Days

For my money, Kirsty MacColl was one of the great voices of the 20th Century. No-one else sounded quite like her, and she (re-)interpreted songs so well it's sometimes hard to imagine others singing them. She took Billy's New England and ran with it, and her version of Days is probably the one I'd have at a funeral, rather than The Kinks original. Here's Kirsty's slightly surreal promo video for it:

The first comment after this on YouTube nails it: "Kirsty sings it straight. No warbling, no bollocks, no fake American accent. Just a straightforward, emotional delivery." Can't say fairer than that. However, the audio on this version is very quiet, so here's a more audible rendition from TOTP:

Oddly, the producer seems keener on showing the studio than Kirsty. Shame.

For completeness, here's the Kinks original:

All of which serves as a needless introduction to a new blog mini-series, starting tomorrow. Is there no beginning to the excitement?