Don’t it always seem to go,

That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Can’t spend what you ain’t got,
Can’t lose what you never had.

I feel really privileged and pampered to be able to just stroll into a library and pick up one of the best CDs ever recorded. Thank you Mr. Music Buyer for Central Libraries; how could he (or she (obviously if it’s she then we’re not going to address her as Mr.)) have known to buy Oumou Sangare?
Oumou Sangare is a female singer born in Bamako, Mali. Her music is that of Southern Mali, with a distinct, hypnotic style of traditional music called “Wassoullou”. Have a listen. My favourite songs are Dugu Kamalemba (Skirt chaser) and Ne Bi Fe (I love you).

Meanwhile, Last.fm is playing a long-forgotten song by Credence Clearwater Revival called “Walk on the water”. I loved CCR when I was introduced to them by Moscow’s Radio Classica 102.1 fm (Classic Rock, that is) but I seem to have somehow forgotten about them.

Weighing up the sheer number of bad ones vs. good ones, I guess I must say NO!

I heard a cover version of Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’ the other day with harps (Harps!!) and some (expletives) singing in a happy voice. Did he even realise that “I’ll kill you, I’m not gonna crack” is not meant to be happy?

And who’s that cleverclogs who thinks she can sing “Another Piece of my Heart” better than Janis Joplin??? She just comes across as a one-dimensional no-talent. (You can see this is something I feel very strongly about)

Of course, some of the old covers are masterpieces, although I’ve been struggling for a couple of minutes now to remember a cover song good enough to mention…

Right,

1. Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All along the Watchtower” which has become the way to play that song, as Dylan himself acknowledged.

2. Janis Joplin herself has recorded the best ever version of “Summertime” by Gershwin.