Linger On

I think this day last year was Paul Haig Day, organised by JC at The Vinyl Villain. For whatever reason that's not happened this year, but I was reminded of it and thought I'd post this- Paul Haig and Edwyn Collins' cover version of The Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes. This is really something, the guitar playing and vocals stunning. In fact it's not only the best cover of a Velvet's song by anyone I've heard but it might even be better than the original. Heresy, I know.

Edit- I'm talking/typing absolute nonsense as Davy just pointed out, getting my Paul's all confused. The Paul here is Paul Quinn not Paul Haig. *hangs head in shame*

Pale_Blue_Eyes.mp3#1#1

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 !

I saw a man yesterday wearing a t-shirt with the slogan '1976 1988 Punk, Hip Hop, Acid House', which seemed like a pretty fair summary of what's been important culturally over the last 34 years. There are and have been writers and commentators more skillful than me to tie these three things together. But there are other parts of my record collection that fall outside these dates that are also important, and Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner is one of them.

Jonathan Richman first recorded it in 1972, as a Velvet Underground obsessed young man who had moved to New York to meet the Velvets and lived on a sofa belonging to one of them for a bit. His Modern Lovers also recorded it, produced by John Cale. Way ahead of their time, the first Modern Lovers lp is one of those punk-before-punk records. Roadrunner was issued as a 7" single in 1977 at the height of British punk, with Roadrunner (Once) on the a-side and Roadrunner (Twice) on the b, and another live version, Roadrunner (Thrice), was on the flip of a later Jonathan Richman single. All three are ace and I can happily play them back to back, although my copy of Thrice is the crackliest piece of vinyl I own. In Lipstick Traces Greil Marcus waxes lyrical about Roadrunner, spending pages just deconstructing the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 introduction. More recently The Guardian's Laura Barton took a road trip around Boston, Massachusetts visiting and passing all the sights mentioned in the song.

Roadrunner is about Richman's hometown, the romance of the road, the sights and sounds inside and outside the car, the joy of late night radio, and the thrill of a song with only two chords (although he sneaks a third one in briefly towards the end). It's massively influential, absurdly good, and doesn't sound like it came from a time before that chap's t-shirt.

'Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on'

01 Roadrunner.wma

The Rolling Stones 'Hitch Hike'

This 1965 Rolling Stones song, a cover of a Marvin Gaye hit from three years earlier, shows a couple of things. Firstly, that the Stones could be a decent little r'n'b/garage/covers band, and secondly that the opening riff has inspired some of our favourite indie guitar heroes, both at the time and later. The Velvet Underground used it to kick off There She Goes Again in 1967, and almost twenty years later Johnny Marr re-used it to open The Smiths' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

03 Hitch Hike.wma