Your latest post about Traveling Wilbury's is great, I'll never forget when Orbison passed away and that traincar with his guitar imagrey for end of the line video... I think there is a psychological term about being in that time and place when you hear of a musicians passing and never forgeting where you were.
I was checking out a few of your other older posts and found these great gems about Sylvia &Ian Tyson, leading me to another authors post about them you had linked and how Sylvia played Home County Music & Arts Festival here London, Ontario in July 2015 - which I was at! So awesome to find this 🙏 Home county folk festival had to go on a hiatus last year after difficulty coming out of the pandemic. I hope it comes back, they are in major difficulty from what it sounded, seems many festivals likely hurting coming out of the pandemic.
Thank you so much! I think Don McLean captured that feeling you describe in regard to Buddy Holly. Jim Croce’s death and George Harrison’s had that effect for me. Kind of an “Oh,no!” punch in the gut.
Many of my musician friends have the same complaint about where live music is at right now - just no gigs - very few bigger acts coming through. Strange days, indeed!
This reminds me a bit of Neil Young's "Four Strong Winds" track off the Comes A Time album. His recording is beautiful, but I didn't learn until later that it was a cover. It was originally written by Ian Tyson and recorded by Ian and Sylvia in 1963. It was then covered by Johnny Cash, The Seekers, Waylon Jennings, John Denver and Bobby Bare.
I know this ... Loki (my cat) likes it. And he has very discriminating tastes.
I usually trust the cat’s judgment in these matters! The more I read about the Ian and Sylvia, the more I learned how sort of overlooked they are - 13 albums, their support for and connection with Gordon Lightfoot, and all of their songs that were covered later - pretty impressive!
Oh, that Mika......as sassy and saucy as we want her to be! I dug that Lifehouse song; had not heard it before. As for "You Were on My Mind," what a masterful job whomever arranged the We Five cover....turning a rather "standard" folk rendering into a riveting, far more melodic sunshine pop classic! I gotta think Sylvia, herself, must've thought it was a completely different song............."Hey, wait a minute! That's my song!"
Ka-ching! Right. There have been nearly 70 covers of it over the decades, including one in between Ian & Sylvia's original, and the hit We Five version. That one was by a Jo Mapes, who sticks true to the original. So, it's the We Five version that set the template, literally, for the 65+ covers that followed!
None go back to the original melody (and no harmonies, to speak of) except Sylvia herself in a 2015 concert vid I just watched! I was awfully curious to see if she'd lapse into the hit arrangement, but alas, no........she stuck to her guns......I mean, chords! I sense we may need to do some "Inside Tracks" on this one!
It was amazing to me that both sides of the 45 became cover hits (both top 100, “on my mind” a top 10!) for I&S! Probably some Beatles and Stones, maybe others. That is an incredible number of covers!
"Someday Soon" only had about 45 covers, with the first one being The Kingston Trio 3 months after I&S's. Four years later (12/68) came Judy Collins' hit. Here's an interesting one from 2020 from a guy I was on for his 1978 debut, "Alive on Arrival!"---Steve Forbert. Loved him then, and lost track of his progress.
Here's his "Someday Soon" with the genders not changed, i.e. "He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me"! Color me intrigued! His Wiki is of no help, btw. https://youtu.be/Ty43FLGVM1c
I think we may have the answer from AmericanaHighways.org: "With his latest album, Early Morning Rain (Blue Rose Music, 2020), prolific singer/ songwriter Steve Forbert celebrates a number of his fellow songwriters from over the years with an album of eleven handpicked cover songs meant to highlight the craftsmanship of their respective songwriting and songwriting in general."
So, he didn't want to change any of the lyrics, choosing to honor the songwriter and writing! That was one of my guesses!
Really?! Interesting. Well, and everything being equal ('cause I'm sure Steve's not the first dude to cover it), it would be easy to change the gender, 'cause we have rodeo cowgirls and all that! Yee-haw!!!🤠
Thanks!! The We Five version is so catchy and upbeat comparatively, mostly due to Beverly Bivens vocals I think, but the arrangement is so different as well. I hope Ian and Sylvia have a comfortable and happy retirement off the royalties from both songs and any others of theirs that may have been covered!
Your latest post about Traveling Wilbury's is great, I'll never forget when Orbison passed away and that traincar with his guitar imagrey for end of the line video... I think there is a psychological term about being in that time and place when you hear of a musicians passing and never forgeting where you were.
I was checking out a few of your other older posts and found these great gems about Sylvia &Ian Tyson, leading me to another authors post about them you had linked and how Sylvia played Home County Music & Arts Festival here London, Ontario in July 2015 - which I was at! So awesome to find this 🙏 Home county folk festival had to go on a hiatus last year after difficulty coming out of the pandemic. I hope it comes back, they are in major difficulty from what it sounded, seems many festivals likely hurting coming out of the pandemic.
Thank you so much! I think Don McLean captured that feeling you describe in regard to Buddy Holly. Jim Croce’s death and George Harrison’s had that effect for me. Kind of an “Oh,no!” punch in the gut.
Many of my musician friends have the same complaint about where live music is at right now - just no gigs - very few bigger acts coming through. Strange days, indeed!
Boy. you come up with some rando lyrics.
This reminds me a bit of Neil Young's "Four Strong Winds" track off the Comes A Time album. His recording is beautiful, but I didn't learn until later that it was a cover. It was originally written by Ian Tyson and recorded by Ian and Sylvia in 1963. It was then covered by Johnny Cash, The Seekers, Waylon Jennings, John Denver and Bobby Bare.
I know this ... Loki (my cat) likes it. And he has very discriminating tastes.
Good stuff, Michael.
I usually trust the cat’s judgment in these matters! The more I read about the Ian and Sylvia, the more I learned how sort of overlooked they are - 13 albums, their support for and connection with Gordon Lightfoot, and all of their songs that were covered later - pretty impressive!
Oh, that Mika......as sassy and saucy as we want her to be! I dug that Lifehouse song; had not heard it before. As for "You Were on My Mind," what a masterful job whomever arranged the We Five cover....turning a rather "standard" folk rendering into a riveting, far more melodic sunshine pop classic! I gotta think Sylvia, herself, must've thought it was a completely different song............."Hey, wait a minute! That's my song!"
Could be!! I bet her next thought was “Hey! You owe me money!!”, though.
Ka-ching! Right. There have been nearly 70 covers of it over the decades, including one in between Ian & Sylvia's original, and the hit We Five version. That one was by a Jo Mapes, who sticks true to the original. So, it's the We Five version that set the template, literally, for the 65+ covers that followed!
None go back to the original melody (and no harmonies, to speak of) except Sylvia herself in a 2015 concert vid I just watched! I was awfully curious to see if she'd lapse into the hit arrangement, but alas, no........she stuck to her guns......I mean, chords! I sense we may need to do some "Inside Tracks" on this one!
It was amazing to me that both sides of the 45 became cover hits (both top 100, “on my mind” a top 10!) for I&S! Probably some Beatles and Stones, maybe others. That is an incredible number of covers!
"Someday Soon" only had about 45 covers, with the first one being The Kingston Trio 3 months after I&S's. Four years later (12/68) came Judy Collins' hit. Here's an interesting one from 2020 from a guy I was on for his 1978 debut, "Alive on Arrival!"---Steve Forbert. Loved him then, and lost track of his progress.
Here's his "Someday Soon" with the genders not changed, i.e. "He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me"! Color me intrigued! His Wiki is of no help, btw. https://youtu.be/Ty43FLGVM1c
Ian made a similar comment on the Wikipedia page about singing on a clearly female pov song. But, his song...his rules
I think we may have the answer from AmericanaHighways.org: "With his latest album, Early Morning Rain (Blue Rose Music, 2020), prolific singer/ songwriter Steve Forbert celebrates a number of his fellow songwriters from over the years with an album of eleven handpicked cover songs meant to highlight the craftsmanship of their respective songwriting and songwriting in general."
So, he didn't want to change any of the lyrics, choosing to honor the songwriter and writing! That was one of my guesses!
Really?! Interesting. Well, and everything being equal ('cause I'm sure Steve's not the first dude to cover it), it would be easy to change the gender, 'cause we have rodeo cowgirls and all that! Yee-haw!!!🤠
I didn't participate in today's poll, and you know why. I've never heard Ian and Sylvia's version of the song. Took a while to recognize that it is the same song I thought it was going to be. (https://open.spotify.com/track/36ckFm0oicmvX8bWEErIHd?si=eec4f6660cd84565).
Have a good one, Michael!
Thanks!! The We Five version is so catchy and upbeat comparatively, mostly due to Beverly Bivens vocals I think, but the arrangement is so different as well. I hope Ian and Sylvia have a comfortable and happy retirement off the royalties from both songs and any others of theirs that may have been covered!