Bill Callahan & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – “I Want To Go To The Beach” (Iggy Pop Cover) (Feat. Cooper Crain)
I really thought the most recent cover in the unnamed series of Bill Callahan/Bonnie ‘Price’ Billy singles might be the last one. For months, old friends Callahan and Will Oldham have been getting together regularly to cover other people’s songs, bringing a different collaborator along for every release. A week ago, the two of them shared their version of their late friend David Berman’s Silver Jews song “The Wild Kindness,” singing in harmony with Berman’s widow and bandmate Cassie Berman. But no. Callahan and Oldham are still going. They’ve got another cover out today.
The latest Callahan/Oldham cover is a whole lot sillier than the last one in every possible way: Song choice, execution, cover art. This time around, the two buddies have shared their version of an Iggy Pop song, but it’s not one of that man’s many classics. Instead, as Brooklyn Vegan points out, they’ve worked their magic on “I Want To Go To The Beach,” a song from Pop’s jazz-inflected 2009 experiment Préliminaires. They’ve also made the song considerably weirder.
Callahan and Oldham recorded their version of “I Want To Go To The Beach” with Cooper Crain, a member of Chicago bands like Bitchin’ Bajas and CAVE. Their version is longer than Pop’s, and it’s built around a spacey, skronky shuffle. Callahan, one of the few men in American music who can project Iggy Pop levels of deadpan baritone, sings lead. Check out the Callahan/Oldham cover and the Iggy Pop original below.
“I Want To Go To The Beach” and the rest of the Callahan/Oldham covers are out now on Drag City.
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