I sort of rediscovered the stunning beauty of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” at the Cat Power show on Sunday. She did a brief cover of the song (decent video below) before going into “Song To Bobby”, and for me it was the highlight of the entire evening. “These Days” is so emotionally stuffed, that it has become a song I can only listen to at certain times in my life. It’s a song that makes me wish, for at least the 3-4 minutes of it’s duration, that the sky was gray, that there was a bite in the air, and that my face was chapped from the wind.
Below I have collected several very nice covers of “These Days”. While I would typically attempt to tell you how each artist’s styling of the song changes it’s overall meaning… for “These Days”, there is nothing I can say. There is a shadow of loneliness and beauty that seems inescapable with the performance of this song. In no way is this a slight to any artist covering it, but rather a testament to the song and it’s ability to fully capture the emotion of defeat.
