I must confess, although I consider myself to be one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on the group Blondie, I was completely unaware of this cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" until stumbling upon it last night on YouTube. It appears it's from a bootleg of a 1975 concert at CBGB's -- live recordings are my blind spot, as I've never had much use for them -- but the quality is quite good, as is the band's take on the now-classic song. They also do an unknown song called "A Girl Should Know Better" (there's footage of that one, below, and Debbie's never looked so comfortable on stage -- is she regressing?!!!), a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Heat Wave," the jazz standard "I Cover the Waterfront" and perform an unknown song called "Charlotte the Harlot." Even more interesting, however, is "Lullaby," an early take on the ultimate kiss-off song, "Just Go Away." I've heard a lot of demos over the years -- did you know the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" used to have a completely different point of view: "You're special, so special" rather than "I'm special"? -- but I don't think there's ever been one that benefited from a change in lyrics as much as this one. "Ooh, ooh, lullaby" just doesn't have the same kick and imagine if the world had been robbed of a pop-song lyric that (almost) referenced the FCC? ("If you talk much louder you could get an award ... From the federal communications board.") Great stuff!
Look online for: 01. Heat Wave 02. Man Overboard 03. Little Girl Lies 04 A Girl Should Know Better (and I do) [Miami's cover] 05. Coming Back to Me 06. Femme Fatale 07. Lullaby
UPDATE:
Deb did "I Cover the Waterfront" as part of her set at Cafe Carlisle in 2015.
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