This was probably inevitable, but it sure happened faster than I would’ve expected: Father John Misty covering Ryan Adams’ cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989 hit “Blank Space,” in the style of Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed. It’s meta enough to make the mind reel (and wonder who will be next to weigh in) — but check it out! And then check out Misty’s similar treatment of “Welcome to New York.”
Meanwhile, nice to see a quote from my previous 1989 blog post show up in Salon’s piece about the album today. I may not be an expert on Ryan, but… yeah, I’ve been paying attention a while…
UPDATE: One day later, both of Misty’s 1989 tracks have disappeared from Soundcloud; maybe he thought better of it, but the snark lingers. And at least “Blank Space” has turned up on YouTube (see below).
SECOND UPDATE: And now Misty is saying that Lou Reed came to him in a dream and commanded him to take the 1989 songs down. Um… (10/8/2015 — No, he was just kidding about that Lou Reed dream business. Duh.)
ADDENDUM (9/24/2015): Getting in on the fun, Dirty Bangs.
Losering Books 