30 Songs, 30 Days (2009 Edition), Day Three: Walking On A Wire by Annalivia

This is a cover of the Richard and Linda Thompson song about trying--and failing--to take care of both yourself and a loved one, and beginning to resent it. Here's a performance of the original:

Given what I endured during the Four Year Engagement We Will Not Speak Of, where I learned the lesson that you cannot help those who do not want help the hardest way, it's a song I can emphasize with. The feeling of futility that grows within you that in turn generates a sense of guilt for feeling the futility, and how the love you feel for this significant other turns poisonous...let's just say I've been there. A lot.

Granted, the vocals on this version--young where Thompson was old, bright where Thompson was dim, sweet where Thompson was bitter--seem to work against the effectiveness of the song. The brightness of the traditional celtic arrangements don't help either, speeding the song up juuuuust enough that it appears a little...well....hopeful when it's anything but...

Look, just because you can make a song sound different doesn't necessarily mean you should.