Tune du Jour: “She Don’t Care About Time” – The Byrds
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: The Cataran vs. Carla Olsen & Richard Furay vs. Skydiggers
And In My Hour of Need, I Truly Am Indeed, Alone Again, Broccoli …
“I always turn to the sports pages first, to read of man’s triumphs, before turning to the front page to read of man’s failures.”
Earl Warren
The Original
The Byrds:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
The Cataran vs. Carla Olsen & Richard Furay vs. Skydiggers
The Cataran:
Carla Olsen & Richard Furay:
Skydiggers:
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 
I’ll listen to them later. I’m an insomniac and it’s 3:40 a.m. here and I saw this arrive in my inbox. I just wanted to make a comment before Cuspid, that’s all.
You bastard!
I like this song. But it’s not very good as a ballad. So I wasn’t too crazy about it when Olsen & Furay slowed it down a bit. And I was even less impressed with the Skydiggers even slower version. Hell, it almost put me to sleep. So the Cataran get my vote. They have the right approach. And from a fidelity standpoint, I’m sure their go at it would have sounded great if I had been there live.
I’ll listen to them later. I’m still tired. But I wanted to bracket Cuspid’s comments, before Richie ruined things.
Well, the Skydiggers’s version cured my insomnia. Honestly, I disliked all three covers. I guess Olsen and Furay win my vote, but with very little enthusiasm.
While I appreciated The Cataran’s enthusiasm, the quality of sound was bad and this song really should not be played that fast. Although I agree with Cuspid, that probably was a fun concert to be at. I hated the Skydigger’s version (wish I could have found a more worthy cover to include). That leaves Olsen and Furay, who did I nice job with it. And the first concert I ever went to was Poco (with King Crimson opening), which further solidified my vote. Oh yeah, and Richard Furay once played with Neil Young … just one more reason for my choice.
Hey Kerry, didn’t Olsen appear on the original (or maybe she did a version with Gene Clark?).
Olsen wasn’t on the original, only The Byrds, but she was a frequent collaborator with Gene Clark years later. I can’t believe anyone would pair Poco and King Crimson on a live show. I expected to like Richie Furay’s version the most so I listened to it first but I thought it was too slow and was disappointed. The Cataran cover this song on Time Between, the best known Byrds tribute album and that version is less raucous. I loved their energy but the beauty of the song got lost a bit. I guess I am the only one who loved The Skydiver’s version. while very slow I still thought it was beautiful.
The sound on The Cateran clip was obviously weak, but it looks like it was recorded on a cell phone. Considering the vantage point being way up high and somewhat behind the stage, I’ve gotta think that even if the sound was decent from the middle of the floor, there was little chance this would offer much clarity. I’m sure if I were in attendance I would have started my own one-man mosh pit in front of the stage. Their version of this on the Byrds tribute album is great, and is among the highlights of that record.
I expected I’d vote for Carla Olson and Richie Furay, but they failed to “wow” me. I have a lot of respect for Furay from his days with Buffalo Springfield and Poco. I still say the first half dozen Poco album are very good. Heck, I even bought Furay’s 2015 solo album.
Gene Clark and Carla Olson recorded a studio album that came out in ’87, and she sometimes performed with him around that time. After Clark died in ’91, there were a couple live recordings released of Clark & Olson, and I also have a few bootlegs of that pairing from that period. But the original version was by The Byrds. It was never released on any of their regular albums, but was the B-side of the “Turn! Turn! Turn!” single released 10-1-65. I didn’t know the song until it was included on a box set that came out in 1990.
I like the lilting cadence of the original; it’s a catchy tune with a great hook which Clark delivers with a keen sense of urgency. The third act slows it down so much, it has the affect of flattening out the tune, which robs it of the characteristics that made the original so compelling.
The Cateran is the surprise winner today.
I say the “original” was by The Byrds in ’65, but technically Pete Seeger wrote this in the fifties, taking the lyrics almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, adding the familiar “turn turn turn” refrain. It was released in ’62 by a folk group called The Limelighters under the title “To Everything There Is a Season”. I have it on an old LP by Seeger.
I’m thinking about “Turn! Turn! Turn!” now. My bad!