Closing with the Ironic Cover

I love live music, and I have a little game I play at concerts. Before the show starts, I try to guess the last song that will be played. If I’m feeling confident, I try to name the last two.

For example, at a Melissa Etheridge show, I’d guess that her second-to-last song would be something popular, maybe “I Need to Wake Up,” the song from Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Then she would probably finish with something that everyone in the room would know and get on their feet for: “Somebody Bring Me Some Water,” or “Come to My Window”.

I’m pretty good at this guessing game, which is why I love it when an artist or band plays an unexpected cover – something outside their genre, and just plain fun.

The first time I heard a musician do this, it was singer-songwriter Patty Larkin closing with Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking”.

Speaking of fun, here’s Nancy’s original version on The Ed Sullivan Show, a little eye and fashion candy:

Some years ago I was the “sound guy” for an all-girl rock band. They were very earnest about what they were doing, and I spent months trying to get them to understand the charms of the ironic cover.

I would suggest a song, and the conversation would go like this:

Them: “But that’s not the kind of song we would play.”

Me: “Right. But that’s what makes it so ironic.”

Them: “But that’s not the kind of song we would play.”

Me: “Never mind.”

Some bands are just good at it. They manage to take ownership of the most unlikely songs and get the audience singing along.

Girlyman is one of these bands. Wildly talented songwriters, they’re almost as famous for the songs they didn’t write, often closing with a send-up of Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man,” lead by Nate. Although, the last few times I’ve seen them, they were tackling “Angel of the Morning,” made famous by Juice Newton, and “Fist City,” a Loretta Lynn smack down. (Check out their music on their MySpace page.)

When I saw a group concert with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin, and Patti Griffin sharing a stage, they closed with a Backstreet Boys song. And, once I saw British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson close with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

So last night at Slim’s in San Francisco, waiting for Chris Pureka to come on stage, I commented to my traveling companion that I hoped Chris would come up with a good ironic cover for the close.

“That won’t happen,” she said. “Chris Pureka isn’t ironic.”

She may be right. But Chris did close with a powerful cover of Bob Dylan’s “Rock Me Mama”. While it wasn’t completely ironic, it did keep me humming all day.

Rock me mama, like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey,
mama, rock me

(If you’ve seen a good ironic cover, put it in the comments.)

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