DBT #246 Monday Morning Song - Hey Hey What Can I Do? - Sarah King
When Sarah told me she covered a Led Zeppelin tune I wasn't overly excited because while I own three vinyls I think I inherited them from other people's collections and the only song I ever shared on the blog was part of the Immigrant Stories playlist #122 Of course in a wonderful twist of irony, "Hey Hey What can I Do" was the B side of the "Immigrant Song" and only found on compilation albums at the end of their career. Yes Sarah found it on the radio (boy it's been ages since I heard that line) and it was one of the first songs she learned on guitar.
She released the song on Sep 1st days after winning the Great River Folk Fest, and I had a chance to host and meet her for a few days. She's a great soul and warned me that the video was a little sultry and she had a blast doing it. Last Friday she had the honor of The Bluegrass Station releasing it on their page. (Yes maybe someday we'll be big enough that we could do the same for an artist.) They shared Sarah's synopsis of the video, so I'm stealing it:
“Recording ‘Hey Hey What Can I Do’ was a bold, last-minute decision in the studio to celebrate and share some self-love: It was the first song I learned to play by ear on guitar, and I kept the original pronouns as a nod to some of the wonderful women I’ve dated in the past. I am now married to a man, but owning my queerness through music felt like the right choice.
“When it came time to craft a video, I knew Loni (of Whiskey Ginger Goods, who also designs my logo and merch) was the perfect director. She’s excellent at capturing women feeling themselves, and those beautiful in-between, emotional moments that can really tell a story. During my summer tour in Montana, we set aside some time to film both the bar and bedroom scenes. Combined, the video leads us through the seductive, and at times silly, story of a woman in love with another woman who won’t be true. As the heartbreak unfolds, the video gets more unhinged, until I just flop on the bed, tired of trying. I loved recording the song and video, and I hope everyone who watches has a blast listening, too!”
If sultry scares you, here's just the song on Bandcamp, which is a wonderful place to listen to a song two or three times before you buy it and help fund the artist. (Just think $1 is less than you are paying for a cup of coffee and it would take you listening to the song for 17 hours for the artist to earn $1 on Spotify; so keep listening to Spotify but toss a buck her way for the song.)
