Tune du Jour: “After the Gold Rush” – Neil Young
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Patti Smith vs. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harries vs. Flaming Lips
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Golden …
The Original
Neil Young:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
Patti Smith vs. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris vs. Flaming Lips
Patti Smith:
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris:
Flaming Lips:
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On!??!
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
cover me impressed 
“We’ve got Mother Nature on the run, in the 1970s” … Wow, does this line ever date the song! And yet, here we are …
Of course, Patti, updates the tune to the 21st century in her sober and haunting reading. Ominous, foreboding, effective …
The “Trio” deliver a beautifully, harmonic version. Interesting collaboration by three royal female vocalists of our generation. But I don’t know if the subject matter lends itself to a somewhat sanguine interpretation
The Flaming Lips recorded this for the Neil Young tribute album, The Bridge. I remember, so long ago, Pete saying to me, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to like this version’ … to the contrary, I loved it then and still do. Cataclysm Is Not Pretty.
Flaming Lips win this one!
Oh yeah, the Flaming Lips. The others are kinda interesting, but not really the kind of thing you’re going to listen more than once.
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris released an album in ’87 called Trio. They issued a follow-up in ’99, Trio II. I bought ’em both, of course, but I didn’t know they covered this song, as it appears to be an outtake that appeared on a compilation years later. They get today’s vote.
4 of my favorite female artists, interesting how linda, emmy lou and dolly were always so conscious of their appearance ( and all three justifiably gorgeous) and Patti, well as she aged, she pretty much didn’t give a damn … always admired her for that. And she was quite attractive in her day, i think losing her husband and beloved brother back to back left its mark.
could have voted for either version, but when the Lips put a spin on their track i thought WWNT, and im thinking as much as he loved those 4 sirens, he would have to go with The Lips
I love Patti Smith. Huge fan. She did this song on Jimmy Fallon, and it was spectacular. Then, they took the video down and you just can’t find it anywhere. It was fabulous. But… the cover version presented here, from her album Banga… the entire “I was lying in a burned out basement” verse was skipped. Gone. Don’t know why, but it’s crucial to the song. Also, the kids singing at the end was just too cheesy for my liking.
The Dolly Parton version… she actually changed the line “I felt like getting high” to ” I felt like I could cry”. Oh jeez. Really? Okay, when Johnny Cash covered NIN’s “Hurt”, he changed “I wear this crown of shit”. I can understand Johnny not wanting to sully a religious “crown of thorns” allusion, given his gospel roots. But is Dolly really worried what people might think if she sang that she felt like getting high? Crazy.
I ended up going with the Flaming Lips version.