Baby, I’m amazed
Sometimes it takes a cover version to get you to really listen to a song you thought you didn’t like by an artist you thought you didn’t respect.
Exhibit A: Blake Morgan’s electric cover of Paul McCartney’s Maybe I’m Amazed. I was never a huge McCartney fan — Lennon and Harrison cornered all the gravitas in the band. But somehow I knew that wasn’t totally fair; Paul was responsible for some awesome Beatles tunes. His solo career, however, was another story. Usually light, often downright insipid. He should have been jailed for Live And Let Die. Maybe I’m Amazed doesn’t sink to those levels, but I never took much notice of it.
Until I heard Blake Morgan’s version stream through my headphones, courtesy of Cush’s Things I Say podcast.
(The rest of this album is pretty good, by the way. Like this track, it’s got a potent power pop groove — hooky melodies, chunky guitar riffs and dynamite vocals.)
Getting back to Maybe I’m Amazed, the iTunes Music Store sells about 40 different versions (including a couple of karaoke tracks). So I guess this song speaks to other musicians. Or perhaps they felt McCartney did a lame job of his own tune, easy to make it their own.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Exhibit B — this 1972 performance by the Faces. That’s Ronnie Lane and an astonishingly young and robust Rod Stewart on the vocals. The searing guitar is provided by Ron Wood (lately of the Stones), who doesn’t even appear in the video until more than four minutes in. And the drummer is Kenny Jones, who took over for Keith Moon in The Who. Man, that was a hell of a band. You can get a pretty complete education on Faces by downloading the 19-track The Best Of Faces: Good Boys When They’re Asleep
In defense of Sir Paul, I kinda like his latest project, The Fireman — especially Sing The Changes. Very U2-like.
