I got to thinking when I heard a reference to the song “She Moved through the Fair” the other day that I’ve long enjoyed old Blues and Folk standards that have a long history of being covered by various musicians and are often of uncertain origin. One of my favorite things to do back when I discovered Grooveshark (a now-defunct precursor to Spotify) was look up every cover of old Blues of Folk songs I could find and listen to them. Grooveshark was good for this as it had a lot of obscure, hard to find versions of songs in its playlist.
My favorites tend to be Celtic / Gaelic death ballads. There’s just something in my DNA that those songs call to. Even bluesy-jazzy American standards have a strong thread of morbid Scots-Irish tradition running through them, like St. James Infirmary Blues. Or House of the Rising Sun-- of course The Animal’s version of the song, #1 on the US charts on the day of my birth, is by far the most well-known, but of the more recent covers I prefer Dylan’s version, sung from a female point of view, in the Folk tradition of telling a story without concern for changing lyrics to match the gender of the singer.
One of my favorites of the genre is Sinéad O’Connor’s “I Am Stretched on Your Grave”. But wait, you may think, isn’t that a modern song written by Sinéad O’Connor? No! It’s an anonymous 17th century Irish poem called “Táim sínte ar do thuama”, translated to English and set to music by several Irish musicians. Sinéad’s version uses the exact English translation by Irish author Frank O’Connor (no idea if they’re related, but it’s a small island, so…probably?). The lyrics are so evocative you can almost smell the cold, damp earth of the grave. Fun fact about Sinéad’s version-- I always liked the contrast of the ancient lyrics and and the modern Hip-Hop style drum beat, which I had long assumed to be original to the song version or an actual Hip-Hop era track. Then I went through a James Brown phase and discovered the drum track was from the song “Funky Drummer”, played by Clyde Stubblefield.
So what are some of your favorites of this genre? Any history of the song you want to share is optional yet welcome, but please share a link to your favorite version of the song. Perhaps one day I’ll compose a playlist of your recs and listen while staring out moodily toward the horizon, brooding over friends and loved ones I’ve lost, glass of Tullamore in hand.
No, those are two spot-on suggestions. Tribute, cover, reimagining, borrowed tune or lyrics, whatever it is or what you want to call it, the way the old songs have evolved or been rewritten and reinterpreted over time is part of what fascinates me about them.
“Dust My Broom” credited to Robert Johnson but the definitive version is Elmore James’. I’m a big fan of Elmore James; his originals include “The Sky is Crying” and “Bleeding Heart.”
I have a fondness for the Chieftan’s Long Black Veil album, which is full of these songs. Including a gender-swapped cover of “She Moved Through the Fair” featuring Sinead O’Connor.
While at the county fair, there was an Irish band singing some Irish tunes. They did one that sounded real familiar but I couldn’t place it. A few weeks later I popped my Thin Lizzy cassette into my car cassette player and a bit later, I heard that same Irish song but with rock and roll beat. The song was Whiskey In A Jar. Went to a Metallica concert in the early 90’s, Whiskey In A Jar was the first song of their encore.
Ha, though I mentioned both “She Moved Through the Fair” and Sinead O’Connor in my OP, and despite the Chieftan’s Long Black Veil album being one of my favorites back in the day, I completely forgot about Sinead’s absolutely haunting version of the song from that album. Thanks for the reminder!
Mini side note: Though the title song of that album “Long Black Veil” has also been covered many times and seems like an old, old, Scots-Irish ballad, it’s actually relatively recent:
Another great rec!
Yeah, Blues and even oldish Rock songs are fair game. One of my favorite Blues songs is “Death Letter” I think originally by Son House and covered by the White Stripes. I like both versions equally, though they are pretty different- the White Stripes’ version is not surprisingly more rocked-up and bombastic, while Son House’s is more tinged with existential grief and dread.
Prodigal Son by Robert Wilkins, The Rolling Stones and others.
Gary Davis recorded Candyman several ways, and John Hurt’s version differs from them substantially. I think The Grateful Dead and others from the 1960s covered it, too.
It would be interesting to name a song that’s been covered in several different musical styles, including jazz.
Another British folk song, “Gallows Pole”, jumped the pond and became a blues standard that was notably covered by Lead Belly. It was later covered by Led Zeppelin on Led Zeppelin III.
