Bill Callahan & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – “She Is My Everything” (John Prine Cover) (Feat. Sir Richard Bishop)
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The strange, fun, low-stakes project continues. For months, Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, old friends and collaborators, have been releasing a steady stream of covers at irregular intervals. Every time they come out with a new one, they bring a different collaborator on board. In the past few weeks, the duo have shared their versions of songs from Leonard Cohen, Iggy Pop, and their late friend David Berman. Today, they’ve hit us with their take on a song from the towering songwriter John Prine, who left the mortal plane less than a year ago.
Callahan and Prine have opted to cover “She Is My Everything,” a song from Prine’s 2005 album Fair & Square. It’s not one of the better-known songs in Prine’s catalog, but it’s a great one nonetheless. “She Is My Everything” is a love song that’s both deeply funny and deeply touching. Prine sings about the “she” in the title “teachin’ Bruce Lee how to do karate” and claims that “she uses Everready batteries to keep her appliances goin’ steady.” Then he ends it like this: “When she wakes up in the morning, that’s when the birdies start to sing/ When I hear her voice, I’ll tell you boys, I forget everything.” That’s great stuff.
Callahan and Oldham recorded their version of “She Is My Everything” with Sir Richard Bishop, the Sun City Girls member and longtime Oldham collaborator. Their version of the song is a departure from Prine’s rollicking original. It’s slow and stately, and it’s got a lot of sax noodling. Oldham sings lead, and he really shows how sweet and intimate his voice can be. Listen to the Callahan/Oldham cover and the Prine original below.
“She Is My Everything” and all the other Callahan/Oldham covers are out now on Drag City.