Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #1,033: ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’ – Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams doesn’t record many covers. I count exactly two covers in her discography other than this one — a lovely version of Nick Drake’s ‘Which Will’ that appeared on Sweet Old World, and ‘Can’t Let Go,’ by Randy Weeks, which appears on Car Wheels On a Gravel Road, and which, to be honest, I didn’t know was a cover until I just looked it up.

So Williams’ choice to close out her 2008 album Little Honey with a rollicking version of AC/DC’s classic ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’ was unexpected. But certainly not unwelcome… Williams’ standard mode is melancholy blues but she rocks out with the best of them.

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Song of the Day #1,032: ‘Troubled Times’ – Dar Williams

Starting my second week of women covering songs originally performed by men is Dar Williams with her version of Fountains of Wayne’s ‘Troubled Times.’

Unlike most of the covers I’ve featured so far, this one is slavishly faithful to its source material. Williams recorded this song not because she felt she could bring some new twist to it but simply because she loves it. She’s a fan.

Fountains of Wayne’s original appeared on their 1999 album Utopia Parkway, an excellent collection worth picking up if you don’t own it already.

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Song of the Day #1,031: ‘Speaking With the Angel’ – Ron Sexsmith

‘Speaking With the Angel’ is the most enduring track from Ron Sexsmith’s studio debut. It has been covered by several artists and adopted as an anthem for such causes as Christianity and autism.

Author Nick Hornby borrowed the title for a book of short stories (by various writers) with the proceeds going to a school for autistic chlidren. Hornby’s own son is autistic (and a student at the school) and in the introduction he described this track as “heart-meltingly relevant” to his son’s condition.

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Song of the Day #1,030: ‘Several Miles’ – Ron Sexsmith

Ron Sexsmith’s first album was an independent release titled Grand Opera Lane that I have yet to get my hands on. It was recorded with a band called The Uncool, and that pretty much sums up Sexsmith himself.

His first studio release was a self-titled disc released in 1995. I consider this Sexsmith’s worst album, though in a Sure Thing “this is the ugliest girl in California” postcard kind of way. There is a roughness and uncertainty about it (though, admittedly, that’s also part of its charm).

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Song of the Day #1,029: ‘Something So Right’ – Annie Lennox

Back when Annie Lennox first reached popularity as lead singer of the Eurythmics, she was better known for her androgynous orange-haired style and her atmospheric creep-rock music than her voice. Sure, she unleashed some high-pitched wailing in ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ but for the most part her vocal performance in that song was wonderfully robotic.

But in later years, Lennox proved to have one of the richest voices in the business. It was showcased beautifully on her 1995 solo record, Medusa, an album of covers on which she performs songs by the likes of Al Green, The Clash, Neil Young and Bob Marley.

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