Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.
The Queen Is Dead never ages. Last September we posted covers of every song on the album, with Nada Surf turning in a faithful “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” To be sure, there are plenty of covers of the Smiths song (a candidate for a Five Good Covers feature perhaps?). The tune seems to carry itself; in all but the most incompetent hands it’s pretty. In the right hands though, it’s downright heart-stopping.
Enter David Ford. The British songwriter has flown under the radar for the past few years, churning out quality records detailing one man’s musings on a world moving ever faster. His uncompromising tunes rarely shy from the political. His Let the Hard Times Roll is one of the year’s best. Not many discs boast an anti-love song to Margaret Thatcher (“She’s Not the One”) and a tongue-in-check ode to torture (“Surfin’ Guantanamo Bay”).
When he puts politics aside, Ford can do a drop-dead gorgeous ballad (see “Song for the Road”). That’s the skill he brings to “There Is a Light.” It’s solo piano and it sounds about like you’d expect. Enjoy with a glass of red wine and some on-the-road scenes from the original video, cleverly added by a fan.
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Check out more David Ford at his website or MySpace.
