From an instore apperance in 2005, here's Steve Earle's sister-in-law Shelby Lynne with a brilliant cover of "Dead Flowers."
The Stones original excepted, I actually think this is the best damn version of the song I've ever heard.
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15 comments:
Shelby is great.
I have her Dusty tribute CD.
I'll have to check in at pp when I get home as I can't listen to the video at work.
So many of those Brit-pop things make great lesbian love songs. There's a Friday topic for ya Steve! The Beatles catalogue alone would make a top ten.
Peter --
You're actually not that far off the mark from what I'm actually putting up Friday.
Great minds, etc.....
"Take me down Cousin Brucie!"
ROTP(lumber)
I don't know, Steve...are you sure you aren't thinking with your little head here? Any performance in which the performer forgets the words automatically gets a couple of demerits in my book. And it wasn't all that hot up until then, either.
Truth be told, I can't think of any covers of this song that really blow my socks off, although Mr. Earle himself did a pretty respectable version if I recall correctly.
Earle indeed did an excellent cover of this. Forget which album...
I dunno, I just like her attitude.
:-)
Earle’s cover is on his great live record, “Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator.” And poi-son-ally, not only have I heard lots ‘n lots of covers of this amazing song in the many bars I have known, but I have to say I really can’t think of any that I haven’t liked. I’m sure Dead Flowers CAN be ruined – I’m sure I’ve ruined it myself – but it’s a hard song to REALLY screw up. Like all really timeless folk songs it’s got a real sturdy frame that can take lots of abuse – structurally its 3 chords & a sing-along chorus. As Simels says, the right attitude is absolutely essential, but with that in hand, you can learn the song in an afternoon and have a lot of fun with it. It’s one of my very favorite Stones songs & one of my favorite songs of any kind. Of course the lyrics are a tour de force.
Townes Van Zandt did a version that's in "The Big Lebowski."
I've always found the song unbearably corny, no matter who does it, and I can't really hear anything special in her Dusty covers.
Just, as we say, saying.
Noam Sane said...
I've always found the song unbearably corny, Just, as we say, saying.
7/07/2008 10:45 PM
Uh...actually, it's mostly ironic and funny. Like a lot of the Stones "country" songs, most notably Far Away Eyes.
FOW's Hung Up On You is another worthy example of this kind of fine writing
Uh...actually, it's mostly ironic and funny.
"It's ironic!": a time-honored way of excusing crappy art.
It's blackface, essentially, and it's embarrassing.
Ooh, she had me right at "Thank ye kahndly." That accent is hawt.
Noam Sane said...
It's blackface, essentially, and it's embarrassing.
The Stones doing country music is blackface?
Wow. I'd hate to hear what you think of their blues stuff...
I caught Earle back in '87 outside Chicago and did a boss version of Dead Flowers. He introduced it by saying, "This here's a perfectly good hillbilly song..." Ha
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