don't forget me

One of my favorite songs off of the new Neko Case album, Middle Cyclone, is a cover of Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me." Here is what Neko (aka Ms. Golden Pipes) says about the song:

I had been toying with the idea of doing the Harry Nilsson song for this record, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm not going to sing it as well as Harry Nilsson, and I'm not going to play piano as well as Harry Nilsson, and I'm definitely not going to have an orchestra behind me. So I decided to go from the ground up rather then the top down: If there's going to be Not Harry Nilsson playing piano, maybe we could have six Not Harry Nilssons playing piano at the same time in a barn. We played all at the same time, and we did low, middle, and high octave. I think there's like 21 pianos total playing on the song. Garth [Hudson] is playing lead. I thought Harry Nilsson would approve of Garth Hudson playing piano on his song. I was the idiot who kept forgetting to let go of the sustain pedal. And I really like at the end how you can hear people letting off the pedals, and you can hear the wood. You can hear everything. There's an actual room there. It was either going to fail miserably or it was going to work, and I think it worked out. I like the sound of it.

Neko Case - Don't Forget Me (mp3)


Harry Nilsson - Don't Forget Me (mp3)





In the wintertime keep your feet warm
But keep your clothes on and don't forget me
Keep the memories
But keep your powder dry too

In the summer by the poolside
While the fireflies are all around you
I'll miss you when I'm lonely
I'll miss the alimony too

Don't forget me - don't forget me
Make it easy on me just for a little while
You know I'll think about you
Let me know you'll think about me too

And when we're older and full of cancer
It doesn't matter now, come on get happy
'Cause nothing lasts forever
But I will always love you

Don't forget me, please don't forget me
Make it easy on me just for a little while
You know I'll think about you
Let me know you'll think about me too