2000 Great Songs #1455: Hanky Panky Nohow

One of the many, many reasons I love Yo La Tengo is their impeccable taste in covers. I credit them with turning me on to a couple great songs by John Cale, including "Andalucia" (covered on 1990's acoustic Fakebook) and "Hanky Panky Nohow" (found on 1995's Genius + Love compilation). Both of these were first recorded by Cale on 1973's Paris 1919, an excellent record which I didn't really discover until sometime later. 

While I was obviously familiar with Cale from his days in the Velvet Underground, and knew a few of his songs, for reasons long lost to history I never really gave a good listen to his solo records until maybe the 90s or 00s. Crazy, right? Because so much good music! (Indeed, we were having a Twitter chat just this week, and I had to concede that his 70s run was far more consistent than VU colleague Lou Reed, even if (IMHO) Reed had higher highs (and lower lows). Anyway, I love both versions of "Hanky Panky" (not to mention both versions of "Andalucia," but only room for one right now) pretty much equally, just a gorgeous little ballad that haunts you for a bit after the final fade. (And the line "nothing frightens me more, than religion at my door" is an all-timer.)

Yo La Tengo cover:

Cale live with full orchestra:

Goth treatment from The Hope Blister:

Yo La Tengo live:

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