Songs We Should Have Written

about this album

Songs We Should Have Written (2004), is a collection of cover songs. It includes songs written by Robyn Hitchcock, The Rolling Stones ("Paint It Black" reinterpreted as a crawlingly slow raga which "shove(s) a few downers down the song's throat to counter the original version's adrenaline-fueled fire", and a "dark and sweet" take of Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On", described as "10 times more ominous and 20 times more pleasurable" than the original. The album also includes a modern rendition of the Johnny Cash anthem "Folsom Prison Blues" User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

why this is interesting

This covers album rewards close attention for its fundamental reimagining of familiar material. Rather than reverential recreation, Firewater applies genuine interpretive vision—slowing "Paint It Black" into a hypnotic raga that fundamentally alters the song's emotional weight, or transforming "The Beat Goes On" into something genuinely unsettling. What distinguishes the record is its curiosity about what lies dormant in these compositions, what different arrangements and tempos might reveal about their structure and meaning. By treating canonical songs as texts worthy of serious reconsideration, the album suggests that covers needn't merely celebrate their sources—they can interrogate them, finding new dimensions in familiar melodies and challenging listeners to hear

tracks

more from Firewater

The Golden Hour

The Man On The Burning Tightrope

The Ponzi Scheme

Psychopharmacology

Get Off the Cross... We Need the Wood for the Fire

International Orange!