Colin Meloy Sings...

Colin Meloy released his third (or sort of fourth) Colin Meloy Sings... record this past April focusing on five jams by the late Sam Cooke. Since I've been listening to a lot of Sam Cooke lately, I decided to put the Colin Meloy versions into rotation.

"Bright It On Home to Me" by Colin Meloy
"Bright It On Home to Me" by Sam Cooke

"That's Where it's At" by Colin Meloy
"That's Where it's At" by Sam Cooke

It's possible that this owes more to Sam Cooke's merits than to Colin Meloy's faults, but I had a lot of trouble getting into Meloy's versions of the songs. It's not that they weren't well executed, they absolutely were. It's just that I would rather listen to the original version of every song on this EP, if given the chance. In my mind, good covers expand upon or deconstruct the original in some interesting way. Meloy did it excellently with the first EP in the series, Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey. His versions of "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" and "Everyday is Like Sunday" are stripped down to a completely bare and vulnerable sound and it suits both songs beautifully.

"Everyday is Like Sunday" by Colin Meloy
"Everyday is Like Sunday" by Morrissey

"I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" by Colin Meloy
"I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" by Morrissey

It's been a long, long time coming.

For once, it really feels like the system worked.

"A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke

Black Hammah!

So although he may not write for the site superoften or even read it all the time, the Black Hammer is an integral part of our team, and my motherfucking boy. Regretfully, the lingering effects of a vicious testicular malfunction (no shit!) kept me grounded in Westchester, but even without me, our boy has crossed that threshold into manhood. Happy Birthday, Matty.

"I'm a Loner Dottie, A Rebel..." by the Get Up Kids

"Bring it on Home to Me" by Sam Cooke

The Black Hammer made it a lot easier for me to admit to liking the Get Up Kids and I wouldn't know nearly as much about Gospel, Soul, and Sam Cooke as I do now, if it weren't for this guy.

sunday, sunday, sunday

So I was at a friend's two nights ago, getting ready to watch the Sunday night bakefest block of TV (Entourage, Lucky Louie, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and I ended up watching the tail end of the show Deadwood. I haven't really gotten into the show too much, but I have to say I really think it's wack. It's like they took Sopranos throwaway scripts and dressed everybody up in cowboy suits. I mean, I'm sure cowboys swore all the time, but did they really say cocksucker and motherfucker? Anyway, over the credits they played a version of "Mary, Don't You Weep" that was kind of bad. Not awful, just kind of uninteresting. It totally would have been much better, although probably less fitting, if they'd used this version.

"Mary, Don't You Weep" by Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers

Maybe it's just because I've been listening to mad Sam Cooke again lately, but hearing another rendition of it was pretty offensive to my ears.

BONUS!!!
"You Send Me" by Sam Cooke

For some reason, whenever I've been listening to Mr. Cooke, this seems to be the song that ends up stuck in my head. I could sing this song to myself all day, it's such a simple, beautiful melody.