Sunday, May 25, 2008

Single Song Sunday:
Jackson Browne / Nico, These Days



Like Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, which was transformed in the popular imagination by Jeff Buckley's haunting version of John Cale's cover, there is a plurality of high-profile, popularly dominant sources for These Days, Jackson Browne's melancholy yet ultimately optimistic tribute to the general malaise and lonesome depression that characterizes the soul after a long relationship has come to an inevitable end. But where in the case of Halellujah the versions which rose to obscure the original were recorded long afterward, in the case of These Days, Nico's version was recorded first, in 1967, with Browne on acoustic guitar and Velvet Underground chums Cale and Reed on everything else -- making Jackson Browne's 1973 version a dubious original, despite real popularity in and out of his fan base.

As such, cover versions of These Days tend to fall into two camps: those that cover Nico, and those that cover Jackson Browne. The former seem more popular among a certain indiefolk crowd, especially after her version lent hipster cred to the soundtrack for The Royal Tannenbaums, calling us back to it's fragile, anxious, somewhat spacey sound; you can hear the secondhand influence of Nico in more recent covers from fringefolkers Kathryn Williams, St. Vincent, and Mates of State. Meanwhile, fellow seventies icons Gregg Allman and Kate Wolf clearly have Browne's slow, simple poetics and clear, open-hearted delivery in mind; so, a generation later, do relative newcomers Denison Witmer, Fountains of Wayne, and Tyler Ramsey.

But as others have pointed out long before me, the bifurcated trunk of the musical tree that is These Days versions is relevant to an evolution of song not only because of the curious history, but because the choices made in each version affect the meaning of the song. And here we are not just talking musical interpretation, either: Nico's version is lyrically different as well as musicially distinct, and the lost second-person subject of the penultimate line, the focus on belief (I don't think I'll risk another) over feeling (It's so hard to risk another), changes the narrator into someone more narcissistic, less historied, and -- some believe -- less believable overall.

From a coverblog perspective, then, sourcing each cover becomes merely an exercise in lyrical attention. And though a few seem to be applying Nico's lyric to Browne's tone, as in Johnny Darrell's country cover; most, such as the aforementioned, go whole hog for one side or the other. Only a very few more recent covers arguably attempt to transcend both -- most notably Barbara Manning's acoustic electronica, and Brandon Seyferth's comprehensively lo-fi musical rewrite.

But this is not to say that Nico's version, and subsequent covers of it, are less viable as song: the delicate lyrical interpretation and breathless tension compensates, making tone serve where subject had before. Or is it afterwards? Either way, here's the two prototypes -- Nico's, and a rare 1971 live recording from Browne, with his take on the song still raw and tentatively performed, plus his more familiar, more poignant 2005 live version, for diversity's sake; the 1973 produced version is easily available -- along with a hefty set of choice Single Song Sunday coversong from the usual wide assortment of folk, presented in no particular order, the better to appreciate each cover for what it is.

Enjoy, as always. Feel free to mention your favorite cover in the comments, or send it along via email if it's not already here. And if you like what you hear, follow links above and below for websites and artist-preferred-source album-purchasing.


We'll be back Wednesday, possibly with that subgenre coverfolk post I alluded to a few weeks ago. Also coming soon: more old songs from new artists, a bit of bluegrass, and a look at this year's New England folk festivals. In the meantime, stay sane, and don't forget to enter our Sarah McLachlan contest!

48 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for these!
"These Days" is one of my favorite songs of all time.

quietcore said...

thanks for this, a couple version i hadn't heard before! you missed the 10,000 maniacs version though, i'm sure you have it but if you need it let me know, i'm partial to that version as natalie is my favorite female vocalist, i should really get to a post on her.

boyhowdy said...

Thanks for the recommendation, QC...I had never heard the 10k Maniacs version of this song, but once I managed to figure out how not to get 10KM hit These ARE Days as the overwhelming search result, I found Campfire Songs...and all I have to say is, why was this hiding under a rock, subjectively speaking, and where can I get me a copy?

If you ever want to go in on a paired set of posts -- I'll do her folk stuff, you do her 10,000 maniacs and pop solo stuff -- let me know. In the meantime, feel free to send/share their "These Days" version -- I'd love to hear it.

Anonymous said...

Paul Westerberg does a really nice version as well, that's how I first heard the song.

quietcore said...

here's the 10km version http://lusciousjackson.net/2008.05.25/10km_Days.mp3

a dual blog post on natalie and 10km would be awesome. let's plan for the future as i know you have some computer issues and i have some relocation issues.

Brendan M. Leonard said...

I've been a fan of the original from my late teenage years spent discovering folk, but I have to comment that the Nico cover works splendidly in the "Royal Tenenbaums." I remember watching that movie for the first time and being so blown away by just how perfectly Anderson merged the emotion of the scene with the themes of the cover, both in lyrics and music. So much so that I made my brother back the scene up so we could watch it again. And listening to the song here, it all came flooding back in a way that was pretty shocking. It's definitely one of the great uses of pop music since 2000. And now I'm one of thos e guys.

Anonymous said...

It was this song that convinced me of the genius of Jackson Browne. I've never heard, but love the Greg Allman cover that you posted.

Chad said...

It's such a brilliant song, no matter who is doing it - and for that you have to give credit to Browne, even if I prefer Nico's version to his own. To write a song that good, you have to have a lot of talent inside you.

That being said, the guitar tone on the Nico version is about as perfect as acoustic guitar sound gets, and I'd be in love with it even if there wasn't a single word written to accompany it.

And, of course, it is my official duty to try and get Elliott Smith into every musical conversation, so it should be noted that he covered the song live (alas, only one time). You can find it here:

http://www.archive.org/download/esmith1999-10-14.flac/esmith1999-10-14t08_vbr.mp3

(he definitely went with the Nico version, for what it's worth.)

jayhawk said...

Thanks for making available this thoughtful comparison of the different approaches to Jackson Browne's song "These Days." I had not heard several of these versions before now.
It's hard to believe a 16-year-old wrote with such depth of experience.

Browne has commented during performances how happy he was with his guitar work on the Nico recording, but he has also commented somewhat derisively that Andy Warhol made him play with an electric rather than an acoustic guitar to make the sound more "modern" and then added strings on top of that. (Jackson: "Yeah, that really made it more modern.")

Arguments can be made for each of the two approaches to the song. As simply a listener, I favor Browne's approach a little more. He first recorded the song as part of what is now known as the "Nina Demos" with the title of "I've Been Out Walking" in 1966. I personally love the version he played at the Main Point in 1973 with David Lindley accompanying him on banjo.

Gregg Allman's version of the song was also released before Browne's version, I believe, and Jackson has said that after he heard that version, he tried to play the song more and more the way Allman played it. For many years Browne played "These Days"
live as a piano song for this reason. Only in the last 4-5 years has Browne returned to playing the song on guitar as he did on "Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1."
Since this is the case, you probably should have offered a piano version by Browne as well.

As for Allman's version, I have always loved it, but hearing it now for the first time in maybe 15 years it sounds overproduced. For me today, Browne's songs are more enjoyable and more easily comtemplated in acoustic performance. In that regard, I recommend Allman's performance of "These Days" with Graham Nash singing backup and Craig Doerge playing piano on the television show "Inside Track" as being superior to his "Laid Back" version.

The version by Fountains of Wayne seems to remain truest to Browne's vocals, although the strummed guitar is emphasized over the picked guitar. I really like Kate Wolf's version as well.

As for the Nico side of things, I think St. Vincent does the song quite nicely.

Anonymous said...

Not sure why you have no Counting Crows- they've done some very good covers, and played the Telluride Bluegrass Festival last year.

This isn't one of their best, but it's a good cover:
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=491613&song=These+Days+-+Jackson+Browne

boyhowdy said...

Thanks for the live versions, chad and nick.

I make no apologies for my tendency to avoid posting live covers wherever possible -- crowd noise and muddy production ruin it all for me, I guess. And I'm not sure I'd count CC as folk. But it's great to hear the diversity. Keep 'em coming!

Mark H. Besotted said...

Holy cats, this is great. I'll be sending several people links to this post. And now *I* don't have to go to all the trouble of doing it on She'll Grow Back. So thanks for that, and for all the versions I didn't have.

Anonymous said...

Golden Palominos also have a version of this song, sung by Lori Carson.

L said...

I agree with Gina - one of my favorite tunes. Nice writing on your part: "it's fragile, anxious, somewhat spacey sound"
Great post.

R.E.M. Borja said...

I just heard a great cover of "These Days" by Glen Campbell.

Anonymous said...

Jackson Browne is my favourite rock singer; I like his songs because when you listen to his music, it makes you feel what he feels. Jackson Browne has always been one of my favourite music artists and I couldn't pass up any opportunity to see him even if his tickets are hard to come by. Before my friend and I used to attend his concerts even his tickets are often sky high; now we found a site of cheap tickets .Here is the link:
http://www.ticketsinventory.com/concert/jackson-browne-tickets/
Jackson Browne tickets

TampaTom said...

Thanks so much for all of these. I've had that song stuck in my head for the last week. I really loved nearly all the versions here but I was surprised that I played the Johnny Darrel version over and over. It seemed to take me back to the 70's and the concerts then. I got a CSNY feel from it. I loved the JB "after his influence by Greg" version so much and I guess if I had to pick one that would be my favorite but all these versions made my heart full. Thanks again.

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