Method Acting/Cortez The Killer by Dave Rawlings Machine

Album: A Friend Of A Friend (2009)

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This track is a pairing of the Bright Eyes' song "Method Acting" with Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer." Dave Rawlings told Billboard magazine that the medley was inspired during a tour he did with Bright Eyes, for whom he's contributed to a couple of albums. "One of the songs we played every night was 'Method Acting,' which was always a song I responded to," Rawlings recalled. "I found myself sitting on a couch a year later, strumming it... and at some point I realized it went into 'Cortez the Killer,' which was a really important song for me when I was a teenager. I have a really emotional attachment to both of those songs, so it's nice to have versions of them out there. It gives me a reason to sing them."
Rawlings told Billboard that Bright Eyes leader Conor Oberst also suggested the A Friend Of A Friend title for the project. "I thought it was nice and appropriate," Rawlings noted, "because so many people I've worked with over the years and played music with are represented in one way or another on the record." Other musicians on the record include keyboardist Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and keyboardist Nathaniel Wilcott of Bright Eyes.

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