“The Singer Not The Song”
by Sky Saxon and The Seeds
2004 song
Sky Saxon covered "The Singer Not The Song" for one side of a 7″ single in 2004. The other side was “Something Happened To Me Yesterday” by The Lairds. The split record was part of a series of Rolling Stones tribute 45s put out by Seeds friends Norton Records.
It was a great idea. You might say that the only unfortunate thing about Sky’s contribution is that he doesn’t seem to be too invested in the song. This was the first the public had heard from Sky in quite a while – maybe he needed some time to get back into the groove. Or maybe his head was “elsewhere” in the studio that day.
The Rolling Stones’ version was on the album December’s Children (And Everybody’s) from 1965. It was also the B-side of the hit single “Get Off My Cloud”.
Sky Saxon and The Seeds’ take is ultra-fuzzy and decorated with ringing sixties keyboard notes. Sky’s vocals are mixed super low, which doesn’t help matters, and he sounds perfunctory. It could be that he was unfamiliar with the song beforehand, and figured he’d get by on panache. Maybe it was just an off day for him? Or maybe the problem is all in the mix.
It’s hard to know. The music is cool, anyway. Presumably it was recorded with the same band that did the Red Planet album, a project also credited (like "The Singer Not The Song") to Sky Saxon and The Seeds. Sky would dip into the Stones’ well again when he recorded "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on his 2008 album The King Of Garage Rock. He is far more energetic on that one.
At the end of the day, "The Singer Not The Song" is a rather obscure curiosity in Sky’s catalog, for years available only on this limited-edition vinyl single.
