Under the Covers
I’ve never been a huge fan of cover songs, with the exception of an unexpected cover at a live show, like Horsegirl has been doing on their tour with an encore performance of Guided By Voices’ “As We Go Up We Go Down.”
My first exposure to cover songs was through punk. Punk bands have been known to take classic songs, often slow-paced ballads, and speeding them up and removing the music’s coyness in the process, like the Dickie’s version of the Moody Blue’s “Knights in White Satin.”
Tribute albums have flourished over the oast couple of decades, covering both artists and themes to eclectic results. I love when two artists I adore come together through a cover, like Jeffrey Lewis’s Crass covers album.
Both television and film have fed the appetite for covers. I just watched the final season of Peaky Blinders, and one of the many things that fascinated me throughout the show’s run was the many covers of the show’s theme song, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand,” were worked seamlessly into the episodes, including this ethereal version by PJ Harvey.
Feel free to leave a comment with your favorite cover song.
Largehearted Links
Are literary festivals doomed? How book events must change.
Editor Olena Rybka on Ukraine’s literary identity.
Eight books that will lead you down a rabbit hole.
Five cover songs performed by Eli Winter.
Folk collective Heilung on recording the world’s oldest song
Joan Didion and Eve Babitz’s friendship shaped their writing.
John Darnielle on the new Mountain Goats album
Kayla Maiuri interviewed about her novel Mother in the Dark
Ravi Mangla and Kevin Allardice on the possibilities of the short novel
Read an excerpt from Coco Picard’s novel The Healing Circle
Read an excerpt from Jenny Xie’s forthcoming poetry collection.
Last Week on LHB
Coco Picard's playlist for her novel The Healing Circle
Kathleen Hale's playlist for her book Slenderman
Michelle Tea's playlist for her memoir Knocking Myself Up
Nina Mingya Powles' playlist for her poetry collection Magnolia 木蘭
Ray Robertson's playlist for his novel Estates Large and Small