Sunday Covers: Shawn Colvin sings Warren Zevon
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
This morning I thought I'd do a trio of cover posts featuring women singing songs written by men about girls in transition. Just cause, I am. After seven years of not speaking to me, my mother sent me a letter on my birthday asking to see me. I can't promise an Oprah moment. I have a feeling it's going to be more like Jerry Springer, actually. I am very, very apprehensive about what's going to happen. But since my sister's death, I don't have any more patience for family bullshit. All I can hope for is that my mother feels the same. If she doesn't, I guess I'm walking. But anyway . . . 
I've always loved Shawn Colvin. She always put an edge to folk I appreciated; that New York, black denim, Ray-Bans kind of thing. In 1992 when she released Fat City she was in heavy rotation on VH-1 with a great video to a song called Polaroids. I couldn't find the video anywhere, but I did find a good recording of her singing it live for you. It's one of my favorites of hers.On that record she did one cover, and like all covers artists choose to record, I thought it telling that she chose a song by Warren Zevon, an artist who struggled against music industry expectations about what he should do most of his career. Colvin had been signed right away to big gun Sony, putting her on a major label trajectory that shot her to stardom quickly. 
Tenderness on the Block is a cute little song Zevon wrote about a teenager approaching adulthood. Colvin puts her signature edge to it with her chunky guitar strumming. Enjoy.
I've always loved Shawn Colvin. She always put an edge to folk I appreciated; that New York, black denim, Ray-Bans kind of thing. In 1992 when she released Fat City she was in heavy rotation on VH-1 with a great video to a song called Polaroids. I couldn't find the video anywhere, but I did find a good recording of her singing it live for you. It's one of my favorites of hers.On that record she did one cover, and like all covers artists choose to record, I thought it telling that she chose a song by Warren Zevon, an artist who struggled against music industry expectations about what he should do most of his career. Colvin had been signed right away to big gun Sony, putting her on a major label trajectory that shot her to stardom quickly. Tenderness on the Block is a cute little song Zevon wrote about a teenager approaching adulthood. Colvin puts her signature edge to it with her chunky guitar strumming. Enjoy.
Comments (13)