Hindu Love Gods, "Raspberry Beret"

I'm willing to bet that, while a lot of you imaginary people out there who potentially read this thing know the song, you don't know the artists. The song, of course, is a classic from the Purple One (AKA Prince), and during the holiday season I read a very good short book by Toure about how Prince's music came about and what it might mean. I won't spoil the book for you, seek it out for yourself if you're a fan (title: I Would Die 4 U).

The artists in this case are much more well known to you if you're a fan of alternative rock: Warren Zevon and the musicians from R.E.M. (Michael Mills, Peter Buck, and Bill Berry). The Hindu Love Gods were one of those one-shot collaborations that occasionally occur in music history, where an older artist (Zevon) beloved by the younger musicians (R.E.M.) stretches his musical muscles, in this case on a cover of a then-contemporary song. It came across my radar because of a Zevon best-of that had the song alongside The One Song That Anyone Knows Warren Zevon For. That's right, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."

This does give me a chance to revisit two musical acts I admire (if not downright love in the case of R.E.M.). Zevon was always that guy whose two seconds of "Werewolves of London" jazzed up an otherwise predictable stream of easy-listening hits from the Seventies on the commercials that used to air late at night for CD collections of...well, wouldn't you know, "easy-listening hits of the Seventies!" The concept of such collections has been rendered almost moot by iTunes and other song-sharing software, and the oft-repeated phrase in said commercials about "wanting one song by the artist, but not wanting to buy the whole album" always struck me as being a musical pussy of sorts (why not? Some of my favorite songs are album-only filler by some artists, stuff that wouldn't even be available on a second rate best-of unless it was imported from the former Yugoslavia or something).

Then again, some artists were only as good as one song; it's kinda painful to think what an entire album of Wang Chung might sound like, if you really just wanted that one song of theirs (well, and the other one, "Dance Hall Days"). One-hit wonders are usually that for a reason, and the implication was from the commercial that Zevon was in the same league as Dr. Demento, a novelty act of dubious merit.

But Zevon, of course for those who know, isn't one song, or even ten. The best-of I got (Genius) makes me consider him one of the unheralded geniuses of American pop songwriting, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Zevon wrote some incredible songs, and in this cover of a Prince song that ain't too shabby in its original form, he tips his hat to the Once and Future "Formerly Known As" One with a rocking version that might not live up to the original, but is fantastic in its own way. Covers are dicey: either you hew too closely and lose the chance to find the song underneath the original artist, or you fuck up what was great about the song in the first place and lose your way. Some covers that work, off the top of my head:

Otis Redding, "Satisfaction"
Talking Heads, "Take Me To the River"
R.E.M., "Toys In the Attic"
Nirvana "The Man Who Sold the World"
Modern Lovers, "Foggy Notion"
Devo, "Satisfaction"

And there are more, of course, songs that were so good the first time that you don't mind hearing them again if they're done right. The Hindu Love Gods did right by Prince on this one, in my humble opinion. You should seek it out now if you have the time.