Bears (Lyle Lovett) by Steven Fromholz (cover)

[Glennwillow]

Lyle Lovett did a great cover of this song, "Bears." Someone here on the AGF recently suggested this song so I thought I'd give it a try.


The Steven Fromholz version is shown below:


The artwork behind me in my video was done by my now grown son when he was in high school. My daughters had a great collection of stuffed bears and some of those bears became the poorly behaved ninja bears. My son would tell his younger sisters hilarious made-up stories about these ninja bears while they were out walking the dog every day. During the summers they each made up competing newspaper stories (such as "The Daily Bearald") about these bears and my son came up with all kinds of original artwork about the bears. I am using just two of the pieces of artwork behind me. I thought another use of the word "bear" fit fairly well within the concept of this fun song.

The strange instrument used for the solo in my video is an Eastwood Mandocaster 12. In the shape of a Telecaster, it's got single coil Strat-like pickups and is tuned like a 12-string with a capo up on the 12th fret. I just bought this thing used so this is my first time using this. It doesn't sound exactly like a mandolin but it's not terribly far off.

Thanks for watching!

- Glenn

[islandguitar]

What a "happy Friday" tune, Glenn! LOL!
Really enjoyed this one.......it's new to me. That new instrument is pretty awesome sounding....never seen one!
Thanks for sharing,
Greetings from Rhode Island,
Fred

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

What a "happy Friday" tune, Glenn! LOL!
Really enjoyed this one.......it's new to me. That new instrument is pretty awesome sounding....never seen one!
Thanks for sharing,
Greetings from Rhode Island,
Fred

Thanks Fred!

I appreciate your taking the time to listen to something that you didn't know, something that is not a big hit, and being open to it. Thanks for your supportive comments.

I was a little worried about that Mandocaster 12, wondering if it was a stupid move on my part to buy this thing, though it was not very expensive. But I was pretty happy in the end with how it sounded in the recording. I'm no mandolin soloist by any means, but it's cool to be able to work out a simple solo on a new instrument without having to spend days on it.

Thanks for taking the time Fred!

- Glenn

[started with 1]

Glenn, Lyle is one of my favorites. He is a great writer and performer but also has an incredible ear for good music. All his covers are really tributes since he is such a great songwriter himself. He was touring recently with John Hiatt with the two of them alternating acoustic solo playing and singing. What a treat. As it is a treat to listen to your version of bears here.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

...Someone here on the AGF recently suggested this song so I thought I'd give it a try....

Great job, Glenn! Yeah, that was my suggestion in some other thread. I thought Lovett wrote that, so I learned something there. I actually worked on the post-production of Lyle's original video of this piece, so I've got kind of a special attachment to it.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Great job, Glenn! Yeah, that was my suggestion in some other thread. I thought Lovett wrote that, so I learned something there. I actually worked on the post-production of Lyle's original video of this piece, so I've got kind of a special attachment to it.

Yes! now that I see your forum name, it was you who suggested this song, I think to someone looking for songs to do from the '60s in the General Forum.

The song was new to me, but I thought, I always enjoy hearing what Lyle Lovett does with songs so let's take a listen. And I instantly really liked this!

I'm glad you felt that this came out okay. Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

And how cool that you actually worked on Lyle's video in post production! How cool is that!!!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by started with 1

Glenn, Lyle is one of my favorites. He is a great writer and performer but also has an incredible ear for good music. All his covers are really tributes since he is such a great songwriter himself. He was touring recently with John Hiatt with the two of them alternating acoustic solo playing and singing. What a treat. As it is a treat to listen to your version of bears here.

Thank you Started!

I could become a Lyle Lovett fan myself! He is so incredibly expressive in the way he puts across a song. And I really like his intelligence and sense of humor! He certainly did a great job covering this song!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

- Glenn

[mr. beaumont]

Love this.

"Bears" has been my "am I in tune?" check song for years.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Love this.

"Bears" has been my "am I in tune?" check song for years.

Oh, cool, Jeff!

It's great to know you are listening! I'm pleased that you thought this came out okay!

- Glenn

[TBman]

Great stuff Glenn. I really enjoyed it!

[jseth]

Such a good song, Glenn; nice choice and a good version of yours! "Bears" is one of the few songs I play that work well with kids in the audience (along with "If I Only Had A Brain"!). Nice to hear you doing this one... LOVE the artwork!

Lyle Lovett is such a class act; after having huge success with "Joshua Judges Ruth", he follows it up with what is essentially a tribute to all the wonderful songwriters whom he has admired throughout his life... the record, "Step Inside This House", is a double cd set that has an incredible booklet which accompanies the discs... the tracks have representations of SO MANY great songs... Guy Clark, Willis Alan Ramsey, Fromholtz, Townes Van Zandt and many more...

If you don't have that record, I would strongly recommend it!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by TBman

Great stuff Glenn. I really enjoyed it!

Thank you Barry!

It's very nice of you to give this a listen! Glad you thought it worked okay!

I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by jseth

Such a good song, Glenn; nice choice and a good version of yours! "Bears" is one of the few songs I play that work well with kids in the audience (along with "If I Only Had A Brain"!). Nice to hear you doing this one... LOVE the artwork!

Lyle Lovett is such a class act; after having huge success with "Joshua Judges Ruth", he follows it up with what is essentially a tribute to all the wonderful songwriters whom he has admired throughout his life... the record, "Step Inside This House", is a double cd set that has an incredible booklet which accompanies the discs... the tracks have representations of SO MANY great songs... Guy Clark, Willis Alan Ramsey, Fromholtz, Townes Van Zandt and many more...

If you don't have that record, I would strongly recommend it!

Hi Jseth!

I'm so delighted to read that you know this song! I love "If I Only Had a Brain" though I have never tried to play it on the guitar. Maybe I should check that out!

And I appreciate your noticing that artwork! My kids had so much fun growing up together out here in the country being each other's best friends.

I'm fascinated by your observations about some of Lyle Lovett's recordings. I really value your recommendations here! I've just ordered these CD albums, so I will look forward to listening to them and learning a whole lot more.

Thanks so much Jseth!

- Glenn

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by jseth

..."Bears" is one of the few songs I play that work well with kids in the audience....

Actually, I believe the song has interpretation to gay culture, not that that disqualifies it from working well with kids in the audience.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Actually, I believe the song has interpretation to gay culture, not that that disqualifies it from working well with kids in the audience.

I had no idea...

- Glenn