‘Friday I’m In Love’ is arguably the defining track by The Cure. The track has a completely different temperament to much of The Cure’s shadowy discography. It endeared itself to a huge audience for its jangly pop guitars and Robert Smith’s personable, pop vocals. Forming the second single from their most successful album Wish, the song became an international hit, charting in the US and the UK. With a memorable riff and popular appeal, it’s not hard to see why.
But perhaps the most interesting take on ‘Friday I’m In Love’ came from cult critics’ band Yo La Tengo, who included a cover of the track on their 2015 album Stuff Like That There. The record is a mix of original songs and covers. Their version of ‘Friday I’m In Love’ moves the track from the jangly pop realm into soft indie, replacing bouncy riffs with dreamy strums. Vocalist Georgia Hubley sweetens the track too, with more intimate, subtle tones. Instead of catchy, the track becomes comforting.
Yo La Tengo are well versed in interpreting the songs of other artists. In 1990, they released Fakebook, an album almost entirely made up of covers. James McNew explains their process of covering in an interview with Aquarium Drunkard, stating: “I think a lot of the time it boils down to ‘I have this song stuck in my head, I love this song, what are the chords?’”
He continues to explain how the cover of ‘Friday I’m In Love’ specifically came about, sharing, “Sometimes we can hear a song and think that it would translate nicely into our universe. ‘Friday I’m In Love’ is a song both me and Ira thought, ‘Man, I’d love to hear Georgia sing that song, why don’t we do that one?’ Of course Georgia was like ‘That song has too many words in it, it’s too hard to sing.’ But we begged enough to convince her to do it.”
Posted from: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/remembering-yo-la-tengos-cover-of-the-cure/
