Okay, so here’s the thing: I really want to like this cover.
Although I wasn’t familiar with Reflekter before their frontman’s acoustic cover of “Moonlight Motel” brought them to my attention, I rather like the stuff I’ve heard as I’ve investigated them.
And while “Moonlight Motel” would be tough for anyone to cover, it’s an especially tough challenge for someone so young. The song is loaded with life experience that requires a nuanced, empathic vocal performance that typically only comes to performers far, far into their careers.
So when he sat down to cover it, James Gooch made an incredibly ballsy decision that frankly appalled me initially–but which upon reflection strikes me as a wise move.
I’ll say no more until you listen to it for yourself.
See what I mean?
My first reaction was: How??? How could you possibly remove the bridge and that heartbreaking final verse? You stripped out the poignancy that makes the song so powerful. Without it, we’re left with just a song about youthful love affair.
And then suddenly I understood.
When Gooch sings that first verse, his vocal isn’t time-worn or filled with longing for the past. It’s fresh. The love he sings about is new. He and his love really are two of the young folks who up and disappear in the motel.
And when the motel is abandoned in the second verse, Gooch is singing of a love that flamed out just as quickly as it flamed up. This wasn’t a life-long love like the one that Bruce sings about, but when we’re young, those first relationships make up in intensity what they lack in longevity.
I’m closer age-wise to Bruce than to James, with a marriage almost as old as Bruce’s. So when I listen to this version of “Moonlight Motel” I can’t help but feel like it’s missing its heart and soul.
But Gooch doesn’t share that life experience, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the passion of the youthful affair itself that resonated with him rather than the distant memory. So that’s what he focuses on in his cover, excising the parts that root the song in the far future. It’s a gutsy decision, and a risky one.
My mantra on this blog regarding Springsteen covers has always been: make it better, or make it your own.
I don’t think it’s possible to do “Moonlight Motel” better. (See my essay for why I think it’s one of Bruce’s very best songs and performances across his entire career.)
But Gooch certainly makes it his own.
What do you think?
