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Song of the Day #1,035: ‘Mississippi’ – Sheryl Crow

Here is the second Bob Dylan song in this two-week series, and interestingly, the first Sheryl Crow song I’ve featured. I’m not a huge Sheryl Crow fan, but I’m surprised I went 1,034 songs without choosing one of hers.

‘Mississippi’ is an interesting case because Crow covered it before Dylan’s original was even released. Dylan first recorded the song in 1997 for Time Out of Mind but decided to leave it off of that album. Instead he allowed Crow to record it for her 1998 album The Globe Sessions.

Dylan would revisit the song three years later for 2001’s Love and Theft, and it’s that version that has become the definitive one.

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Song of the Day #1,034: ‘Danny’s Song’ – Tift Merritt

Today’s song is a bit of a cheat, in that the most popular version of the track was itself by a woman covering a man. So does that make this version a woman covering a woman covering a man, or just another woman covering the same man? Ah, a little philosophy on a Thursday morning.

At any rate, I’m certainly not going to post Anne Murray’s version of the Kenny Loggins tune ‘Danny’s Song’ when I have a Tift Merritt version at my disposal.

Loggins wrote this track for his brother Danny to celebrate the birth of his son. It was recorded for the 1971 debut record of Loggins and Messina. Murray recorded it a year later and put it on both the pop and country charts.

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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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Fast Five

In the month or so leading up to the release of Fast Five, I made fun of my wife’s increasing excitement. She has a soft spot for big dumb action movies, and an even softer one for big dumb Vin Diesel.

From my ivory cinephile’s tower, both she and the film felt like easy targets. And when The Onion serves up a gem like ‘Today Now! Interviews the 5-year-old Screenwriter of Fast Five‘, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

But in the aftermath of my smug superiority, it is with great humility that I report that Fast Five turns out to be one of the best times I’ve had at the movies in ages. It’s big and dumb, yes, but it’s also fun, funny and exciting — exactly what the summer ordered.

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