"These Days"

nico's version was released first, although browne played on that version.

Hooray!

Ditto Kate Wolf's version; hers kills Nico's (much as I like Nico's).

Ditto Kate Wolf's version; hers kills Nico's (much as I like Nico's).

But Terry Melcher's, with his MOM (Doris Day!) singing the death's door duet part, slays them all.

It's pretty rare I get to school some hardcore ILX0RZ but this is the original version of "these days":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKKdaRYJ4XM

Recorded in 66-67 when Browne was in the band, before he moved to NYC.

also:
Jackson Browne - C or D?

Wow, never heard this version... It's a great one I think.

wtf excellent find

"Somebody's Baby" is cool. Punk sucks anyway!

― dave q

yeahhhh ... Tom Rush version is pretty ace too.

have always wanted to hear Simon & Garfunkel sing this ... or maybe even better, the Everly Bros. Have they done it? Seems like they could've.

Wait, this isn't about Joy Division? Yawn.

wow, that version is great.

Great song, suprised it never made it onto a This Mortal Coil album

One of the earlier versions (1970) is by Johnny Darrell, a country singer who had alienated everyone in Nashville and whose record label (UA) sent him out to L.A. to record. He picked up on some of the younger singer-songwriters there, and did versions of songs by Browne, Lowell George, etc. for a pretty great LP called "California Stop-Over." "These Days" is the opening track. If you want it, here it is: http://rapidshare.com/files/190570635/Darrell.zip

Still and all, Nico's version is hands down the best I've heard, thanks to her vocal and the John Cale (?) arrangement.

still prefer the JB version to the Nico version

damn, this song was ubiquitous in the early 70s. there are also versions on albums by tom rush, jennifer warnes, new grass revival....

the terry melcher version is really over the top

Ian Matthews version still my fave.

that terry melcher LP sort of sucks.

ian matthews's version, like all his records, is pretty.

yes, that terry melcher lp DOES kinda suck. glad i'm not alone in thinking that.

The Rentals version is good.

Another person duped into thinking this was going to be about Joy Division.

mates of state version sucks.

this one, however...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iERA9gycLg

Wow, this thread opens up a door to a parallel universe that turns out to be the real one.

could it be that jackson browne wrote his best songs before he had a record contract?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzCD8YzDFD4

probably not, but still, i like this song a lot. the baroque-pop arrangement does it nice favors.

in general those early NGDB records are kind of great, but nobody seems to care. :(

yeah they kind of get forgotten for everything except Circle

karmic payback for naming themselves "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band" I'm pretty sure

i wonder if The Beatles would have been as successful as they were if they were named "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band."

A couple of people mentioned the Tom Rush version, which I just bought last week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aJzQMtoOYU

Never knew about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band--pleasingly different from all the others.

i wonder if The Beatles would have been as successful as they were if they were named "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band."

― Pat Finn, Friday, May 4, 2012 9:08 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, the flying burrito band is pretty well-loved even now and they have a really shitty name so

the flying burrito brothers is a great name!! it's got the word 'burritos' in it!!!

^^It's a Mexican Sandwich!

good point about the flying burrito brothers. they're an interesting case because while their name is ridiculous and juvenile, their music is not, and that discrepancy isn't a big deal. and also when i think about it, the beatles isn't such a great name either. maybe what borges said of the titles of novels holds true for bands -- none of the great ones have good names.

Joy Division

I agree that Joy Division is a great band with a good name. Borges's rule doesn't hold true for novels either. Nabokov's books always had great titles.

"She's a Lady," a '68 solo John Sebastian single on Kama Sutra, kind of has the Orange County vibe of this early Jackson stuff or Steve Noonan.

Wikipedia article says Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (when Jackson was a member) opened for the Spoonful once.

Also, I think Bridget St. John had this quality! "The Curious Crystals of Unusual Purity" on the first album is a good example.

There's probably a thread for this, but I'd place "These Days" alongside "After the Gold Rush" (or maybe it's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart") as a song that it's impossible to cover badly. I've heard at least seven or eight versions of "These Days," and they're all good to great. Latest: St. Vincent's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxQs84FMWQ

And Nectarine No. 9:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fg2y_pgXuU

As much as I like St. Vincent and Kate Wolf, neither hold a candle to Nico.

Will enjoy checking out the other versions!!

Weirdly, I heard Browne's 1973 LP version (having never knowingly done so before) at the same time as this revive. Spooky.

Julie Byrne's recent version is really lovely: https://juliembyrne.bandcamp.com/track/these-days

to write an enduring masterpiece as a teenager, incredible

I'd place it alongside "Both Sides Now" as a song that's so masterfully crafted that I can't really fathom how young the composers were at the time

I started a thread on that subject a couple of years ago:

You Can't Be 20: Old-Person Songs by Young People

nice!

I'm a huge fan of the Gregg Allman version mentioned upthread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXMcn3Oupug

Here's a list of 74 covers from SecondHandSongs:

https://secondhandsongs.com/work/56904/versions#nav-entity

I said I'd heard seven or eight; eight now, including two on this thread after I posted. Cher covered it in '75, which I assume was prompted by her then husband's cover above.

Seven versions before Jackson Browne got around to recording it.

interesting how Allman changes "I had not forgotten them" which suits Nico's voice perfectly to the more straightforward "I'm aware of them", great little edit