Indie garage rock band, Girls are definitely among my faves in the genre, due mainly to Christopher Owens' vocals. I'm a sucker for androgynous vocal stylings. So, when I heard they released a cover of Skeeter Davis' b-side track, "End of the World," I had to hear it.
Call me a melancholy child from the get go but Skeeter Davis was my woeful teddybear companion. I remember my first introduction to her. My mom had this cassette tape, The Essential Skeeter Davis with poppy hits like "I Can't Stay Mad at You," and "Let Me Get Close to You" - both of which could have fit perfectly in the 60's scene in Mulholland Drive - and the country/folk songs "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too, "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know About Him" and, of course, the tearful ballad, "End of the World. I know it's almost sacrilegious to say, but I think I prefer Skeeter Davis to Patsy Cline - much like my preference of Neil Young over Bob Dylan. There was something honest in her voice, something believable. And something overpoweringly poppy that I couldn't resist even as a kid. I'd lay on the carpet in the living room and sing along - "don't they know it's the end of the world, cuz you don't love me anymore." It still gives me chills. I couldn't possibly understand heartbreak at 10, but from her voice, her inflection I understood something that no other pop singer has ever made me believe again - sadness. And though I look to different genres for that feeling now, back in the 50's and 60's, Skeeter Davis was my essential sad release. The country/pop crossover queen who lived the life she sang and sang the life she lived until she died of breast cancer in 2004.
"Am I That Easy to Forget?," she once asked. No, Davis, much like maudlin first love affair, I could never forget you.
Listen to Girls – “End of the World”:
http://stereogum.com/mp3/Girls%20-%20The%20End%20Of%20The%20World%20%28Skeeter%20Davis%20Cover%29.mp3
