Give back the key to my heart and I'll give ya a beer
Sir Doug & the Texas Tornadoes - Give Back the Key to My Heart
Uncle Tupelo - Give Back the Key to My Heart
Today I start my "covers" series, where 1) I post up a cover that I love, or 2) Post up an original I love that was covered by a band that I love, or 3) Post both versions.
You are in luck because today I am able to do #3. The song in question is "Give Back the Key to My Heart", by Sir Doug and the Texas Tornadoes. The first time I heard it, I was in high school, back on the family farm, washing dishes with my dad and playing Uncle Tupelo's album, "Anodyne". My older brother had gotten me into Wilco and I picked up on Tupelo's scent after hearing them on the No Alternative compilation. When this song came on, my dad's ears perked up and he was delighted to hear a cover version of this song that he'd heard so many years ago when we lived in Texas. He tried to tell me about how cool Doug Sahm was, but I didn't have respect for my elders back then and I just figured Doug Sahm was just some guy who wrote some song that "my" band was making into something great. How could an old sounding original version be better than what Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar can do? (I was a kid, cmon, I still liked the Eagles and Steve Miller, for goodness sakes!) Sahm pops up on the U.T. version to sing the last verse, his voice a little scragglier than 20 years earlier.
Well, I recently found the album for $0.99 and was excited to find out that, yes, the original is better than the Uncle Tupelo version. It's in the same vein as Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, etc. Feel free to cast a vote for your version in the comments section.
Posts
2 comments:
It's about time you played some real music in here. And if you're asking me to pick between Sir Doug and Uncle Tupelo, well, by golly, I just won't do it.
Can't pick a favorite version? What are ya, yella?
Chicken! Baaak baaaaak!
Post a Comment