Straight To You

I got this here, this "Straight To You: Triple J’s Tribute to Nick Cave", listening now.

Sounds like they had a lot of fun. It's a concert and I haven't heard many live tributes in my life, they're usually cooked in the studio or bedrooms or cellars by awkward little fellas who often think this is their one and only shot at universal stardom and so they massacre perfectly great songs by adding that personal touch, which sometimes feels more like a limp dick rape than a mere touch.

I don't mean that in a bad way.

This one's different. It's more like "I'm your man", the Leonard Cohen tribute concert, in which Nick Cave took part, singing, of course, "I'm your man", because he is. The Straight To You concert does have its weird parts because, hey, some personal touches are just limp dick rapes. I still don't mean that in a bad way. Even a limp dick rape shows commitment to the task, even more than a regular one I'd say. As I've probably said before somewhere, in my opinion a cover should do one of two things: either keep the feel of the original and simply underline its beauty - a simple hats-off gesture - or it can approach the song from a different angle which adds something new and good to the song, like Manson doing the horror version of "Sweet Dreams". But different doesn't necessarily mean good, does it? It may be a carnival of fun to see what "The Weeping Song" would have sounded like if composed by Bob Marley, yet I somehow feel this kind of frathouse stoned dementia would be best kept indoors and hosed thoroughly in the morning. But that's just me. See, the thing is, the way I see it is that "The Weeping Song" is a sad and sorrowful song and that's a huge part of its personality, beauty and charm. It wasn't meant to sound stoned and funny, see? Who the fuck really listens to Beethoven's 5th techno rave extravaganza? And "O Children" gangsta style? How very edgy. What are you, fucking deaf? I must restrain myself from using the word sacrilege, because these people are not gods, but the word respect doesn't feel like such a stretch: these people deserve a lot of respect (not humility, respect) for things that go beyond their music.

On the other hand, what's the harm, eh? Express yourself. I may like it or I may not, it's my choice just as much as it was your choice to turn a beautiful melody into a shitty hip-hop bark. To each his own. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day, it's been fun.

Some good ones here as well, it was bound to happen.

I love Abbe May's "Depth Charge Ethel", it ceaselessly kicks various butts.

I was surprised to catch myself enjoying Lisa Mitchell's "Ship Song". I usually turn a deaf ear on frail women with faint little voices talking to their guitars about how life is big, and scary, and furry, and has a mauve tint around the margins which may well be an infection. But Lisa Mitchell's got such tenderness and longing in her voice that I had to put the bazooka down and be nice.

Johnny McKay's "Nick The Stripper" (not your usual first choice of song to cover, I have to say) is surprisingly good. Surprising because this is not a song you can easily tame and own. This song is a blood-thirsty pitbull pissing on your leg before he eats it. I don't think there's any real way in which you can actually make this song your own, but they did a nice job of it, every verse stabbing as it should. And nice going on keeping that fucking weird rhythm.

Well, all in all this is a good listen. It made me miss Nick and love him even more. I know he's not dead or retired, he's got a new album coming out in February, which I'm gonna pre-order the fuck out of. But by hearing so many people, new voices singing his songs it reminded me how strong his grab is, how far and deep it reaches, how handsome his sadness.

You can check the track list here, not bad choices at all. 

So here we go, some good, some bad, all Nick:

Depth Charge Ethel - Abbe May


O Children - Urthboy



The Weeping Song - Jake Stone



Stagger Lee - Urthboy



Nick The Stripper - Johnny Mackay



The Ship Song - Lisa Mitchell