She'll Grow Back: Joni Mitchell
Showing posts with label Joni Mitchell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joni Mitchell. Show all posts

Monday, December 7, 2009

Multiple Mondays - Holiday Update Edition

Hi, everyone. This is an odd edition of Multiple Mondays. I'm going to update a lot of older MM posts with new versions from new artists.

First, let's start with the suggestions from Boy Howdy. He runs Cover Lay Down, the cover blog I'd most like to run if I weren't so dang lazy. In the comments section here last year, he recommended Amy Kuney's (video) take on "River" and Rosie Thomas' cover of "Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)." They're both wonderful, magical Christmas tracks -- Rosie Thomas does something unexpected and unlikely: she takes a decades-old novelty song and transforms it into something meaningful and, yes, significant.

Remember "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky?" Sure you do. Well, REM want to play you a version called "(Ghost) Reindeer In The Sky."

Then, we'll hear two more versions of Charles Brown's classic "Merry Christmas Baby." First, Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore growls his way through a bluesy 1971 take on it. Then, Sweden's Krystoffer Ragnstam knocks the song out of the park. If 1971 were a lot weirder, and you lived in a college town, this is the type of blues-pop fusion you could've heard in that alternate universe.

As always, I recommend the zipfile, but you can cherrypick if you insist.


1. Amy Kuney - River 1 2
2. Rosie Thomas - Christmas Don't Be Late 1 2
3. REM - Ghost Reindeer In The Sky 1 2
4. Rudy Ray Moore - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2
5. Krystoffer Ragnstam - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Have Yourself A Depressing Little Christmas

Here it is, folks, the first of two CD-length mixes from me this holiday season. I had a hard time whittling this down to fit onto one CD, but the primary reason for making these two mixes in the first place was to give my friends CDs at our Christmas party. I hope this album doesn't bum you out too much -- if you're worried about it, don't listen to any of it till Tuesday, when I'll post the antidote, entitled "Have Yourself A Magical Little Christmas."

Tracklist:

01 - Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
02 - Tom Waits - Silent Night / Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis (live on Austin City Limits, 12-5-78)
03 - Merle Haggard - If We Make It Through December
04 - The Everly Brothers - Christmas Eve Can Kill You
05 - Mary Gauthier - Christmas In Paradise
06 - Red Star Belgrade - Christmas Day
07 - Alan Patrick Scheurman - Holiday Song #17
08 - Okkervil River - Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas
09 - Simon and Garfunkel - 7 O'Clock News / Silent Night
10 - Johnny and Jon - Christmas In Vietnam
11 - Marvin Gaye - I Want To Come Home For Christmas
12 - Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas
13 - The Long Winters - Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas (Sometimes)
14 - The Long Blondes - Christmas Is Cancelled
15 - Aimee Mann - I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas
16 - Joni Mitchell - River
17 - Kansas City Kitty - Christmas Morning Blues
18 - Over The Rhine - All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue




Monday, December 15, 2008

Multiple Mondays: River

Today you get eight versions of painter-turned-music-legend Joni Mitchell's (fansite wiki AMG) 1971 "River." She first started singing by belting out Christmas carols in a children's hospital. By 1971 she was in California, missing the winters of Canada and writing a "selfish and sad" paean to the end of a relationship.

I don't have a lot to say about this song, except that I had planned at one point to include every single one of these versions on this year's compilation, Have Yourself A Depressing Little Christmas. (Watch this space -- I'm posting it soon!) Also, I acquired almost all of these from BoyHowdy at his legendary coverblog Cover Lay Down. If I ever get around to putting together a blogroll, he's in the top three.

These songs are, in the approximate order you might want to listen, by Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos (live), Peter Mulvey, Rachael Yamagata, Angus Stone, Sarah McLachlan, Allison Crowe, and Travis.