Recreating Rubber Soul
The Donnas, Ben Harper, the Cowboy Junkies, and other stellar artists cover the Beatles’ 1965 masterpiece
By Elizabeth Rhodes
Published: November 8th, 2005 | 5:09pm
Wait a minute, all you scruffy kids who sit — or sat — at the back of your high school music-appreciation class claiming that Paul is a conformist pretty-boy and the Beatles wrote nothing worthwhile before “Eleanor Rigby.” Don’t forget Rubber Soul. Without this 1965 masterpiece, there wouldn’t be Pet Sounds, without which there wouldn’t be Sgt. Pepper’s, without which there wouldn’t be your favorite T-shirt.
“It’s a great album,” says Brett Anderson, lead singer of the Donnas. “The melodies are humbling for anyone who’s trying to write music, and the songs are really loose but they still work well together.”
The Donnas were thrilled to record “Drive My Car” for This Bird Has Flown — A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Anderson says. Dar Williams, the Fiery Furnaces, Ben Harper, Low, and Sufjan Stevens also contributed songs to the album, which was released October 25, 2005, on Razor & Tie. “It’s hard to turn down a Beatles project,” says Cowboy Junkies bassist Alan Anton. “They basically turned the rock industry from pop to something resembling an art form.”
But it’s tough to pull off tribute albums, particularly of the Beatles catalogue. Musicians are constantly deciding that what the world needs is another cover of “Yesterday.” Executive Producer Jim Sampas is no stranger to the challenge — he also remade Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska in 2002. Sampas says he hopes This Bird Has Flown will introduce a classic album to a new generation. “I liken it to somebody recreating an old film, or taking a novel and turning it into a film to show a new side of the work,” he says.
After dealing out the songs, Sampas gave the artists no artistic guidelines. The result is a mix of standard tributes and experimentation. On “Drive My Car,” the Donnas stay true to the original Beatles version but still sound fresh. “We just thought we wanted to do it justice, instead of trying to make it into something else,” Anderson says. By 1964, the Beatles had begun to experiment with sitar, minimalist acoustic arrangements, and harmonium. The Donnas chose one of the few straight-ahead rocknroll songs on the album.
Anderson says she’s impressed by the Beatles’ energy and loose, spontaneous sound. “It’s the thing we’re always trying to recreate in the studio where you don’t wanna fix everything until it’s too perfect because it’s cool to hear something loud and spontaneous.” The lyrics of “Drive My Car” depict a 1960s independent woman who has no time for a man, but offers to let him chauffer her around while she gets famous. When Anderson takes the mike, the narrator is transformed into a woman singing to another woman.
Other artists took the opportunity to experiment. The Fiery Furnaces psychedelic version of “Norwegian Wood” sounds more like Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” than the folk minimalism of the original. McCartney’s “Michelle” gets a reggae makeover from Ben Harper. The Cowboy Junkies expose the horror of “Run For Your Life” by emphasizing its sinister lyrics. “We were shocked when we listened to the lyrics closely cause we hadn’t in years,” Anton says. “It’s not a happy go-lucky tune at all.”
The Beatles were masters of subtlety, often pairing painfully sad or ruthlessly angry lyrics with relatively upbeat tunes. “Run for Your Life” is essentially about a man threatening to kill his woman if he catches her cheating. The Cowboy Junkies slow the tempo and bring in ominous, distorted bass to accompany Margo Timmins as she growls Lennon’s words. The effect is extremely disturbing. Timmins also changes the lyrics from “little girl” to “little boy.” Suddenly the song is about a woman threatening a man. “[It’s unusual] for a woman to be singing that, or even using that phrase, ‘little boy’,” Sampas says. “When this record first came out some people thought it was a little misogynist, [but] I felt like that wasn’t the right take. I think they were trying to show the darker side of love.”
Yet another Beatles tribute album, cynics may yawn. True, but This Bird Has Flown stands out from the rest. The artistic lineup is quality and diverse, the original album is too often overlooked, and the covers are experimental and fresh. “When you get people of the caliber that we have working with these songs they’re going to put their own spin on it,” Sampas says. “I love seeing what evolves.”
Interviewees were not allowed to go before answering the all-important Beatles question:
John or Paul?
Brett Anderson: I’ve always liked John. He seems a little more mysterious.
Alan Anton: I’m a John guy.
Jim Sampas: That’s a tough question. When I was a kid it was Paul and when I was older it became John. Right now I don’t know which one I would choose over the other. I think they’re both incredible and among the best songwriters of our time.
Issue #34
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