Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

"Dig A Pony"

St Vincent covers The Beatles

Photo By Frank YangFrank YangOkay, so I see why people are excited about the September 9 release of the Beatles remasters, and can also understand that Beatles: Rock Band is a big deal for those who like their Beatles and their Rock Band and think the two go together like chocolate and peanut brittle. But I haven’t been able to comprehend why people have been waiting for the Beatles catalog to come to online digital shops like iTunes for so long. I mean, if someone really wanted to hear The White Album on their iPod, would it really have been so difficult to find someone who owned the CDs – I believe the band was fairly popular in their day – and just rip it? Maybe they just want to be able to legitimately pay for the tracks again? I understand Sir Paul could use the dosh. And yeah, alright, I get that it’ll be the remastered albums that will finally make their way to iTunes at some unspecified future date, but doesn’t going to the trouble of remastering them to sound great and then compressing them to sound like crap seem pointless? No? Just me? Okay.

Far more comprehensible is getting really excited for this coming Saturday’s St Vincent show at the Horseshoe, though I don’t get why it’s not plum sold out by now. She’ll certainly be busting out tracks from both Actor and Marry Me – in far more guitar-prickly form if past experience is any indication – but perhaps she’ll also trot out this terrific Beatles cover, which was a staple of her Fall 2007 tour from which the MP3 and videos were taken, but also made an appearance this weekend when Ms Clark played Al Points West in New Jersey. I’m usually of the mind that the last thing the world needs is another Beatles cover, but when they’re done as interestingly as this one – faithful to the original but fully infused with her own distinct personality – then I’m okay with letting one more into the house.

MP3: St Vincent – “Dig A Pony”
Video: St Vincent – “Dig A Pony” (live at Other Music)
Video: St Vincent – “Dig A Pony” (Black Cab Sessions)
Video: The Beatles – “Dig A Pony”

By : Frank Yang at 9:19 am
Category: Chromewaves Radio

Tags: ,

RSS Feed for this post6 Responses.

  1. 8/2/09 10:15 am

     Martin says:

    Thanks, your little ramble made me smile this morning:)

  2. 8/2/09 12:07 pm

     Joel says:

    I love her version of the song too! She also performed it at her ACL taping back in June and it should air sometime this Fall on PBS.

  3. 8/3/09 8:44 am

     OPP – 8/3 (All Points West, Spoon, more) : EAR FARM :: music information helps grow ears says:

    […] Listen to St. Vincent’s cover of the Beatles’ “Dig a Pony” […]

  4. 8/3/09 9:16 pm

     Stacia says:

    I totally thought of St. Vincent when I heard Dig a Pony was on the tracklist for Beatles Rock Band. She didn’t include it when I saw her earlier this summer, but did the previous two times I saw her.

    And I totally agree about the iTunes thing. :)

  5. 8/4/09 12:58 am

     Nick says:

    Annie Clark is such a strange women. I’m not to sure if I like her stripped back sound like this, most of her charm for me is in her dense instrumental arrangements.

    On another note, does anyone else know the story behind the song ‘The Strangers’? I interviewed her recently and she told it was set to the movie Sleeping Beauty, but someone commented on my story quoting from another interview where she said it was set to Snow White. I’d love to know if anyone has heard her mention the song elsewhere.

    Here’s my story http://www.einsteinmusicjournal.co.nz/2009/07/21/st-vincent-interview/

  6. 8/12/09 12:07 am

     Matt says:

    St. Vincent’s performance this past Saturday was amazing and easily the trippiest non-prog concert I’ve been to.

    The recording doesn’t quite do her cover justice, but I still love listening to it.

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