The Patti Smith cover you need on a Friday (or any day)

Ten summers ago, case/lang/veirs was released — a one-off collaboration between the singers Neko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs. It’s worthy, and it all happened fairly quickly.

To mark the occasion, the trio and Anti Records have released a 10th anniversary edition with the lang-front Accidental Tattoo, as well as some live recordings.

One of them is a kicking version of Patti Smith’s People Have the Power, which Smith released in 1988 after a recording hiatus of almost nine years.

For the cover, the three singers handed the lyrics between each other, teaming up for the anthemic chorus.

It’s curious this recording was made before the dawn of the Trump era, and is coming out in the middle of his second term. Read into that what you wish, but the song at the very least feels timely in the lead-up to the midterm elections in the U.S. this summer.

It’s great to have a proper version of the cover available (the full anniversary edition comes out in September). Versions of People Have the Power have been kicking around on the internet for years, including fan videos from the 2016 tour.

Here’s another version of People of the Power that charms. It’s Smith performing with Choir! Choir! Choir!, in which the audience is basically all the backup singers. (Yep, that’s Stewart Copeland on stage, too.)

A new one for the playlist

I’ve added this cover to a playlist in Spotify of songs mentioned here on the blog. Feel free to sample it.