Long Honeymoon

Or what Mary did after her Billie holiday. The premise, like most good ones, is simple in conception, if not execution. Put Ms. Coughlan – possibly our finest interpretive singer – in the studio with Tom Waits’ arranger/bassist Greg Cohen, supply her with a programme of fine songs, back her up with the most professorial pros in town, and leave the whole thing to simmer.

Coughlan and Cohen have approached standards like Rogers and Hart’s ‘It Never Entered My Mind’, Brown/Henderson’s ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ and Heyman/Green’s ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ softly but stealthily, with the singer’s trademark bed-headed delivery being offset by the

chamber-pot symphonies of Louis Stewart, Myles Drennan, Peter O’Brien and other distinguished gentlemen of the bar.

Of the latter day selections, Elvis Costello supplies a typically starchy title track, while Coughlan renders Bruce Cockburn’s killer ‘Blues Got The World By The Balls’ with just the right balance of spleen and ideal, inserting local colour (references to Phoenix magazine, the Indo and the Irish Times) for devilment.

Less straightforward is a cute but queer remake of Lee ‘n’ Nancy’s ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ that suggests Harry Partch gone astray in rural Canton. By contrast, Gershwin’s ‘I Don’t Want To Play In Your Yard’ is easier on the ear: Mary cast as an old ghost trapped in the rainy grooves of a 78.

And let it be noted for the record, anyone who can get the phrase ‘Bachelor’s Beans’ into a sawdust-encrusted version of Waits’ ‘Lucky Day’ deserves a six figure grant from the Arts Council. Or at least a few bob for product placement.

Strange fruit. Tastes good.