Hi! It’s Him. He’s The Greatest Coverer of Taylor Swift Songs.

Friday is fun, it’s music. Links. Playlists. You know the drill well by now. Today, a surprising new cover version. And I always like those…enjoy! Or endure. It’ll be one of the two.

One of my favourite scenes from one of my favourite movies is when Jesse Eisenberg’s character in The Squid and The Whale plays Pink Floyd’s Hey You, introducing it as if it’s his own, and then, later, when called on it, his defence is that he felt he could have written it, so the fact that it’s a cover is really some sort of technicality.

I love that film. But those sequences have always stuck with me too. And in a way, it informed what I look for in the very best cover versions — fandom, obviously, some hint that the person might care for the song, but beyond that, a belief that they have something to say in covering it/some way of saying it that takes it somewhere else, or reiterates the song, maybe even recontextualises it.

Last week, as part of a routine Googling of Paul Kelly, I found a new song. Something called Anti-Hero. I listened. And liked it. A lot. You’ll forgive me for not — instantly - knowing it was a cover of Taylor Swift. I don’t know the names of very many Taylor Swift tunes (Shake if Off and Blank Space is about it…and I had to Google Blank Space just now, as I was going to write Blank Slate).

Anyway, I’m sitting there listening to this ‘new Paul Kelly song’, thinking “he’s still got it” and things of that nature. And then the chorus hits, and I recognise it as probably A Taylor Swift Song. But I’m still thinking that this so fits with the forlorn world of some Paul Kelly songs. He is sad-sack-old-man-handling this tune in the most perfect way. He’s giving the lyric a poignancy (for me) that simply isn’t there in the original — because the original isn’t written for me, so therefore doesn’t speak to me. I’m not dismissing the song, just being clear that it’s not in this world for my appreciation. And I’m not in this world for it. But I am a fan of most things Paul Kelly does, and hearing his version gave me pause to consider the song. Something I’ve previously not done.

The last time I heard a cover version this poignant and transformative was when Warren Zevon just ironied the shit out of Steve Winwood’s Back In The High Life Again, by earnestly singing it to lone guitar accompaniment, and sounding nowhere near any such high life…

I’ve often thought the very best songwriters are great at cover versions. They’re students of the craft of songwriting after all. They know their way around a tune, and in under the hood of the song. They know what makes it tick. They’re able to take it around the block and accentuate a different side of its tock.

Elvis Costello is a shining example. Covers galore. Great ones, usually. Interesting ones, always. And well, after that it comes down to personal taste of course. I felt that Chris Cornell returned to the well once too often with his covers of songs we never need to hear again (Redemption Song, Imagine) but in the moment of hearing that mighty voice fill a room, it was certainly nice enough to hear a few of his ‘takes’ on popular songs from the canon.

Paul Kelly has played a few covers — from the sublime (John Prine’s Paradise) to the ridiculous (Slim Dusty’s Pub With No Beer) and the supremely sublimely ridiculous (Amy Winehouse’s Rehab, Hot Chocolate’s It Started With A Kiss).

When I first heard his version of Taylor’s version of Anti-Hero I thought, here we go, maybe PK is working on a new covers album. A whole set. But no. Not at this stage. It was just some folly the radio station asked for to celebrate Taylor touring Aussie earlier this year.

Still, it’s our gain. His knowledge of songs, where they sit, and how to place them…his ‘wisdom’. It’s all there. Making Anti-Hero a song he could have written. Taking nothing from Taylor and/or the dozen co-writers that made it.

Anyway, that’s it. That’ll do. Big week this week. I’ve been busy. So I just wanted to ruminate a tad on that song. And let it sit with you, if you’ve got time in your life for a new way in to one of the pop songs du jour.

I’ll also leave you with Cindy Lee. I’ve mentioned ‘her’ at least once before I’m sure. You’ll see “Cindy Lee” mentioned as a ‘band’ but it’s the drag persona of Patrick Flegel — he’s made a few albums already as/with Cindy Lee, but the latest, available only as a single YouTube clip (two hours) is a triple-album tour-de-force. It’s still very high on my regular listening rotate.

And now I’ve found a bunch of live performances from across the last month or so — so it’s cool hearing and seeing the songs in action. I’ll add a couple below for you to maybe sample.

I would say I’ll leave it there, but that would be forgetting this week’s playlist. And I’ve never (yet) done that, and don’t ever intend to. This week’s is Vol. 169. And it really is a funky good time. Well, that’s my hope anyway. You can tell me if otherwise.