zed equals zee

Toronto-based The First Time are making a splash with their cover of “Sundown,” a mega-hit by iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. This song, released in 1974, hit number one on the Billboard charts and cemented Lightfoot’s status as a major musician. I grew up listening to it, but it was always in the background – the kind of boring music your parents listened to. It wasn’t until I heard The First Time’s version that the song cracked open for me, and I realized that it was about infidelity, lust, addiction, and other decidedly grown-up themes. Like all great covers, it made me hear the original anew.

It’s late notice, but if you happen to be in Toronto, The First Time has a gig tonight at the Bovine Sex Club.

MP3: The First Time – Sundown [Gordon Lightfoot original here]

[I stole the image from TFT’s MySpace page, since I wasn’t enthusiastic about doing a Google Image search on the phrase ‘the first time’.]