Hopefully, Willie Nelson and the rest of those Yank country musicians realise the mix-up in their spelling. Still, what can be done? Nelson gets a pass. He has made more than a few dozen formidable efforts in the recording studio and toured the world. His consistencies as a performer and as a studio musician remain astonishing. Do You Realise??, a single from his second album of this year, Last Leaf on the Tree, is a brilliant occasion. A cover of The Flaming Lips is such a left-field piece from Nelson it is hard not to be a tad wary. Even knowing the quality of Nelson and of The Flaming Lips, it is not a crossover anyone would expect to hit through with any sort of quality. But it does. Nelson charms listeners with this Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots rip.
Tender lyrics and a warmth in the acoustic guitar work give Nelson the necessary edge in this cover. He is similar to Johnny Cash in this regard, adapting songs to the broad country structure and making it work through conviction and an almost effortless sense of experience. Do You Realise?? thanks to the handy work from Nelson found here, sounds like it belongs in the genre. Once more there is an effective cover from Nelson to sink your teeth into. Completely changed from the original but it’s more proof to the point of any song being ready for the acoustic twinge of a seasoned veteran of the genre. Accordion additions and some string work, the stomp of boots in the background made up by a barely audible but necessary drum beat are all parts of a perfect puzzle.
At its core, this is a heartbreaker. A farewell of no particulars but feeding the knowledge of those final moments with a loved one. It feels like an inevitability of Nelson’s tone at this point. Seventy-five albums behind him, another releasing shortly. Do You Realise?? has a sense of awe to it, mixed in with all the notions of finality and death. There is a softer pride to it, a sense of being satisfied with what has been done and yet a humble notion is maintained throughout. Nelson is keen to demonstrate his understanding of the final years more than anything with this adaptation of The Flaming Lips classic. Consider the origins of the song removed from Nelson, the sobriety and tears it causes a loved band member, adapted to the honest takings of the real world.
But those harsh realities are in good hands with Nelson. His calmer disposition and playful style are still as fiery as it was in his heyday. Do You Realise?? marks another great cover. A chance for Nelson to continue working is always a welcome one as he displays a quality and understanding for the songs he chooses to cover. Quite beautiful, on the whole. Its macabre tone is shown as not a cursed inevitability but a soft positive, a chance to make the most of your life before it flies by that little bit faster. Emotionally overwhelming in spots and a welcome cover at that, Nelson does not put his own experiences over the heartbreak of the original but marries the ideas in a credible cover of a mainstay song from The Flaming Lips.
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