STREAM | Karen O — ‘Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys’ (Ed Bruce cover)

October 21, 2011 by Odhran ODonoghue in Blog

How is it that Karen O can make anything, even a collaboration with a burrito company, seem ridiculously cool? The Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman has recorded a cover of Ed Bruce’s 1975 single ‘Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys’ (a US hit for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson) to accompany a short film by Chipotle, the purpose of which is to raise awareness of the hardships facing American farmers because of factory farming.

The metaphor-laden clip hits pretty heavily all on its own, but Karen’s gorgeous vocals really bring the message home. We’ve crossed our fingers that this track ends up on iTunes soon.

In other Karen news, her “psycho opera” ‘Stop The Virgens’ is currently running at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York as part of The Creator’s Project festival – with the final performance scheduled for tomorrow. If you haven’t already seen it, check out a trailer for the performance below, complete with behind the scenes interviews with collaborators on the project, including YYYs bandmate Nick Zinner.