Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs and Elvis Costello have released a cover of the Rolling Stones‘ Connection to mark guitarist Keith Richards‘ 81st birthday.
Connection originally appeared on the Stones’ 1967 album Between The Buttons, and found Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sharing the main vocal.
“I did the Keith part,” says Hoffs. “We both wanted to do the Keith part, but I won! I had the great honour of singing with Elvis at a couple of his shows, and it was a lifelong dream to record a song together.
“I love Keith, his smile, his swagger, his songwriting – the way he moves on stage, as if his guitar is a part of his body and together they meld with the music and the emotion of the song. He’s sung lead on three of my most favourite Rolling Stones songs: Happy, You Got The Silver and Connection.”
“What a gas to sing with Sue again,” adds Costello. “I’d be the ‘Keith’ to her ‘Mick’ any day.”
Hoffs and Costello’s cover of Connection also features guitarist Albert Lee, bassist Davey Faragher, drummer Pete Thompson, guitarist/organist Jeff Alan Ross and mandolinist John Jorgenson.
Hoffs is no stranger to cover versions, having worked with several members of Costello’s band The Imposters on last year’s covers album The Deep End, which included a version of another Rolling Stones classic, Under My Thumb. She also released Under The Covers with Matthew Sweet, a series of three albums respectively devoted to songs from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.