And now, a cover that is vastly better than the original

I'd go on a limb and say that on most days my favorite David Gray song is "Say Hello Wave Goodbye," the beautiful, winding, 9-minute behemoth from White Ladder. It's not catchy, no chorus that sticks in your head; it reminds me more of a confessional poem of a complicated relationship. I have a hard time articulating exactly why I love it so much, but from those opening notes (do it, click the blue arrow) it just seems to encapsulate some ephemeral longing and an intangible sadness.

Say Hello Wave Goodbye - David Gray

The nine minutes give the lyrics time to unfold and breathe --it is long enough to tell an intricate, sad story with the brutal refrain of "Take your hands off me, hey. I don't belong to you, you say. Take a look at my face for the last time. I never knew you, you never knew me. Say hello, goodbye . . ."

To me, it's about a mismatched pair that nonetheless feels that inexorable pull: "We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit, but it just wasn't me. You're used to wearing less, and now you're life's a mess, so insecure you see." And perhaps I like the line about how he claims to want "a nice little housewife who'll give me the steady life, and not keep going off the rails" -- but the subtext of the song tells me that he really wants her and not that at all.

My jaw dropped to the floor when I learned that this is originally a Soft Cell song (yes, they of the Tainted Love fame), and it is horrific, clunky, and synthy. In retrospect, perhaps I should have known, though -- do songs get any more '80s than one that starts with the lyric, "Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo crying in the rain"?

I had that recent post about cover songs that are awful, this is one cover that actually redeems the original.

Say Hello Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell


Gray also adds his own outro to the original lyrics, and it always gets to me:

We were born before the wind, who are we to understand?
We were born before the wind . . .
Say goodbye
Through the rain, hail, sleet and snow
Say goodbye
Get on the train, the train, the train and
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
In the wind and the rain my darling . . .
Say goodbye

In the wind and the rain my darling . . .

And with that, as you listen you can almost picture the train start moving on the tracks and pulling away from the station. It's cinematic.

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And just since the mood kind of fits, here is one other interesting cover, from Embrace's Ashes CD single (the b-side):

How Come - Embrace

How Come - D12 and Eminem
(the original - ha!)