M. Ward has covered an absolute ton of songs in his career, both on his own and as part of She & Him. He’s recorded this latest one with Australia’s Folk Bitch Trio for his new solo greatest hits album. Though hardly Godley & Creme’s only hit, or even their biggest, “Cry” seems to be the former 10cc members’ best remembered song, probably in part due to the iconic video the duo themselves directed.
“Cry” isn’t the eighties-est of ’80s songs but it’s still pretty distinctively ’80s, with a prominent Fairlight part, post-disco guitar and barely a cymbal to be heard. But Ward and the trio recorded their cover live in the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania.
Ward, as is his want, begins his cover with solo acoustic guitar and his voice. He gives the vocal line a bit of variation, and the entire thing is slowed down. The Folk Bitch Trio join in on the refrain. He adds a melodic guitar fill which copies the melody line before one of the trio take a bit of the verse. They all join together for a repetition of the verse and then they deliver a fitting play on the original’s effects-heavy ending. Like most of Ward’s covers, it’s simple and sincere but also very much sounds like him and not the original artist.
It’s an austere but pretty cover of the original, removing all of the ’80s artifice of the original and revealing the song underneath. Yes, the original was pretty simple for an ’80s recording, but this recording of merely four voices and a single guitar takes the simplicity to a whole new level.
