As part of my ongoing project to record covers of songs that were influential in my musical development — one for each year, without repeating any artists (with some exceptions) — and having chosen Dire Strait’s “So Far Away” to represent the year 1985, it occurred to me that Carole King had also written a song with the same title on her Tapestry album in 1971. So, I decided to record both songs.

The Dire Straits version was written by Mark Knopfler, who also does the lead vocal and adds his characteristically amazing electric guitar. Carole King, on the other hand, accompanies herself on piano. Naturally, I decided to do the opposite: the primary instrumental voice on my DIre Straits cover is a Yamaha digital electric piano, played live and input directly into my Focusrite audio interface (without making use of the keyboard’s MIDI capabilities); whereas the primary instrument for my Carole King cover is an acoustic Ibanez guitar. Click on these YouTube links (DIre Straits or Carole King) or watch the embedded videos here:

I shot the Dire Straits cover with my iPhone mounted on a tripod, with a green screen behind the piano, allowing me to inhabit an imaginary world inside of Cornell’s now-gutted Rand Hall. Both the piano and guitar parts were recorded live. The Carole King cover was shot by Susan Schwartz on a pier at Cass Park, Ithaca, NY. I recorded both songs using Logic Pro X, and edited both videos using Final Cut Pro. I sang all vocals and backup vocals, and played all the instruments, some real (e.g., guitar, digital piano) and some software instruments played live on my MIDI keyboard (e.g., bass, drums, organ).

Find links to all my music and videos on my music homepage.