Fontaines DC come from a land of poets and met at musical school, so they bring literacy and technical depth to their post-punk anthems. Their subtle line in covers makes them popular here, and their celloless Nick Drake cover “Cello Song” was one of our favorites of 2023. Their recent appearance on the Jo Whiley radio programme on the BBC saw them showcase one song from their new album and a classy new version of “Let’s Get Lost,” popularized by Chet Baker.
Prodigiously talented on the trumpet and intimidatingly handsome, Chet Baker embodied Cool Jazz. That he also had the most beautiful singing voice of the time was almost a humorous aside from the gods’ attempt to generate a perfect vehicle for musical and personal success. When he took a song from the 1943 film Happy Go Lucky, about stealing off for a time with a lover, you know that he was singing from the heart and experience. It is one of the most beautiful, personal pieces of music that you can imagine. Perhaps unsurprisingly Baker never lost the ability to impress potential lovers, and steal them away from their current partners, but by the ’80s he was a different prospect. By the time of Bruce Weber’s elegiac, haunting, moving biopic of the same title, Baker’s looks (but not style) had gone, and his ability to play the trumpet was hindered by the effects of a violent interaction with one of his drug dealers, his voice a painful rasp. By that time, Baker’s renditions of the song occupied the same place as Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, perhaps it was not written to evoke a day with heroin rather than a lover, but it may as well have been.
Fontaines DC pitch their version between triumph and tragedy. They do not have the honeyed, smooth, presentation of Baker’s early years, but do not bear the baggage of decades of debauchery (yet!). Grian Chatten’s accented vocals appeal in a different way to Baker’s, and the band is not conventionally “cool” in their delivery. Nevertheless you can see the appeal. You could be swept off your feet by them, if you encountered them playing next to the Liffey or in a dive bar near the Charles River on Paddy’s Day. Their musical skill and felicity with words make them an appealing prospect for a lost weekend.
