I had my fantasy baseball draft yesterday so I once again spent the week pondering the Cardinals infield and the Padres rotation instead of grooming a theme for this week. So here’s some random cool stuff.

Beck “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” (Bob Dylan)
I first head this song during one of the montages during this year’s Oscar telecast. I was blown away and thrilled when I discovered that it was performed by Beck (thanks to Cletus for letting me know that). It’s probably inevitable that Beck would cover a Dylan song given the way the two of them approach their lyrics. It’s nice that Beck picked this tune, it’s a strong song and not one that gets played to death on classic rock radio.

H.P. Lovecraft “Wayfaring Stranger” (Traditional/Burl Ives)
The Les Turner ALS Foundation is a charity that raises money to find a cure for Lou Gehrig’s Disease. They used to operate the Mammoth Music Mart, where they pitched a huge tent in the parking lot of a suburban mall for two weeks and sold donated musical items like records and instruments. The folk section was always a little sparse. The charity and the event were both located in the heavily Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie, and every year the folk section contained dozens of copies of Burl Ives Sings Yiddish and not much else. I can only assume that the album was a popular bar mitzvah gift.

Clover “Wade In The Water” (Traditional)
This acid-rock freakout is about as far as you can get from the original Negro spiritual.

The Mike Flowers Pops “Venus As A Boy” (Bjork)
I don’t get Bjork. I rank her right up there with Yoko Ono in terms of listenability. That said, I find this version quite listenable. It doesn’t make me want to go out and listen to more Bjork, but it’s still good.

Patricia Kass “Les Moulins De Mon Coeur (The Windmills Of Your Mind)” (Noel Harrison)
This song sounds much better if you can’t understand the lyrics. Too bad she lapses into English for the final verse. This is a nice arrangement, cool and smooth like a good daiquiri.