A Little Light Music: Coverfolk For Our Longer Days
As a teacher, I’m used to waking in the dark, like a sneak thief rising in the night, stealing time from sleep while the spouse and children slumber. Past open doors and tiny sighs I go silently, to navigate the narrow stairs, start the coffee in the stove’s tiny flourescent overhead, check morning email at the kitchen counter with nothing but the laptop glow to illuminate the keys.
These days, by the time I come up again, fully dressed, to kiss them each in turn on my way out the door, their faces are already visible in the deep wan dawn. And that’s a difference from February, when it took the hallway light to ensure that I did not trip on books or paper dolls, knock clumsily against bedframes, and awaken the kids.
Even as Winter wanes and the afternoons turn warm with sun, it’s still dark when I wake up. But leaving the house in full-bore sunrise is a harbinger of Spring. And though daylight savings will cost us an hour this Sunday, turning the clock back to an early darkness, such change is temporary.
On the car radio, the weatherman counts the added minutes: three more today, and the sun bright in my rear view mirror as I crest the hill between towns, the city spread out below me no longer in shadow. Soon, the work I wake into will be aglow again with blue. Today, then, let’s bring on the light.
- Arborea: This Little Light Of Mine (Harry Dixon Loes)
(from Beautiful Star: The Songs of Odetta, 2009; more Arborea here)
- Elizabeth Mitchell: This Little Light Of Mine (ibid.)
(from You Are My Flower, 2002)
- Jorma Kaukonen: I Am The Light of This World (orig. Rev. Gary Davis)
(from Quah, 1974)
- The Dodos: Biggest Light Of All (orig. Kath Bloom)
(from Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to Kath Bloom, 2009; CLD review here; more Dodos here)
- Lori Carson: I Saw The Light (orig. Todd Rundgren)
(from Everything I Touch Runs Wild, 1996)
- The Be Good Tanyas: Light Enough To Travel (orig. Geoff Berner)
(from Blue Horse, 2000)
- Allison Moorer: Light of a Clear Blue Morning (orig. Dolly Parton)
(from Just Because I’m a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton, 2003; more Allison Moorer here)
- Ted Hawkins: Long As I Can See The Light (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
(from The Next Hundred Years, 1994)
- Danny Barnes: Let Your Light Shine On Me (orig. Willie Johnson)
(from Get Myself Together, 2005)
- Allison Crowe: Shine A Light (orig. Rolling Stones)
(from Tidings, 2004)
- Dan Mangan: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (orig. The Smiths)
(live, unknown source; more Dan Mangan here)
- Death Cab For Cutie: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (ibid.)
(live from Radio 104.5, 2008; more DCFC here)
Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk sets and features each Wednesday, Sunday, and the occasional otherday.
Category: Uncategorized
March 11th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Having trouble opening the link to Ted Hawkins: Long As I Can See The Light (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
March 11th, 2010 at 5:41 am
Seems okay to me, John - can you try again and let me know if it’s still “stuck” for you?
March 11th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Read the title and was hoping for a cover of good ol’ Hank Williams “I Saw the Light.” Loved the Smiths covers though
March 11th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Only cover of that Hank tune I had was an old Emmylou cover - and it’s VERY much country twang, not at all folk. Anyone know a folk cover, please pass it along.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:29 am
[...] Cover Lay Down: A Little Light Music – Coverfolk For Our Longer Days [...]
March 13th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Good songs, great prose! I really can relate to your comments about morning light and DST. I’m fine with Michigan’s winters from mid-Nov until Feb 28. But then, starting March 1st, I’m like a caged animal waiting for longer days, greener tress and glimpses of that thing they call “The Sun”.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
@ boyhowdy
Only cover of that Hank tune I had was an old Emmylou cover - and it’s VERY much country twang, not at all folk. Anyone know a folk cover, please pass it along.
How about the Earl Scruggs or Bill Monroe blue grassy versions?
March 29th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I saw Ted Hawkins sing this song as a closer a week before he left this Earth. As he sat alone in front of a small crowd (in a smaller than expected bar for such a great talent) singing with such openness and beauty that, upon the conclusion of the song, the crowd sat in utter awe before exploding in a roar of applause.
Afterward, Ted shook hands, laughed and met with his audience like an old neighbor.
I, as I am sure everybody there that night, will never forget him.
Thanks for jarring that night from my dusty archives.
June 1st, 2010 at 10:44 pm
[...] Pianofolk chanteuse Alison Crowe covers The Rolling Stones’ Shine A Light, and Danny Barnes covers Willie Johnson’s Let Your Light Shine On Me, alongside 10 more folk covers of songs about light. [...]