Paul Kelly has released a cover of the Sunnyboys’ 1981 classic ‘Alone With You’. The cover is another entry in Mushroom Records’ ‘Mushroom 50′ project, which sees artists take on tracks from the labels’ back catalogue as part of its 50th birthday celebrations.
A number of singles from the compilation have already been released: Missy Higgins covered ‘Wide Open Road’ by The Triffids, The Temper Trap took on ‘Under The Milky Way’ by The Church, and Bliss n Eso had a crack at ‘Hoops’ by The Rubens.
Paul Kelly: ‘Alone With You’
The Sunnyboys hold a unique spot in the Mushroom roster, being the first Sydney band ever signed to the label. Kelly’s version tracks fairly close to the original – as he says, he didn’t even consider doing an “interpretation”.
“It seemed to us to be written in singing stone,” Kelly said. “We played it like classical musicians tackling a score. Just serve the song. Not our place to fuck with it.”
Kelly praised various ingredients of the Sunnyboys’ original. “I love the bittersweetness of the song, its minor-major ambiguity, its melancholy wrapped in pure rock ’n’ roll joy.”
He continued, “I hear the words ‘alone with you’ two ways: ‘We’re alone together, just us’ or ‘I’m with you but I’m still alone.’ Jeremy [Oxley] carries both those meanings in his singing. That’s the genius of the song. And there’s genius in the guitar break, too. A brilliant, yearning modulation of chords that lifts off to pure transcendence.”
Further Reading
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