David Byrne & Yo La Tengo - Who Has Seen The Wind? (Single)

There’s a lot of backstory behind how this cover by these legends even came about & it involves, better yet, was curated by another legend from a legendary band, just so many legends coming together for something beautiful, in dedication of another legend! I know I said legend way too much there but it’s beautiful to see these artists still around supplying us with the same gorgeous material they’ve been providing listeners with for decades. First off, I see David Byrne, who if you don’t know, I advise you do your research, such an important figure in music period, is collaborating with indie juggernauts Yo La Tengo, I literally fainted & then when I saw it was Death Cab for Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard who brought them together to honor Yoko Ono of all people, I fainted once more upon waking from the first faint.

What I personally love doing with covers is listening to the original & then the cover back to back to see the differences & also the similarities but mostly the differences cause I’ve always admired the cover songs that more so are an evisceration of sorts of the original, or maybe not necessarily an evisceration, that’s too strong a word for this subtle beauty, this is more so these artists making her classic sound like a song of their own & if you didn’t know any better, you would most likely assume so. And I hate to admit it but I think I enjoy this version more so than Yoko’s & that’s not to say hers isn’t obviously incredible but I think it’s more so cause I’m bias & never really sat with her music like that but all respect to that legend nonetheless!

All this is just the first taste of what’s to come from this upcoming tribute compilation curated by Benjamin Gibbard & I for one am so excited to see what other artists come together throughout the project to honor these classics by the great Yoko. Already they’ve teased some big names that are coming together to contribute to the honoring that include the likes of other legends like the Flaming Lips, one of my personal favorite bands of all time, Sharon Van Etten, of course Death Cab themselves, Stephen Merritt of the legendary Magnetic Fields, even modern acts like U.S. Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som & who knows who else but Yoko’s birthday couldn’t arrive along with this project any sooner!