Under The Covers: Sex(y) Music

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In which we explore a few of Feve’s favorite cover songs and the artists behind them.
Because music is a huge turn-on when it’s done right.
And sometimes, just like sex…
It’s better on the second try.

😀

SO.  In no particular order:

Arctic Monkeys:  Baby, I’m Yours
Originally recorded by Barbara Lewis in 1965

Alex Turner, lead singer for the Arctic Monkeys, manages to make Sex a sound.

Alex Turner, lead singer for the Arctic Monkeys, manages to make Sex a sound.

The babyface rebel / post-modern rockabilly punk style of the Arctic Monkeys is not my typical go-to musical genre, but their avoidance of down beat and funky driving rhythms – while somewhat simplistic – are two things that make them fun to listen to.

Their lyrics – at least on their AM album – reflect a refreshingly worshipful stance toward women, and that is one of the reasons this band caught my attention (and fired my libido) when I first heard their cut Do I Wanna Know? . . .

Have you no idea that you’re in deep?
I dreamt about you nearly every night this week
How many secrets can you keep?
‘Cause there’s this tune I found that makes me think of you somehow
And I play it on repeat

. . . and I Wanna Be Yours (You call the shots babe / I just wanna be yours).  But when I heard R U Mine?, which reiterates the sentiment of wanting to belong to her, emphasized by the line “I can’t help myself…  All I wanna hear her say is ARE YOU MINE?”, I fell hard for this band.  So of course I love that they covered this classic.  It’s just fucking sexy.  In a virginal do-over kind of puppy love way.  {Except you just *know* he’d be all about the collar and cuffs.}  Have a listen:

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

Ane Brun:  The Dancer
Written and originally recorded by PJ Harvey in 1995

. . . and good lyrical interpretation goes beyond opening you up. It fills you anew.

. . . and good lyrical interpretation goes beyond opening you up. It fills you anew.

Most people know PJ Harvey from Down By The Water, which was the leading single on her album To Bring You My Love.  The album drew a mid-nineties collegiate following when ‘alternative rock’ was the Next Big Thing.  A fan of Tom Waits and Nick Cave, Polly Jean Harvey hit her stride in the alternative mainstream (yes, that’s a thing ~ new is only new for so long; eventually it becomes the norm, kiddos) during the Era Of Angry Female Voices (Alanis Morisette, Meredith Brooks, Courtney Love, Sinead O’Connor) and wrote lyrics that ” . . . explore[d] the open wounds and hidden scars of relationships with such a fearless eye that it’s no wonder she has been frequently compared to such rock extremists as Patti Smith and Jim Morrison.”

In an interview with the L.A. Times, from which the above observation was taken, she said of her oft-dark musical messages:

What I look for in music and what I want to produce is just . . . works that are moving and unsettling–an emotional assault.

Hmmm.  How very Bob Dylan.

And just as Dylan’s music is sometimes better understood when interpreted by another artist (Can we say Jimi Hendrix?), the same is – in my opinion – true of Harvey’s The Dancer.  Ane Brun (Norwegian pronunciation: [ɑnə brʉn]), a Norwegian singer-songwriter, takes Harvey’s lyrics and twists the darkness into hope with a gentle guitar sway that reminds me of long deep slow wet kisses on a lazy rainy Saturday summer afternoon.  Under her ministrations, the song becomes less about the the bleeding wound and more about the agonizing ecstasy of an ache:

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

Annie Clark with Beck:  Need You Tonight
Originally released by INXS in 1987

And while we’re on the subject of musical interpretation…

"Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day," says Beck's official website.

“Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day,” says Beck’s official website.

In 2009, Beck announced his/their (Beck the individual is Beck Hansen, after whom Beck the band is named) intention to re-record other bands’ full albums with new artists.  The idea was to present a new interpretation of existing material. According to the band, “There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or to recreate the power of the original recording.  Only to play music and document what happens.”

Oh, and with a time limit:  One day in the studio and that’s a wrap.

Tracks are posted on the band’s website once a week.

Annie Clark (also known as St Vincent), along with a few other musicians, joined Beck’s Record Club endeavor on the re-interpretation of the INXS album Kick, and…

Well.

Hmmm…  How can I put this?

Picture, if you will:  You know that highly-aroused breathless moan that escapes her (whoever ‘she’ happens to be ~ use your imagination!) lips when she’s hot and wet and climbing to the edge, but she’s not…quite…there…?

Y e a h . . .

It’s kinda like that.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

I think I’m going to have to do this in a series, because the more I think about it, the more songs pop to mind. I could easily monopolize all your time with my sexual musical musings.

I trust you have other things to do?

Alas, so do I.  (Typing this up has been fun and all, but I have *other* Very Important Things to be doing with my fingers…)

Perhaps I will share more later.

😉

But for now…  A few other covers that hit my sweet spot:

Kate Tucker:  I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
Brandi Carlile:  Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
KT Tunstall:  Tangled Up In Blue (Bob Dylan)

Enjoy!

What about you?
Which songs are sexiest the second time around?

NOTE:  Image of Alex Turner found via Google and attributed to antiquiet.com.  Lyric meme from etsy.  Image of Beck Hansen from the Record Club page at beck.com.

0 thoughts on “Under The Covers: Sex(y) Music”

      1. Jen

        Oh– I see it there! It’s sweet on video — but you can’t really tell that much in audio can you?

        And really interesting to know they did all this in one day!

        VERY glad you shared this 🙂

        Reply ↓
  2. Jayne

    I love that you have all of this info. More please.
    (What I know about music can be placed on a guitar pick. What I love about this is the reinterpretation, Herbie Hancock did an album with various artists and like Beck’s one album in one day, Herbie Hancock’s “limits” was/were to just do the song without rehearsal I believe. I just spent an hour watching / listening to his collaborations. The creative spark with other artists is what grabs me and you reminded me of this album. I wonder what your opinion is. I do love that you have opinions and you aren’t afraid to use them. xoxo
    Possibilities
    http://youtu.be/n3QvpABXkZA

    Reply ↓
    1. Mrs Fever Post author

      I just started exploring ~ WOW. Thank you for the introduction!

      I’ve never heard of these two artists before this, but I will be checking them out now:

      https://youtu.be/iGkhmjEEHtM

      Collaborations can be amazing, both with new creations and re-interpretations. Especially when there is a stylistic surprise. Add in the change of tone/meaning that comes from hearing two voices instead of one, and suddenly an old standard is not standard at all. 🙂

      Thanks again for the suggestion. I’m off to explore some more…

      Reply ↓
      1. Jayne

        I saw the documentary a long time ago and just loved the background for how Herbie Hancock wanted to work with other artists. Which is a freeform way that Miles Davis would work his band. The best part for me is seeing them create and the added sweetness is that they may seem disparate but as musicians, they create as artists, not genres. I’m so happy you liked this. Here’s a favorite from that album. The end of the finished song – sexy sex for sure.
        https://youtu.be/ebOXokj_JsM

        Reply ↓
        1. Mrs Fever Post author

          Jonny Lang…

          I remember he came to my city (not the one I live in now) in the late ’90s – must’ve been ’98 or ’99 – and he was the “up & coming” blues guitarist that everybody wanted to see. I was even less inclined toward media then than I am now, so I’d heard his stuff on – off all places – the local hard rock radio station, but I had no clue what he looked like. Well, I wasn’t the only one! When he took the stage at the local blues festival that summer, the whole crowd was dumbfounded. This skinny long-haired (he wears it short these days, but back then he was very Cobain) white kid stood in front of the mic in his wifebeater and people were like, “What?!?”

          He looked like he was 15.

          There must be some mistake, right?

          But then he hit his opening riff and the tone of the silence changed to open- mouthed dumbfounded admiration.

          Of books and covers…

          Reply ↓
          2. Jayne

            I thought that when I was looking at videos today from 4 years ago. I love his voice and I wanted more. You know, I’m very glad I know nothing about music notes or playing because I can just listen – plain ans imple and feel if I like the actual sounds I’m hearing or not. Designing something and knowing it’s use, purpose, originality, versions of what was , what could have been sometimes muddies the experience of enjoyment for me. As I watched the musicians creating, I wished I knew what they were doing just to understand their individual creative minds. It must be interesting to understand music in that way too.

          3. Mrs Fever Post author

            Just as there is a difference between being able to *read* and being able to *comprehend* what you read, the same is true of listening to music. Likewise, there is a difference between being able to *write* and being able to *craft a story* – ditto with creating music.

            Sometimes it really clicks.

            Other times ~ as with all other group projects ~ it doesn’t go so well.

            I’m always amused at how well everyone seems to get along when you see documented collaborations, because BELIEVE ME, it’s rarely all sunshine and roses. But that’s what splicing is for. We see 10 minute clips that are supposedly reflective of a whole day’s work.

            Heh. It’s called Spin. And some people are reaaallllly good at it. 😉

            Bands, though… When they’ve been working together for a long time, they can get into an easy-groove zone where they say “I wanna change key on the bridge” or “Let’s try going up this time” or whatever, and everyone *gets it* and can implement it right away, because they are all cogs in the same wheel. This process is the oil that keeps their mechanism turning.

            Here’s a band you might recognize, greasing their wheels (so to speak):

            https://youtu.be/hkIdwhCcnjY

          4. Jayne

            I understand what you mean. I think I’ve seen this Grace and the Nocs band before. You should be DJ ing that wedding coming up. You’s be great at it.

          5. Mrs Fever Post author

            I used to think it would be fun to be a DJ. But for radio, not for proms and weddings. 🙂

            I’d want to talk about the music though, and about the artists. Do interviews, have live sessions, that sort of thing.

            I don’t qualify for the job though.

            I mean, I’ve got the body for it.

            BUT… Apparently you’re required to operate computerized equipment. I can picture it now: “Uhmmm… So sorry, mister station manager. I didn’t mean to melt your million dollar equipment. All I did was *look at* that button, I swear! I didn’t touch a thing!” and “No, I have no idea why the microphone melted. All I did was plug it in!”

            GAH!

          6. Jayne

            OK, simple solution – you be the station manager and have an assistant. Eventually you learn from the well qualified asst. and you broadcast round the world.

  5. kanienke

    Mmm the whole “I wanna be yours” and “RU Mine” made me joyfully recall when my friend Silver said to me very tenderly, “Honey, I am yours.”

    I don’t remember anyone ever saying that to me except maybe via a chalky Valentine’s Day candy, the kind I can’t believe anyone would actually eat because it is like sweet soapstone in your mouth.

    So the idea that a woman wants to belong to me and me to her, when I carefully try and steer clear of those things (lol itself a song reference), was a little more appealing and powerful than I was prepared for. It made my eyes well up with tears.

    So I like music that touches the experiences in my life and puts some words to them.

    Reply ↓

  6. Pingback: Under The Covers: Care For Seconds? | Temperature's Rising

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