European Son

I thought I better lower the standard a bit or else people might get put off . . . Anyway this is my version of European Son, possibly the least coverable song of all time, I didn't mind too much I just did what I wanted . . . there is another version with Stephen Hawking with Roger Federer and Andy Roddick on backing but . . . you ain't ready for that

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by criticalbill (11 comments total)

Awesome. I love how long it is and that it goes on and on, evolving slowly. Nice job on the Lou Reed-style delivery, too. That's one of the best things about VU, and it's also one of the hardest to capture without sounding mocking.
posted by The World Famous at 6:22 PM on July 6

I'm ready! Gimme gimme gimme!

I loved your minimalist, John Adams meets The Killers kind of approach to this song. It's wonderfully long for a song with 8 lines. You definitely failed, however, at lowering the standard...sorry.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 8:56 PM on July 6

i like that vibe
posted by pyramid termite at 9:45 PM on July 6

Love your vocal delivery, very pleasing, and that reverbed woodblock sound was a brilliant choice for a backbeat, as opposed to a snare. Also love that whirring sound running through the track. Very cool.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:00 PM on July 6

I'm listening to this with a frighteningly loud and clacky oscillating fan near my ear - I was three minutes in before I figured out the fan wasn't the whirring noise. This is such a cool groove - I want to listen to this while I drive around on the LA highways.
posted by annathea at 5:09 AM on July 7

(btw, they're only highways in LA when you're listening to the right kind of music. The rest of the time, they're just freeways).
posted by annathea at 5:12 AM on July 7

In the period leading up to the assignment of the songs I kept wondering what was I gonna do if I got this one or the Black Angel's Death Song. I thought the only sensible thing to do was to do an intensely melodic version (and perhaps fill it with feedback), but I would have never been able to do something like this. This song is really hard to cover, and you did a great work. Congratulations.
posted by micayetoca at 8:27 AM on July 7

Nice work!
posted by pantufla at 9:17 AM on July 7

thanks for the kind comments, i enjoyed making it & it was definitely not something i'd have done otherwise so thanks for the challenge
posted by criticalbill at 11:51 AM on July 7

it was definitely not something i'd have done otherwise

Absolutely! BUT, when this challenge first came up my thought was that these songs are just incredibly malleable. They could go ANYWHERE! I wasn't really expecting folks to take that route and I'm SO glad I was wrong.

This is excellent!
posted by snsranch at 5:51 PM on July 7

Oh my! At the beginning, I liked it well enough, but I TOTALLY wasn't expecting this awesome stretch of ... what, YMO/Kraftwerk/Laurie Anderson kinda thing? Great late-night listening.
posted by not_on_display at 10:18 PM on July 8