Whenever I hear Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” I wish he and Garfunkel had been together long enough for Art to have sung it, or at least harmonized on it.
If you could make any singer, living or dead, sing a song of your choice, what would you pick?
I saw S&G in concert last summer – Art did “American Tune.” Don’t recall if Paul harmonized or not.
There is an absolutely brilliant, wonderful track hidden on Oasis’ “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” albumm called “She’s Electric.” This is the only song I’ve heard from the 1990s that made me go buy an album. Liam Gallagher, who sang it, did a great job, except in the one place where he has to jump up a fifth. His voice isn’t strong enough to sing it in full voice and he had to go to falsetto for that one note. It doesn’t ruin the song, but still it’s a flaw IMHO.
I would love to hear Robin Zander of Cheap Trick sing that song. It’s right in his range, and he’s got the power to pull it off. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind hearing Cheap Trick cover that song.
Wow, “She’s Electric” is the ONLY Oasis song I like. It’s such an early Beatles-style head-bobber, so much fun, not pretentious at all (like so much of their other stuff). It’s so cool that someone else actually likes that one. Even the Oasis fans I’ve mentioned it to don’t seem to notice or care about that track.
I’d like to hear Townes Van Zandt sing Elvis Costello’s Alison. Right up his alley. Too bad he’s dead.
This is weird, but John Lennon - Free as a Bird. I found the old demo of just John and a piano, and Paul & co. totally screwed it up when they recorded it for the Beatles Anthology. The demo’s sound quality is terrible, but there’s so much emotion in the song that was just stripped out. I would like to hear the way Lennon wanted it to sound.
BTW there’s a recording of Simon & Garfunkel singing American Tune together on the Concert in Central Park CD.
I would have loved to have heard a duet of pretty much anything between John Denver and Karen Carpenter.
Or Karen and Nat King Cole.
Yeah, I know that there is a live version of G singing “American Tune,” but the one I heard isn’t particularly impressive. I should have specified that I would have loved to hear a studio version. It sounds like Simon actually wrote that song with Garfunkel in mind, to my ear.
Off topic slightly, and this will open me up to much mockery, but Starland Vocal Band (you know–“Afternoon Delight”) did a nice cover of “American Tune” on that same album. I haven’t listened to it for years, and don’t even know in which box of my teenaged relics the record resides in, but I’m curious to listen to their cover again and see if it’s as good as I remember.
One of my great “If only…” musical wishes is to hear/see Julie Andrews playing Desiree in A Little Night Music.
Darn it, now I’m going to have to track that down!
Karen Carpenter plus Nat King Cole sounds really wonderful. Both of them had such warm voices.
Cheap Trick is a great cover band (I’m kind of on the fence regarding their cover of Big Star’s Out in the Street for That 70’s Show’s theme. Robin Zander has one of the best voices in rock, IMHO.
There’s also a nice cover of “American Tune” by Eva Cassidy on the CD of that name.
I wish I could listen to Johnny Cash singing “Sad Love” a tune by Crooked Fingers.