May 252018
 
bill murray bob dylan

Last night, tons of venues all over the world held Bob Dylan tribute concerts to celebrate his birthday. New York’s Town Hall was one of them, but with a twist: They had performers cover only the songs Bob himself played there in a famous 1963 concert. This led to some real deep cuts mixed in with the early Freewheelin’-era classics.

And that wasn’t the only thing unusual about the evening. Two of the biggest names were not, technically, singers. Bill Murray warbled “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and Steve Buscemi recited “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” (the song that got Dylan kicked off Ed Sullivan). Buscemi delivered a fantastically passionate reading of his deep cut, while Bill Murray – well, it was nice of him to show up, and we’ll leave it at that. Continue reading »

May 142018
 
bill murray el paso

Originally recorded by Marty Robbins in 1959 on his Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album, the song “El Paso” just might be the quintessential country and western ballad. Winning a Grammy for Best Country & Western song in 1961, there have been a lot of excellent cover versions over the years, including a relatively recent live version recorded at the Spotify studios by Shovels & Rope, an amped up rendition by The Old 97’s that was featured on a King of the Hill soundtrack, and Tom Russell, someone that has spent a lot of time in El Paso, lends a passionate voice to the song on his record Indians, Cowboys, Horses, Dogs. Continue reading »

Sep 262011
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Bryan Ferry, it’s safe to say, loves covers. Between his solo career and his decades with Roxy Music, he’s covered everyone from The Beach Boys to Van Morrison, The Beatles to The Velvet Underground, Kris Kristofferson to Leadbelly to absurd amounts of Bob Dylan. It could even be argued that Talking Heads’ version of “Take Me To the River” is most directly a cover of Ferry’s take on the song. That’s another story for another time, though – now, it’s time to celebrate Ferry’s 66th with all the decade-spanning splendor the Internet has to offer. Whether Bill Murray’s legendary karaoke performance of Roxy Music’s “More Than This” from Lost in Translation qualifies as a cover or not, it certainly served as something of a guiding star by which this post could find its way. Continue reading »