We had lost track of A.V. Undercover’s great series in which they list songs and capture artists covering them.  But today we stumbled upon one of the latest and best vignettes featuring our faves Sylvan Esso, combining with Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (hence “Sylvan Wasner“), to cover Gillian Welch’s brilliant ode to music piracy, Everything Is Free.  We love their treatment on this devastating cover.  To our ears it sounds like a eulogy for songwriters everywhere, and the soft-pulsing synth-sound emblematic of the weakening pulse of musicians everywhere.  Thanks for piling on Apple.

“Everything is free now, that’s what they say
Everything I ever done, gonna give it away
Someone hit the big score, they figured it out
They were gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay

I can get a tip jar, gas up the car
Try to make a little change down at the bar
Or I can get a straight job, I done it before
Never minded workin’ hard, it’s who I’m workin’ for

Everything is free now, that’s what they say
Everything I ever done, gotta give it away
Someone hit the big score, they figured it out
They were gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay

Every day I wake up, hummin’ a song
But I don’t need to run around, I just stay at home
And sing a little love song, my lover, myself
If there’s something that you wanna hear, you can sing it yourself

Cause everything is free now, that’s what I said
No ones gotta listen to the words in my head
Someone hit the big score, I figured it out
And I’m gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay”