Last night on Letterman Marianne Faithfull covered The Decemberists “The Crane Wife 3″ in support of her 22nd album Easy Come Easy Go (the cover does appear on the album). I’m still trying to figure out what I think about this. At first I was appalled but it has grown on me with each subsequent listen.
Your thoughts?
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More than anything I get annoyed with Letterman’s “Great music! Ah jeez look at the time!” schtick. Have I ever seen him once not do that to a musician? I don’t believe so.
Covers are a tightrope walk for almost anybody. Too much of a disparity between original artist and performing artist creates a bit of discomfort with the listeners. For the record I’d say there’s a huge disparity between The Decemberists and Marianne Faithfull.
There’s also a feeling that the performing artist should either completely rearrange the track or should deliver it absolutely (ahem) faithfullly. This one was a sort of no man’s land between the two. Not altogether rearranged, yet not a literal transcription, either. For the record I didn’t like it. Even if Letterman did, he turned on the gush far too much. Yes, I realize he is a network host, but still.
If I were a musician I’d avoid doing covers like the plague, to avoid all of the unwritten rules to begin with. That said, apparently The Decemberists perform all kinds of covers live. The irony…