Town Cryer

Adam at Pretending Life Is Like A Song posted the wonderful Town Cryer by Elvis Costello recently. It's a wonderful song, with a great Costello vocal, changing the way he sings each repetition of the lines until you feel like he's been singing four or five different songs at once. And then there's the beautiful arrangement, those orchestral parts that feel like the sun coming up.

I didn't realise that I had three versions of the song however. The original and an acoustic demo which is lovely. And a very strange fast version, all jerky early 80s funk moves and Hammond Organ washes. I don't think either of the other versions are as good as the original, but they're great indications of how good the song is that it stands up to the differences. I especially like the vocal breakdown at the end of the fast version. Fun.

Town Cryer (demo version)
Town Cryer (fast version)