Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Covered in Folk: U2
(Bell XI, Peter Mulvey, The Walls, Luka Bloom, and seven more!)

In introducing last year’s surprisingly popular St. Patrick’s Day entry on the folkier side of Sinead O’Connor, I noted that I had almost exhausted my collection of U2 covers. Since then, however, discovery and a surprisingly rapid pace of coverage have widened the playing field of potential, making for a lovely set.

So raise a glass, and let’s begin. It’s St. Pat’s, and the folk is flowing.





I came to U2 too late to be cool, hitting Top 40 puberty in the beginning of their stadium days. I hardly remember the single mid-eighties show I attended at the Boston Garden, though I do remember the experience of being too far back in the maddening crowd to make out anything except a tiny stage, and a tinier blob that was supposedly Bono, and deciding that I never, ever wanted to be that far back from the stage again.

But there was a time when The Joshua Tree was a regular on my turntable, and a time, a bit later, when a turn towards alt-radio pop in the very early nineties meant following the band into their experimental, post-ironic anthemic phase. And I do have an affinity for the band as a symbol, having traded a copy of Achtung Baby to some girl in college for a bathrobe.

Years later, “that girl” and I have been together for almost two decades, our copy of Achtung Baby has long since been hocked to pay for food and rent in our leaner days, and I don’t really care that U2 came out with yet another disk in the past few weeks. But I still appreciate their songbook, their evolution, and their influence. And if the vast and varied covers and tribute albums out there are any indication, so do a whole mess of current artists, including those with a sensibility on the folkier side.

We begin our exploration with a quartet of Irish musicians and bands playing tribute to their own, as befits a late St. Pat’s Day tribute to what has turned out to be perhaps the most influential Irish band since the Pogues, or perhaps ever.



And here’s more U2 covers from around the world that easily make the cut, from Mulvey’s slinky skifflebop growl to the Cash classic, from the quiet folkpop of WAZ to UK indieband Elbow’s folk-rock anthem. Vieux Farka Touré is some serious African worldbeat delta blues, while Waldemar Bastos rings delicate and powerful all-at-once like Cesaria Evora, putting that old Sixpence None the Blander cover to shame. Ol’ Yeller is a bit country, but pulls it off nicely, too.



The forecast for Sunday includes warm weather, a bit of drizzle, and yet another of our popular Single Song Sunday posts. Until then, why not check out the green over at Star Maker Machine?

Category: Covered in Folk, Holiday Coverfolk, U2

7 Responses to “Covered in Folk: U2
(Bell XI, Peter Mulvey, The Walls, Luka Bloom, and seven more!)”

  1. michiganDAN
    March 17th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    Nice theme for Patty’s Day. I took was late to the U2 party, but when I fell I fell hard. Much to my surprise, I did not care for several these covers because I could only find them weak by comparison… and I rarely judge covers by that measure. BUT THEN, I hit the Cash cover… WOW. And then Mulvey turned The Fly into something completely different. And finally I dig the Yeller version of God’s Country. Again, another great post!
  2. kiita
    March 17th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    Oh my, the last two covers are astounding. Thank you!
  3. Juri
    March 18th, 2009 at 4:10 am

    perfectly wonderful post! thank you!
  4. EL Mare
    March 20th, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Sometimes i found real jewels on your side. One of them is Walemar Bastos. What a deep and sensual cover.
    Thank you

    EL Mare
  5. momoboimulk
    September 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    http://imagedough.com/id/112/959/513/809/355/thumb/u2.png

    The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2, released in 1984. Far more ambient and abstract than the hard-hitting War, it was at the time, the band’s most marked change in direction, and was the group’s first collaboration with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
  6. Irish Singer-Songwriters Week, Vol 1: Male Voices (A St. Paddy’s Day Who’s Who of Irish Coverfolk) — Cover Lay Down
    March 14th, 2010 at 8:40 am

    [...] Mark Geary: All I Want Is You (orig. U2) Born in Dublin in 1971, Mark Geary won a green card by lottery in the mid-nineties, moved to New York City, and soon found himself a regular at Sin É alongside Jeff Buckley and other rising stars. Despite his years in the states, however, Geary retains his connections to the motherland, most recently performing at the Whelans 20th Anniversary celebrations in order to promote his late 2009 live album Live Love Lost It - NYC. This U2 cover comes from the tripartite Irish radio cover compilation series Even Better Than The Real Thing; for more U2 covers from Irishmen and others, don’t forget to check out last year’s St Pat’s post. [...]
  7. Irish Singer-Songwriters Week, Vol 2: Women’s Voices (A St. Paddy’s Day Who’s Who of Irish Coverfolk) — Cover Lay Down
    April 19th, 2010 at 5:33 am

    [...] Covered in Folk: U2 [...]

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