To hurl the tomahawk and ride a painted pony wild

This mix. Lots of covers. Lots of weird songs from the '60s and '70s. Gets a little sad toward the end there.

Cover Songs + Elton John Mix

1. "Whistle In," The Beach Boys
2. "Julie (remix)," Jens Lekman
3. "Kind Of A Drag," The Buckinghams
4. "Shadowboxer," Fiona Apple
5. "You Know I'm No Good" (Amy Winehouse cover), Wanda Jackson
6. "Park Song," The Dodos
7. "Life And Soul Of The Party," Mally Page
8. "Refugee," Tom Petty
9. "Angels Marching," Deb Talan
10. "Indian Sunset," Elton John
11. "What Did I Ever Give You," The Kaiser Chiefs
12. "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself," Dusty Springfield
13. "Sister I'm A Poet" (Morrissey cover), Colin Meloy
14. "I Can't Own Her," XTC
15. "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You" (Hank Williams cover), Willie Nelson
16. "These Eyes," The Guess Who
17. "I Wouldn't Know What To Do," The Honeydrips
18. "Hungry Heart" (Bruce Springsteen cover), Lucy Wainwright Roche
19. "You Yes You," tUnE-yArDs
DOWNLOAD IT!
Can we all please appreciate that Smiley Smile, the Beach Boys' fraught, unfinished opus, is extremely forward thinking and avant-garde? Please???? And isn't Swedish pop music cute? Everyone agrees. The Honeydrips are called the Honeydrips. "Julie" by Jens Lekman hits too close to home--"What will you do when you graduate/If you stay here you'll suffocate." Like a blithe, Simon and Garfunkle-influenced knife in my heart. Also cute: "Saw the girl I know from my job./I think that she must think that I'm retarded." LOL, Dodos!
It is safe to say that Elton John and Bernie Taupin are not experts about American Indian history and cultures. "Indian Sunset" is a hilarious artifact of freaky, skewed romanticism and appropriation. I know Bernie fancies himself the "Brown Dirt Cowboy" and is obsessed with the American west and Wikipedia wasn't around in 1971 so how was he supposed to know that Geronimo died of pneumonia, that he was not in fact "laying down his weapons/when they filled him full of leaaaaad!" But, a tip, choose a single tribe to make stuff up about maybe? Or if you bring up multiple tribes, make them ones that did not live thousands of miles apart?

Oh great father of the Iroquois, ever since I was young
I've read the writing of the smoke and breast fed on the sound of drums.
I've learned to hurl the tomahawk and ride a painted pony wild,
To run the gauntlet of the Sioux, to make a chieftain's daughter mine.

Hahahahaha. Anyway, melodrama. It's worth the download just for this song.
Is it just me or is "You don't have to live like a refugee" a bit of an insensitive metaphor? I guess I was saying this at the karaoke bar on Friday, but it's a very Republican sentiment: "Everybody's had to fight to be free." I like how "Shadowboxer" is about guys who fuck with your head cuz that's one of my pet peeves. Dusty Springfield, have some self respect. "Baby, if your new love ever turns you down/Come back, I will be around/Just waiting for you." Shit's sad.
It is my paradoxical wish that all songs could be covers. I'm all about the novelty, even if the reinterpretations are really stupid or don't improve on or change the original version at all. Colin Meloy's Morrissey covers aren't that mind-blowing but like I said I'm a sucker. "Sister I'm A Poet" is my favorite due to that I am a professional aspiring poet. Lucy Wainwright Roche's "Hungry Heart" is very soft and beautiful and brings out some of the song's longing. (An equation: more longing=better.) Wanda Jackson's "You Know I'm No Good" is a must-have. She and Amy both have those weird, creaky voices. RIP, much love, big ups.
xo|MMJ