Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

From 2001 and the soundtrack CD to TV's Crossing Jordan -- a show I must admit I never watched -- please enjoy the reliably astounding Richard Thompson and his cover of Donovan's venerable “Season of the Witch.”



A version that -- as the friend who hipped me to this last week observed -- makes all previously recorded performances of this song sound like "The Monster Mash."

Good lord, this is...wow.

[h/t Matt Mitchell]

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,

Ho.Lee.Crap. What the effin' eff was that??? That was mind blowing. And you/your contact had it exactly right: every other version of that song has been relegated to a minor league.

Long time fan of RT, but I had never come across that. Boy, that certainly made my musical day.

regards,
RichD

cthulhu said...

I would have sworn I've posted about this version here before, but if I didn't, my apologies. Yes, it's effing awesome. The show wasn't bad, and Jill Kennedy was her normal delectable self.

cthulhu said...

Sorry, I meant to say Jill Hennessy.

buzzbabyjesus said...


RT and that song are a marriage made in heaven.

Jim G said...

RT is a national treasure. I know, he's a Brit and his music and much of his aesthetic has its roots in British folk music, but he has lived in LA for a long time now so we can lay some claim. Just a great, great artist. Buy his albums and see him live before arthritis or some other age based malady diminishes him.

Mark said...

No offense, but I prefer Luna's version from the soundtrack to I SHOT ANDY WARHOL. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwzjjpcOTVE and https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-shot-andy-warhol-mw0000181839.

Anonymous said...

I guess that there has to be one nayser in this thread and I guess it's me.
As much a fan of Richard Thompson as I am - I prefer the Kooper, Stills,Brooks,Hoh (Super Session) recording of the song.
An interesting sidenote,which I read, is that the drummer Eddy Hoh also played drums on Donovans original recording.

rob

Anonymous said...

I always find that my favorite cover versions are by artists who are great songwriters themselves. I'm sure that wouldn't have been true in the Great American Songbook era, when singing and songwriting
were seen as completely separate skill sets. But it's not so much that I don't like singers who don't write their own material. Rather, if someone writes their own songs and I don't like their own material, I have no interest in hearing their version of anyone else's songs.

Marc

Anonymous said...

And in case I wasn't clear, Richard Thompson is a brilliant songwriter as well as guitar player, and his covers are ALWAYS worth listening to!

Marc