Under the Influence

Indifference

I've been a Pearl Jam fan since 1991's Ten. I recently picked up the deluxe reissue of it and was blown away by how well every track on that album stands the test of time - 18 years later no less! To me that's the mark of a great band - timeless music.
Their second album, 1993's 'Vs' was decidedly less commercial and a lot heavier than the first, but still earned the band much success - even though they opted not to make any videos for the album's singles. The success in part however came from the singles, including Daughter, which reached the number one spot on both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts, spending a total of eight weeks at number one on the former.
It's track #12 Indifference however, the album's closer, that made a big impact on me. It was Vedder's vocal performance that really got me. I had never heard him sing like that before and I liked it. According to Vedder himself, the song is about "[trying to] do something to make some other peoples' lives better than they are, even if it means going through hell." You can certainly hear it in his vocal.
Like Ben Harper's Another Lonely Day, Vedder's performance here demands that you really pay attention. The honesty, conviction and intimacy is what sells it - especially when he starts belting out the last verse.
For my cover of Indifference I opted for a stripped-down acoustic version so as to put focus on what I think makes the song - Eddie Vedder's brilliant lyrics and vocals. I don't think I even got close to the kind of emotion he's relaying, but I had fun trying!

My Cover of Pearl Jam's Indifference:

download > Indifference

I will hold the candle till it burns up my arm
Oh, Ill keep takin punches until their will grows tired
Oh, I will stare the sun down until my eyes go blind hey,
I wont change direction, and I wont change my mind
~Eddie Vedder, 'Indifference'

Another Lonely Day

Ben Harper is an amazing musician. He's one of the few artists that can cover a wide variety of genres on one album and somehow make it all sound unified. His lap steel/Weissenborn playing is exceptional and he's a great performer. Even though he'll sit with his lap steel for the majority of the show, you can really feel his energy and end up mesmerized by his playing. At least I do...
I was turned onto Ben Harper a number of years ago by a close friend, and have been a big fan ever since. I think what strikes me most about his songs is the honesty of his performance. It really comes through in the recording. That and the fact that his influences shine through in his music, and they are influences that I share an appreciation for (blues, folk, 70s rock, etc). His own music has influenced mine in a big way - especially the quiter acoustic songs. The riffs he comes up with and his honest soulful singing is something I always try to strive for when writing and recording my own stuff. I seem to always be asking myself 'What would Ben do here?' when working on an acoustic piece.

Another Lonely Day is a quiet, intimate acoustic track from Harper's 1995 (imo best) album 'Fight for Your Mind'. The first time I really heard the song was with good headphones on. I highly recommend it. It sounds like he's right there in the room with you. That main acoustic riff is what really got me, then when he starts singing, well, I was hooked. Looking at the lyrics, Another Lonely Day is basically a break up song. He sings about a relationship that didn't work out at the time, but 'further along' just may.

I didn't want to do a carbon-copy cover of this song (not that I could!), but at the same time wanted to relay the intimacy and honesty of it.

My Cover of Ben Harper's Another Lonely Day:

download > Another Lonely Day

"Id rather walk alone
Than chase you around
Id rather fall myself
Than let you drag me down"
~Ben Harper, 'Another Lonely Day'

10 Cover Ideas

Just brainstorming some ideas for tunes to cover. 10 songs I vividly remember from my early childhood. Songs my pop used to play all the time:

1. The Devil Went Down to Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band
2. Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond
3. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
4. Early in the Mornin' - Eddie Rabbit
5. Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel
6. Mother - Pink Floyd
7. Up The Ladder to the Roof -The Nylons
8. I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen
9. Horse With No Name - America
10. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - Meatloaf

“When people hear good music, it makes them homesick
for something they never had, and never will have.”
~ Edgar Watson Howe

The Gambler

Dad played this Kenny Rogers ditty a lot when it hit big. It was 1979 so I was only 5 when it came out, and too young to discriminate genres. It wasn't a COUNTRY song, just a COOL song. Ahhh to be indiscriminate about music again... Then one day Kenny performed the song with a couple of muppets on the Muppet show and I was completely sold. Check it out:

I think what attracted me to this song initially (besides the Muppets duet!) was #1 the melody and #2 the fact that he's telling us a story. I'm a sucker for story songs and really miss them in modern music. They're apparently making a comeback though with bands like The Killers and Kings of Leon, so yay! Also, this song has a key change in it which works so well but to me was so unpredictable. Gets me every time. All in all this song is very simple, very catchy, and very memorable. All ingredients of a smash hit.

According to Wikipedia, 'The Gambler' is often characterized as a metaphor for life in that you need to know when to stand your ground (when to hold 'em) and when to retreat (when to fold 'em). The gambler has learned that the trick to life isn't the cards you've been dealt, but how to play them (every hand being a "winner" or a "loser" depending on how they are played). The "ace" that Rogers refers to in the end is this advice. I guess I'll buy that, but really I think it's just about one dude giving another dude advice on how to win at poker...

Kenny Rogers is apparently still touring and had great success with his 2006 album Water & Bridges, but I would love to hear a Rubin/Cash 'American Recordings' style acoustic record from him. Stripped down and raw, you know? I think he could pull it off.

I was on vacation in the Okanagan, BC when I did this cover. I wrote a few country-tinged songs up there and 'The Gambler' was a bit of a warm-up before I recorded them. I didn't care much about quality because they were meant to be temporary until I got home and recorded them properly, so I played and sang right into the pinhole mic on my laptop. Also, there was a roaring air conditioner in the house we were renting that couldn't be shut off for fear of us melting. The result was that the songs sounded like they were recorded in the 40s Robert Johnson old-timey style, which in my opinion brought a lot of charm to them. Kind of like we're all sitting next to the campfire and somebody brought a tape recorder. I thought about redoing it for this blog, and maybe I eventually will, but for now you get the air-con recording.

My Cover of Kenny Rogers' The Gambler:

download > The Gambler

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.
~Kenny Rogers, 'The Gambler'

Dad

My dad had an amazing stereo when I was growing up - a complete rack of top of the line EVERYthing. He even had little round silver speakers in the roof I used to play 'beam me up' under. Every Saturday and Sunday morning he'd play a WIDE variety of music that I woke up and stayed in bed to listen to. Everything from ABBA to Zamfir and Alan Parsons to ZZ Top. My dad's a big reason I write and play music today and I've told him many times how much I appreciate his influence. I remember in my high school years when we'd go on long road trips I'd bring a ton of CDs. I was into a lot of AC/DC and Metallica at the time and he had no problem turning it up as loud as we could stand whilst powering down the highway. How cool is that for a teenager? As a result I had no problem sitting through his selections, 'The Highwaymen' or 'Crash Test Dummies' and the like - bands I wasn't into at the time but have since come to love.
My folks moved many years back and I had an opportunity to inherit all his albums. I didn't take them and I've been punching myself in the face for it ever since. Luckily they stayed in the family though and I've got my eye on 'em...
Dad still listens to a lot of music, though it's mostly MP3s on iPods now. He's got the pro Bose system so it still sounds great, and I'm sure he still occasionally wakes my mom up Saturday mornings to the sound of music.
I hope as my own kids grow up in our home, my wife and I can provide them with the same brand of musical variety he did for me, and that they will grow to appreciate everything it has to offer.

All music is beautiful.
~Billy Strayhorn