Lazy - They Might Be Giants

Lazy - They Might Be Giants

3:12

single, 2024

Written by Irving Berlin, 1924

The Giants treat this hundred-year-old song with respect, letting the fantastic rhyme scheme ("I want to peep / Through the deep / Tangled wildwood / Counting sheep / 'Til I sleep / Like a child would") speak for itself.  I love the interior rhyme and multi-word rhymes that the old masters of the era, like Berlin and Cole Porter, used.  I'm not sure, because I'm not very familiar with the Crosby or Monroe versions, but I believe that the Johns have cheekily added some lyrics about Mr. Dickens and Omar Khayyam.  Their lyrics ("I hate to hurry through life and worry...") fit in wonderfully to the existing lyrics, so either they;re using a full lyric that didn't get recorded, or they're masters of the craft themselves.

Oliver's Army - Hayseed Dixie

Oliver's Army - Hayseed Dixie

2:51

Free Your Mind... And Your Grass Will Follow, 2017

Written by Elvis Costello, 1979

My favorite bluegrass-rock cover band does one of my very favorite Elvis Costello songs!  Adding in a fiddle line that evokes "Here Comes the Sun," they don't exactly transform this anti-imperialist tirade, but they definitely put their stamp on it.  They clearly love the source material and treat it with equal parts reverence and glee.  

Belfast Telegraph - Shock Treatment

Belfast Telegraph - Shock Treatment

2:24

single, 1979

Written by Shock Treatment, probably?

Ulster political punk, a sharp burst apparently directed at the lurid and salacious nature of the titular newspaper's reporting.  Reminiscent of Stiff Little Fingers, with powerful main vocals, forceful chanting background vocals, and a musicality that far exceeds other proto-punk bands of the era, for example the primitive Ramones.  A little-known and short-lived band, ahead of its time.