Dreaming of the Masters

This week's contribution to Sun Ra Saturday isn't by Sun Ra at all but instead a cover of Nuclear War by the fine Hoboken indie rock band Yo La Tengo.  The song is stripped down to a throbbing bass loop and some urgent drumming by Georgia Hubley, but this cover is most notable for a group of children providing the response to Ira Kaplan's call (we wonder if Yo La Tengo had to get notes from the kids' parents to allow them to sing on this).

Yo La Tengo released Version 2 in a 2002 four-song EP of covers of Nuclear War.  In a Pitchfork review of the record, Kyle Reiter wrote:

Upon first listen, the children create a lighter atmosphere (and a hilarious ploy when saying "motherfucker" over and over), but as the song plays on, the kids don't seem quite so funny anymore. The naïveté involved in an actual nuclear assault sets in, and with every response from the children comes an increasingly unsettling feeling. The song conveys the realization that everyone's in the hot seat, not just the adults. It's this twisted sense of structure that ultimately owes itself to Ra.

So, okay, cool, you're probably thinking, but does video exist of Yo La Tengo performing the song live with surviving members of the Sun Ra Arkestra, preferably shot on a Hanukkah  night?  Of course there is.  

Our favorite part of the video is at the 1:45 mark, when 94-year-old Marshall Allen seemingly decides there's somewhere else he needs to be rather than on the Hoboken stage. 

Tell 'em about it, Georgia!