Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Cover Versions We're Not Quite Certain About (An Occasional Series)

From 1987, it's the great Richard Thompson and his avant-garde friends Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and John French with their version of...The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA"?




This is from a really interesting album, incidentally, but the track itself has always left me scratching my head. Which is to say I've never been sure whether they're being a little snobbishly superior to the song (and surf music generally) or just having a bit of silly fun.