15 Word writers pick the alternative versions that do it for them. DANNY BAKER, who loves nothing more than a cover, kicks off the celebrations…
At the top of the pile, though, I’ll pull out John Martyn. Received wisdom has it that when he re-recorded his back catalogue in the ’80s and ’90s it was a hangdog, soapy affair and the only polite reaction was to stare at one’s shoes and wait for Danny Thompson to sober up. Albums like Couldn’t Love You More
and No Little Boy are passed over when talking about JM as though he had been caught miming. Well, I always liked them and it is from the former that I murder my darlings and present my ultimate selection here. It is not from his own canon but a cover of what I always think of as Aretha Franklin’s Never Let Me Go. It is magnificent, Smoky and slurry as anything on Solid Air, a real end-of-the-night, bottom-of-the-session narcotic swirl that nails without further argument why all civilised people felt their hearts shrink the day that John Martyn died.
Be aware there is an earlier version John Martyn did of this and it is no good. The one you want is the 3.24 version currently available on Classics Volume One. The other controversial covers of his own stuff surround it there, but this one terrific take justifies the collection’s title. God, it’s lovely. Red wine, a burning tallow, melancholy thoughts and this on repeat. What you go and die for, John?
Danny Baker
Word Magazine
1 February 2011
