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

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posted by criticalbill (10 comments total)

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, 2009

i like that vibe
posted by pyramid termite at 9:45 PM on July 6, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009

(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, 2009

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, 2009

Nice work!
posted by pantufla at 9:17 AM on July 7, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009