Tune du Jour: “She Don’t Care About Time” – The Byrds
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: The Cryan’ Shames vs. Flamin’ Groovies vs. The Rickenbackers
And In My Hour of Need, I Truly Am Indeed, Alone Again, Broccoli …
“Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been.”
David Bowie
The Original
The Byrds:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
The Cryan’ Shames vs. Flamin’ Groovies vs. The Rickenbackers
The Cryan’ Shames:
Flamin’ Groovies:
The Rickenbackers:
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
cover me impressed 
Great song and 3 very good covers. This is one of those prototypical jingly Rickenbacker 12-string songs. The Cryan’ Shames’ backing track sounds nearly identical to the original. The vocals are pretty close too. Quite remarkable. None of them seemed to want to try to take the song into new territory. But with such a cool sound, maybe they figured, “Why bother?” Needing tie-breaker of some sort, I decided to go with the Rickenbackers for showing no fear or shame in wearing their heart on their sleeve (and strapped around their necks) in choosing the name of the band.
Have to go with The Rickenbackers. The pregnant pause that they interject midway through the song is pure genius. Creative, subtle yet explosive! It transforms a nice pop song into an Homeric epic.
Very difficult choice on this one. All three covers are great, and none strayed far from the original. I had to listen to each cover three times before voting.
The only thing I know about The Cryan’ Shames was a song on the original “Nuggets” album, which was among my favorite records in my college dorm days. However the song, “Sugar and Spice” was a rather light and unremarkable throwaway pop song. It wasn’t psychedelic or otherwise nuggets-y, and one wonders why it was included. The band showed much more moxie on this Byrds cover.
In recent years I’ve become a big fan of ’60s British record producer Joe Meek. He was very active and recorded a wide array of talent, but his characteristic sound was so distinctive, that everything I’ve bought is packaged under his name. At least one of the compilations I have features a British band called The Cryin’ Shames, which may explain the odd spelling used by the U.S. band.
I like Flamin’ Groovies, and a Byrds cover seems like it would be right in their wheelhouse. It sounds as though the band performed admirably, but the recording was decidedly low-fi. I wonder if maybe the band was under surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover, who sent a bouquet of flowers to the recording studio that contained a tiny hidden microphone.
I don’t know who The Rickenbackers were, but I really like their version. Good vocal harmonies complete with a rising vocal inflection Gene Clark never dreamed of. They get my vote.
None of them differed greatly from the original. I am a big fan of both the early hard roots rock version of Flamin’ Groovies and really love the later pop/psych version that did this cover. But I voted for The Rickenbackers for a better overall sound. Cryan Shames aptly named for that weird harpsichord? solo during the break at about 1:10. WTF?
No one can quite duplicate that trademark McGuinn sound but I gave to the Ricks for coming closest. Really would have voted for the Promo ad for Isle of Dogs, but it didnt show on the ballot.
Chris Hillman reprises this song on his latest Tom Petty produced CD. But no Mike Campbell janglin about.