Jens Lekman, Left Banke Enthusiast

Photo by elchicodelaleche

As I noted recently, I’ve been devouring the Jens Lekman catalog. As I was listening to Oh You’re So Silent Jens the other night, though, something was eating at me – a harpsichord line that sounded striking familiar. Was it coincidence or was it the Left Banke? After all, Lekman and the unacknowledged ’60s chamber pop act have a lot in common – both have (or had) trouble with the ladies and sugar-sweet pop aspirations, but Lekman tempers his sincerity with a lot of self-effacing humor. Both are (were) genre dabblers and a little inconsistent. And both have too many moments of brilliance to be as ignored as they are, the Banke especially.

But there it was: a quick skimming of the Banke’s Pretty Ballerina/Walk Away Renee and I found that Lekman’s “Black Cab” samples the main riff of “I’ve Got Something On My Mind.” The young Swede’s version reimagines the Banke’s Stones-y rave-up as, well, a Jens Lekman song. Nothing wrong with that. But apparently the Jens classic “Maple Leaves” uses a Banke sample as well to much greater effect, a string loop from “Walk Away Renee.” Notice it?

Jens Lekman – “Black Cab”: mp3
The Left Banke – “I’ve Got Something On My Mind”: mp3

Jens Lekman – “Maple Leaves”: mp3
The Left Banke – “Walk Away Renee”: mp3

Aside: The fact that there isn’t an indie-pop blog called When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Blog is a damn shame. Someone should register that domain name before it’s too late.

Previously: When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog

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