World Blanket covers Thin Lizzy's deeply emotional recounting of despair, "Got To Give It Up"

“Never has a single song so specifically foreshadowed a musician's death,” says leader Pomranz.

  

Mike Pomranz of World Blanket. Photo by Gabriela Herman.

 

Check out World Blanket’s reworking of the Thin Lizzy song “Got To Give It Up”

“…part Bob Dylan, part New York trashy rock n’ roll…” – WXPN, Philadelphia

“...music like that on 2012 will continue to hold up for generations to come.” – This Is Books Music

“It was a hard song to cover straight knowing that Phil (Lynott of Thin Lizzy) died basically from complications due to substance abuse,” says World Blanket leader Mike Pomranz, “So, I gave it a more sentimental and cautionary tone.” Pomranz is speaking about his band’s cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Got To Give It Up” which is streaming now.  The Thin Lizzy reworking is the follow-up to Pomranz’s “polishing” (as he terms it) of Syd Barrett’s “Let’s Split” which debuted at the popular Cover Me website a few weeks back.

“As someone who likes the occasional tipple, ‘Got To Give It Up’ seemed like a natural song for me,” explains Pomranz. “The tune never seemed to receive as much fanfare as it deserves, as both a hard-driving musical and lyrical masterpiece. I took a couple stabs at it acoustically, and it soon became apparent that buried below the song’s riff-rock exterior, it’s actually a deeply emotional recounting of despair.” Pomranz concludes, “With this knowledge, the song becomes less barroom rocker and more of a confessional from beyond the grave.  With the references to ‘mama’ and ‘pa’ and ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ it almost stands as a final apologetic note to family, friends and fans for a lifelong battle that eventually took a man’s life.”

Pomranz has recorded these on the fly cover versions as part of promoting the latest World Blanket album titled 2012. In addition to Pomranz, the album features performances from The Calder Quartet which has previously contributed strings to The National, Vampire Weekend, Andrew WK, and many others.  “And Here We Are (Again Maybe)”, the album’s first single and video (a simple production starring Pomranz’s cat named “Cat” actually listening to the song in real time) are both streaming now.

 

World Blanket

2012

(No Applause – Out Now)

Track Listing:

01. The Holiday Song (For No Holiday in Particular)

02. The Greatest Trainwreck

03. And Here We Are (Again Maybe) 

04. The Blues

05. Snooze Bar

06. Time Was

07. 2012 (Side B)