Today’s song is a cover version that I hadn’t heard in possibly years before I heard it last night in a pub in town. The city seems to have started it’s own countdown with every second shop, cafe or pub I passed through over the weekend playing U2 in the background.
It’s a cover of the 60′s classic ‘Everlasting Love‘ which has been covered by many over the years from Carl Carlton to Gloria Estefan to Jamie Cullum. It appeared as a b-side to the single ‘All I Want Is You’ in 1989 alongside what I think is a dodgy interpretation of ‘Unchained Melody’. As modern covers of this song go, I think this is my favourite.
Only a week until I go to my local stadium in Drumcondra to see U2 on their 360 Tour. I’m starting to feel the goosebumps. I’m not a diehard U2 fan but I really love some of their albums & the last time (and first time) I saw them in Croke Park in 2005 I was blown away by their live show.
So for the next week I’m going to post some of my favourite U2 songs and give a little insight into why I chose each one. Apologies to non-fans or Bono-bashers, might want to tune out for a little while
The Fly: Live in Boston
This recording was part of the Elevation tour DVD shot in Boston in 2001. I remember seeing it on TV. I don’t know what I was doing at the time that I didn’t have time to sit down and watch it but I distinctly remember stopping in my tracks at hearing the beautiful opening bars of this song, set in a lower pitch than the original recording. Magic.
All the talk on Twitter about The Waterboys earlier brought this tune stomping back into my head & it refuses to leave. I had forgotten how much I love their music. Not sure if there’s some connection or something we don’t know about but down home these guys always seemed to feature frequently on local radio growing up, namely Galway Bay FM (Clare FM is out of range in parts of The Burren – random factoid!).
They’re one of those bands that there was consensus on when travelling in the car with mum or dad – the radio always got turned up Good memories, great tunes, should be a really great gig at the Galway Arts Festival at the end of the month.
Mike and Steve are both on Twitter, their rather nifty website is here and @darraghdoyle is meeting Mike later for an interview for culch.ie so keep an eye on that over the next few days for the results. Vive les Waterboys
The National Concert Hall is the place to be this Thursday night if you fancy a bit of toe-tappin’ & finger-snappin’ as Conor McKeon takes to the stage rolling out the hits of the swingers including Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and The Great American Song Book. As if that wasn’t enough he’ll be up there with a 24-piece band and an orchestra with a special appearance by the wonderful Gardiner Street Gospel Choir. Conor and the band warmed up for GSGC at The Helix last month and were absolutely fab – really looking forward to hearing them tomorrow.
If that hasn’t swung it for you well then the fact that the gig is to raise money for the ’3 T’s – Turning The Tide of Suicide’. Tickets are still available from www.nch.ie. Hopefully see you there
