Scottish indie-pop group Ballboy have, like lots of UK artists, an undercurrent of social and class critique in most any song they write - something US pop musicians seem largely unable to capture (either from on low or on high, which is kinda odd seeing how many indie musicians are trust fund trudies). They also share the ability to wrap this in irresistable, bouncy pop songs full of heartbreak and of-the-moment glee (see their generous downloads page).They've recently added a section of covers of Ballboy songs and woo hoo, the group Idiot Love have covered one of my very favorite Ballboy songs, "Donald in the Bushes with a Bag of Glue". And while most of the covers in this section are predictably middling, "Donald" comes through great, fairly faithful but a little grittier and more danceable. It's a compact song of self-doubt, nostaligia, keeping-up-with-the-blokes and the process of settling into adulthood: "Yesterday I met the boy I used to spend my Christmas with/he used to be a monk and now he deals cards and seems happy with it/and there's something to be said for lifelong love and sex and security/a good-looking girl who gets on well with your family". Or even better: "I'm not a poet/and I'm not illiterate/and I can't get through it/and I can't get used to it".
MP3: Idiot Love - Donald in the Bushes with a Bag of Glue (Ballboy cover)
1 comment:
thanks very much. i'm flattered to fuck. the bass bit gave me carpel tunnel strain though.
eric, x.
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