Our Song of the Day is a premiere from Daphne Lee Martin with her new cover single “Reciprocity”, a song some of you may recall came from the pen of Loudon Wainwright III which featured on his T Shirt album from 1976.
Daphne Lee Martin has clearly given a lot of thought to the songs she’d like to cover and her reasons for covering this song just emphasise her admirable approach:
I chose this cover because I grew up listening to the more comic songs of Loudon Wainwright iii and when I stumbled on a vinyl copy of the T Shirt album and gave it a spin, I was completely struck by the depth and darkness of the lyrics in this piece. When I asked around, it seemed like hardly anyone had even heard the song, let alone covered it. It’s a tremendous piece of writing and I hope that more people will discover his more obscure catalog.
In this instance she not only delivers a very fine version accompanied by Eric Michael Lichter, owner of Dirt Floor Studios in Chester, CT. but together they breathe new life into it. The song is one of a series of stand alone covers, set to release this spring.
The T Shirt album was, for want of a better explanation, released at the wrong time when the music climate was shifting to punk rock. A narrow-minded journalist on Rolling Stone added fuel to the fire by slaying it in a review that reportedly saw Loudon take to his bed for 5 days. Time has healed that wound and it has since been re-mastered but what better measure of a song then to see a young talent like Daphne Lee Martin cover it out of a genuine love of the songwriting.
For those who need their memories refreshing on the original, how about this live 1977 performance on the Old Grey Whistle Test.
Daphne Lee Martin will release her 4th original full-length studio album, Fall On Your Sword, in September 2015.