tunes which pepper the sonic landscape for the developing ear in suburban American culture.

It’s not just that I know all the words to a song older than me. It’s that I learned them when I was fourteen, and I still remember them. Even in an earbud age, kids still come home from summer camp with the songs of James Taylor, the Beatles, and Simon and Garfunkel in their ears, because this is the canon of the acoustic guitar, passed down from older teen counselor to song circle. Now that’s folk. It’s truths like that which give us hope for the next generation, and the next beyond that, too.

Today we present a carefully chosen, predominantly female-voiced set of Simon and Garfunkel covers, firmly grounded in the folk world but willing to veer towards alt-country (Johnny Cash), folk pop (The Indigo Girls), and indiefolk (The Purple Raiders, Emiliana Torinni) where the song warrants it. Nothing comprehensive, mind you. Just some great songs, performed and interpreted with love and guitars. And isn’t that the best kind of tribute?

  • Indigo Girls, Mrs. Robinson
    The tomboyish, politicized folk harmonies of the Indigo Girls charge every word with a gleeful yearning, create the perfect happy medium between the original song and that amazing cover by the Lemonheads.

  • The Purple Raiders, Mrs. Robinson
    …though this even more ragged demo might have more indiecred. I’d say more about alt-country upstarts The Purple Raiders, but their website is all in German.

  • Johnny Cash w/ Fiona Apple, Bridge over Troubled Water
    This one got lost among the Nine Inch Nails and U2 in the last cover-heavy years of Cash’s career. Some sappy synth-vocals in the background, but Johnny Cash‘s broken-voiced hope clears the maudlin bar.

  • Emiliana Torrini, Sound of Silence
    Folk rock at its psychadelic, Icelandic best. Once a stand-in for Bjork, Emiliana Torrini can turn a great song on its ear without straying too far from the original sound. She can also build a hell of a wall of sound.

  • Brobdingnagian Bards, Scarborough Faire (trad.)
    A tradsong popularized by Simon and Garfunkel, done over by faux buskers the Brobdingnagian Bards on the punnishly-titled A Faire to Remember. Our first nod to the filksong and re-creationist fairefolk movements here on Cover Lay Down.

  • Jonatha Brooke, Bleecker Street
    Musicians and music lovers of a certain age know we’re a bit too young to know Bleecker Street as it was in the heydey of the American folk revival. But we sure recognize a debt to our forefathers when we see it, and Jonatha Brooke pays hers back with interest. Absolutely stunning. From the incredible out-of-print folkscene tribute album Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village In The 60′s.

  • Shawn Colvin, The Only Living Boy in New York
    A repost from our first few weeks, but I couldn’t resist: Shawn Colvin‘s sweet, soaring, just-before-9-11 cover of this song is the archetype for the truly great Paul Simon cover. Feel the love, and own it, too.

  • Alison Brown w/ Indigo Girls, Homeward Bound
    Jazzfolk fusion bluegrass banjo wizard (and Compass Records founder) Alison Brown generally brings guest vocalists in for her coversongs; here, the sweet harmonies of the Indigo Girls bring us back full circle.

    As always, all artist links above go to artists’ preferred source for purchase; if you like what you hear, pick up the recorded works of these modern inheritors of the folk world by clicking on their names above.

    And here’s a little bonus section coverfolk from Paul Simon’s oft-forgotten partner — a man who has read one thousand twenty three books since June of 1968, and wanted to put a Bach chorale piece on Bridge Over Troubled Waters. There are others, but this Art Garfunkel stuff’s a little too lite for my ears.

  • 721 comments » | Alison Brown, Art Garfunkel, Brobdingnagian Bards, Emiliana Torrini, Indigo Girls, Johnny Cash, Jonatha Brooke, Shawn Colvin, Simon and Garfunkel, The Purple Raiders

    Shawn Colvin, Cover Girl:From Tom Waits to the Talking Heads (and then some)

    October 5th, 2007 — 03:44 pm

    The profitability of cover albums may be indirect for artists, but as a way to raise awareness, it’s a masterstroke. Way back when genres meant something, the internet hadn’t changed our music distribution models, and the Adult Alternative label hadn’t subsumed well-produced folk music, recording a cover album was a sneaky strategy for folk musicians to broaden the listener base and please the fans all at once.

    Shawn Colvin‘s 1989 debut Steady On garnered her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and deservedly so: the combination of Colvin’s polished, slightly southern-twanged voice and co-writer and producer John Leventhal’s lush sound made for seminal work of modern folk, irresistible to those of us looking for the next Suzanne Vega. But Colvin’s sophomore Fat City was less well received — as with so many musicians who spend decades honing that first pressing, the gems were fewer for the second go-round. How to broaden and recover that fresh-faced folk appeal?

    Enter Cover Girl, a 1994 album which primarily took covers from Colvin’s live recordings (a staple of the on-the-road folksinger) and added a few in-studio layers of bass and atmospheric noise. The end product required little studio time or rehearsal for Colvin; the strategy allowed her to remain in the public eye while she worked up her next album of original material, and it paid off in music and reputation, if not in actual sales.

    Though one or two Cover Girl tracks suffer from overproduction — including, sadly, her cover of The Police’s Every Little Thing (He) Does Is Magic — the hit-to-miss ratio here is high. Colvin’s simple guitar and little-girl voice breathe new life into a wide swath of material, from bluesman Chris Smither’s Killing the Blues to Band b-side Twilight. Here, we hear her bring backroads innocence to one of two Tom Waits cuts, and her wistful, melodic take on a Talking Heads synthpop classic:

    • Shawn Colvin, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (orig. Talking Heads)
    • Shawn Colvin, Looking For The Heart of Saturday Night (orig. Tom Waits)

    Colvin appears not to sell her CDs direct from her website, so instead of directing you to buy today’s featured album via the artist, I’ll note that you can, and should, get Cover Girl for $7.69 at CDUniverse.

    Today’s bonus covertracks:

    • Colvin covers Simon and Garfunkel’s The Only Living Boy in New York (live)
    • folkcombo Salamander Crossing try Colvin’s Shotgun Down The Avalanche
    • Alison Krauss makes funky, fast bluegrass of Colvin’s I Don’t Know Why

    1,098 comments » | Alison Krauss, Cover Girl, Salamander Crossing, Shawn Colvin, Simon and Garfunkel, Talking Heads, Tom Waits