Paul Kelly and the Messengers, You Can't Take It With You
[purchase]
A study in tracktiming and popular song: this 2:42 original from iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly was never released as a single, but thanks to a nice direct lyric, a poppy country and rock-fueled pace, and a simple yet political sentiment, the song helped make So Much Water So Close To Home Kelly's first album to hit the Australian top ten.
A decade later, Kelly rerecorded You Can't Take It With You on Smoke, an album which set many of his hits in the bluegrass mold. Despite a rousing fingerpickin' sound and the addition of some sweet harmony courtesy of Melbourne bluegrass band Uncle Bill, the new version of the song came in just a few seconds longer. The album topped out at #36 on the Australian charts. Not a single song charted.
Just goes to show you what a difference a decade, a few seconds, and a shift from rock to bluegrass can make.
(Note: Kelly Willis does a good version of You Can't Take It With You, too, at just a hair over three minutes.)
'So much Water...' is one of Paul's best collection of tunes he produced, to bad the production (for me anyway) doesn't seem to have aged very well.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Melbourne, Australia in the 1990s. Paul Kelly live in acoustic mode is an incredible experience indeed (up there with Elliott Smith). I still own a cassette of a live recording of his concert.
ReplyDeleteGavin