Back in 2001, there was a forgettable little film called I Am Sam in which Sean Penn went full retard. Though I never saw the movie or had any interest in it, the soundtrack was entirely Beatles covers; apparently the songs of The Beatles played a large part in the plot. Covering the Beatles is, of course, not a new concept, as they might be the most widely covered band in history, but to their credit they eschewed some of the more obvious choices for some of the deep cuts, and in this blogger's opinion, matched up the songs and artists well.
Some of the notable songs:
Ben Folds' "Golden Slumbers" (my favorite on the album)
Nick Cave's "Let it Be"
Granddaddy's "Revolution"
Paul Westerberg's "Nowhere Man"
Rufus Wainwright's "Across the Universe"
And, of course, we have Eddie Vedder doing one of my favorite Beatles tracks, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". The original was a Lennon track and appeared on the "Help" album in 1965. That time period was smack in the middle of the Beatles' transition from pop stars to "serious" artists, and you can tell from this tune that they were definitely headed in a different direction.
Unlike other Beatles songs, it's in a minor key, a slow, Dylan-esque comedown from the formulaic pop gems that they had produced up until that time. It must have thrown their fans for a loop at the time (whenever I hear it I think of a northern England sea shanty), and was definitely a portent for the experimental phase the band was about to experience.
Eddie Vedder plays this cover pretty straight, not changing much at all from the original. He has one of the most outstanding voices in rock music, a deep baritone with great range, so it was a natural song for him to cover. Without being blasphemous, I think his voice suits this song better than Lennon's does, actually.
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5 comments:
Though I have grown so tired of the Beatles, I nearly puke when I have to hear them, this song is still one I really like.
I remember hearing Eddie Vedder sing this live, and then thinking to myself that he is the only one who should cover this song.
As for your comment about his voice suiting the song better -- at first I thought no, then agree.
Good post.
Well, I think "Touch Me, I'm Dick," in essence, speaks for itself, you know. I think that, you know, that's basically what the song is, um... about... is about, you know... I think a lot of people might think it's actually about, you know,"My name is Dick, and, you know, you can touch me," but, I think, you know, it can be seen either way.
Merky - that whole "I AM Sam" album reminds me of good times. I listened to that coming and going from Rome in 03.
Amazing how much that trip seems to come up in my life.
Yeah.
"Crawl on the floor you sexy bitches. . ."
Sorry I missed this one.
I hate Sean Penn. Fucker.
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