Calexico and Iron & Wine — aka Sam Beam — have been out on the road this year in support of their 14-years-in-the-making second collaboration, Years to Burn, and have regularly been performing a cover of Echo & The Bunnymen’s “Bring on the Dancing Horses” — which they recorded in a live session for KEXP last summer that has just been shared by the Seattle radio station.
Check out their soaring version, complete with light mariachi horns, below.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Echo & The Bunnymen debut brand-new song ‘The Somnambulist’ off upcoming LP
- Echo & The Bunnymen premiere reworked ‘Seven Seas,’ announce North American tour
- Echo & The Bunnymen, Violent Femmes team up for 2nd U.S. summer co-headlining tour
- Echo & The Bunnymen delay release — but reveal tracklist — of new orchestral album
- Echo & The Bunnymen re-record old songs ‘with strings and things attached’ for new LP
They made it boring.
I’m with MeFromBrazil.
ha, that was my exact reaction!
Something a bit too earnest about it. I’m never satisfied.
Excellent cover!
I will return to this—MANY—times. Favorites collide, it’s lovely.
LOVED this and I’ve been an obsessed Bunnymen fan since 1982. Best cover of a Bunnymen tune I’ve ever heard. Can they please do MORE?!
Not bad.
A good song’s a good song in any capable hands if they treat it sincerely, and I think this one works. Recall that Iron & Wine found the beating heart at the center of “Such Great Heights” — the original version by the Postal Service was absolute shit, but Beam’s thoughtful take tapped into the vibe of the lyrics turned it into a thing of wonder. “Dancing Horses” didn’t need to be so salvaged by any means, but this strikes me as respectful and pretty okay.
This is up there with Calexico’s “The Guns of Brixton” cover. Can’t believe “London’s Calling” is 40 years old next month OR that I’m 50 this month…
It’s a cover alright! Missing Ian’s deep tones on the chorus. It sort of sounds like a mashup of Horses with Do They Know It’s Christmas…lol
Best cover version is actually an early version of the song and can be found on the Echo & The Bunnymen 1987 album extended version. ‘Jimmy Brown’. I put this on all the time.
Fucking beardos. I can’t even look at that idiot.