Odetta

Here's three selections in two videos. For the first video, from 1969, "the first song she performs is based on a Negro "field blues" song known simply as "Black Woman," then [she] duets with Cash on "Shame And Scandal In The Family," which was written by a calypso artist who went by Sir Lancelot, in the 40s." The second video is a live version of Odetta performing "House of the Rising Sun" from 2005.

Meanwhile, here's the Washington Post and NPR obituaries, a 20 minute New York Times video interview (via Paul at Impolitic Eye) and a clip of a radio interview.

The Beatles - "Two of Us"

This seemed like a good pick for Thanksgiving, although Dido's "Thank You" still works well.

Michael Franti and Spearhead - "Say Hey (I Love You)"

Tom Paxton – "I'm Changing My Name to Fannie Mae"

Tom updates his classic. Boy, some things don't change, do they? Will Rogers made jokes about "trickle down" economics... Meanwhile, here's a good fan video of Arlo Guthrie on Precious Friend covering Tom's original:

Marvin Gaye – "His Eye Is On the Sparrow"

This version is the one from Marvin Gaye: A Musical Testament 1964-1984. There's another version out there that's better known and smoother. It's great too, but I like the rawer edge to Marvin's vocal in this version. To me, it's always expressed the fervent yearning of someone desperate to believe, but plagued by doubt. He's trying to convince himself. Identity is often not a static thing, but defined by tensions like that. Societies and political movements can be like that, too. Here's to all that yearning and striving, and to one hell of a week.

Golden Earring – "Twilight Zone"

Somewhere in a lonely hotel room there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him.

I think this and "Radar Love" are their best. Back in the 80s, this one made quite a splash (at least at our school) as one of the first really cool videos, and the censored-in-the-States nudity helped the chatter. This version is the crispest currently on the web, although there's one unfortunate and unintentional skip early on. You'll also hear the standard radio-version edit during the instrumental break, since the full album version runs about 7 minutes.

The Red Elvises – "I Wanna See You Bellydance"

With all this talk of socialism and the "real America," really, there was only band to feature…

(Bonus: Here's the best version currently posted of "Drinking with Jesus," although it's hard to make out the lyrics.)

Nikka Costa - "Stuck to You"

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

You'll recognize the tune. Via Brave Sir Robin. (I think Paul Anka's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" works better than their version, but their rendition of Morricone music from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is worth checking out.)

Bob Dylan - "Idiot Wind" (Live, 1976)