Last October songs

Wednesday's: Nobody's Fault But Mine - Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in their 1994 live album "No Quarter (Unledded)".
This is an old blues standard, first recorded by Blind Willie Nelson in 1927 or so. In 1976 Led Zeppelin tore it up and put it back together as metal. Then in 1994 Page and Plant backed off and gave it another chance, and that is the version above.

Thursday the weather shifted, and Leonard Cohen poked a first tender song through, like all those green things that pop out of the earth after the first rain:
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye

Later on rainy Thursday I heard this on the radio:
From Hank to Hendrix - Neil Young (unplugged)

Two new songs and another look at an old one.

Rent by the Pet Shop Boys - odd that I've never heard it before. It's also covered by Liza Minnelli and is supposedly a drag queen staple.

Not Dark Yet - Bob Dylan (thanks Iza)

And
Playing on and on and on in my head, I can't stop it.

Caetano Veloso, Mora Na Filosofia (Monsueto / Arnaldo Passos)

Don't bother with other covers. Right now I think this is the most perfect music.


Eu vou lhe dar a decisão
Botei na balança, e você não pesou
Botei na peneira, e você não passou.
Mora na filosofia
Pra quê rimar amor e dor.

Se seu corpo ficasse marcado
Por lábios ou mãos carinhosas,
Eu saberia, ora vai mulher
A quantos você pertencia.
Não vou me preocupar em ver,
Seu caso não é de ver pra crer
Tá na cara!

My best translation of the first three lines (with every possible disclaimer - it's just a small improvement on the Google translation).

"I'll give you the decision.
I weighed it in balance, and you carried no weight.
I put it through the sieve, and you did not pass."

Heard It Through the Grapevine

My conclusion from this search is that nobody can touch Marvin Gaye's performance. No other cover comes close to his intensity, his urgency, no one else's "...and I'm just about to lose my mind" is so thrilling. Supposedly Gaye's hard-driving producer brought out that urgent tone by pushing him to record the song on a scale higher than his comfortable vocal range.

If you are only interested in the ultimate version, read no farther than this:
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye (1967)



Nevertheless, some of the other versions out there have redeeming qualities. Here are my picks - the historic, the original, and Amy Winehouse:

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The historic - best known versions:

Gladys Knight & the Pips - ther first version to be released as a single, before Marvin Gaye's.

Credence Clearwater Revival

Claymation commercial for California raisins

Michael Jackson also wanted to be a raisin...

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My favorites - the artists interpreting in their own character:

Elton John live

Fantasia Barrino on American Idol

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Some well-made versions and sung with lots of feeling, just not original:

Fairport Convention

Funk Brothers & Ben Harper

Michael McDonald

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And Amy Winehouse... well, she just can't be ignored.

Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller on the Jools Holland show

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For those who read this far, here is Marvin Gaye jamming in Japan.

Small Discoveries from Monday

The Roots feat. Erykah Badu doing Billie Jean

J. Viewz interpreting another Michael Jackson song: Smooth Criminal ("Annie are you OK?")

Layla live with Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
The "Derek and the Dominoes" version - the fast one - is actually the original. I knew the slower, intimate, "unplugged" version first, so hearing it sped and noised up was a bit of a shock. But I think this version is just as touching.

In the Dragon's Lair

Yesterday morning in the Apple store I became enraptured with a set of large and luxurious (and way out of my league, money-wise) noise-cancelling Bose headphones. Padded like an executive chair for the ears. Music coming in so clear you can almost smell it.



I contemplated selling my soul to the Devil for a set, but the Devil happened to be away on business at that moment. So he missed his chance.

Anyway, I don't hate New York City so much anymore. Here's proof:

Black Magic Woman - Santana

Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon

Say What You Want - Texas

End of Summer

I had the most wonderful summer...

It ended abruptly as I left the sun and the beach across the Atlantic, and friends began to scatter all over the country and the world.

So here is some
Disgust from the airplane,
People Ain't No Good - Nick Cave

Wistfulness from Washington DC,
Angie - the Rolling Stones

Loathing from NYC
Happiness is a Warm Gun - the Beatles

But this marvelous bass line
You Don't Know Me - Caetano Veloso
And maybe winter won't be so bad.