…english version below…

Ég hef verið að velta nýrri plötu Scarlett Johansson töluvert fyrir mér í dag. Platan heitir Anywhere I Lay My Head og þar flytur Hollywoodstjarnan tíu vel valin lög úr smiðju Tom Waits – já, og að auki eitt frumsamið! Aðalástæðan fyrir því að ég fór að hlusta á plötuna er nú sú að ég hef lengi verið veikur fyrir Waits og hans lögum og þótti mér því áhugavert hvernig Scarlett myndi fara með lögin. Í mínum huga er persóna Waits og ekki síst röddin hans óaðskiljanlegur hluti af lögunum hans og þess vegna hefur mér hingað til þótt flestar þekjur af lögum hans bæði slakar og tilgangslausar. Eftir nokkrar hlustanir finnst mér þó Anywhere I Lay My Head takast nokkuð vel; Scarlett er ekkert að reyna að herma eftir eða stæla Waits (sem hún gæti nú líklega ekki) heldur er þetta einhvern veginn allt öðruvísi.

Að þessu sögðu má nú samt alveg taka fram að hér er ekki um neitt meistarastykki að ræða en af þekjuplötu að vera er hún nokkuð vel heppnuð. Mér finnst nú samt útgáfur Waits mun betri – en hey! kannski fjölgar í aðdáendahóp hans vegna plötunnar – skulum vona það. Ég slengi hér fram tveim lögum af plötunni og set upprunalegu útgáfur Waits með til samanburðar.

Scarlett Johansson – Town With No Cheer
Scarlett Johansson – Who Are You

Tom Waits – Town With No Cheer (af Swordfishtrombones, 1983)
Tom Waits – Who Are You (af Bone Machine, 1992)

———————-

I have been wondering about the new Scarlett Johansson album a lot today. The album is called Anywhere I Lay My Head and on it the Hollywood starlet performs ten carefully chosen songs by Tom Waits – oh yes, and then there is one original song by herself! The main reason I started listening to the album is that I have been a Waits fan for a long time and thought it would be rather interesting to hear what Scarlett would do with his songs. In my mind his persona and of course his voice has always been inseparable from his songs and that’s the reason I have always thought that most covers of his songs have been rather weak and pointless. After listening to Anywhere I Lay My Head a couple of times I think Scarlett pulled it off; she’s not trying to imitate Waits (something which she probably could never do) and the songs are somehow completely different.

However I have to say that this isn’t some masterpiece but considering that it’s a covers album it’s quite good. I still like Waits originals much better – but maybe he will gain some new fans because of the album – let’s at least hope so. Here are two songs from the album and I’m throwing in the original versions for comparison.

Scarlett Johansson – Town With No Cheer
Scarlett Johansson – Who Are You

Tom Waits – Town With No Cheer (from Swordfishtrombones, 1983)
Tom Waits – Who Are You (from Bone Machine, 1992)