Michael Doucet, Tom Freund Have the Coronavirus Blues
- Doucet’s “Covid 19 (Don’t Want No),” Freund’s “Corona, Corona” take lighthearted looks at pandemic
Cajun-music fiddler Michael Doucet wrote an original number; blues bassist Tom Freund parodied a standard. And separately, they each took a lighthearted look at the coronavirus pandemic with “Covid 19 (Don’t Want No)” and “Corona, Corona,” respectively.
Doucet’s ditty is a burning blues, stoked with fiddle, electric and acoustic guitars and a rhythm section. The narrator laments his obsessive hand washing, his staying indoors and his isolation from his lover before realizing it was all for naught.
Well I got a little headache/a little fever that just won’t go away/and I feel a little dizzy/a little queasy/and I can’t catch my breath/well I can’t taste nothin’/nothin’ but the taste of death, he sings.
Taking inspiration from “Taj Mahal, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Blind Lemon Jefferson, etc.,” Freund is more traditional in recasting “Corinna, Corinna” as “Corona, Corona” over a lumbering backdrop of lead bass, drums, harp and slide guitar.
You wreak havoc over the nation/better pack your bags and go, Freund sings hopefully.
11/10/20
