Regular readers will be familiar with my rants about there not being enough cover versions out there. Too many inadequate or merely average songwriters keep churning out their own stuff (whether desperate for publishing royalties or just to express themselves, man) and ignoring all the unarguably great stuff they could be having a crack at ...
As further encouragement in the right direction:
- remember even the very best songwriters will often play the field - Dylan: all sorts of examples throughout his career; Bruce Springsteen: Seeger Sessions, opening up at Hyde Park in 2009 with 'London Calling'; Laura Marling's lovely 'Needle and the Damage Done'/'Blues Run The Game' 7"; etc, etc;
- why stop at one song? I'm currently listening a lot to Chuck Prophet's Dreaming Waylon's Dreams, which is his version of a whole Waylon Jennings album, Dreaming My Dreams. A lot of fun, a great tribute and he really makes the songs his own.
And also to Robyn Hitchcock Sings, a double CD set of Dylan songs delivered in Robyn's own inimitable style. (The second CD replicates the electric set from the legendary Free Trade Hall concert in 1966, complete with versions of the between songs chat and some drunkard in the audience shouting 'Judas' prematurely...)
And a PS - creeping in under cover of this post's title: readership continues to rise, helped greatly by Karl Erik at the splendid Expecting Rain site posting links to the recent Patti Smith and Richard Thompson pieces. The site had over 280 visitors on the days they came out. And last Saturday saw a current record of 587 page views. Many thanks for all the interest.