Believe me, that headline sounded too good to be true to us as well, not to mention that this news was initially reported by one of Rupert Murdoch’s least reliable news outlets, UK rag The Sun, but the Guardian confirmed today that Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has called on famous friends Johnny Depp, Nick Cave, and Bobby Gillespie to record a cover song to benefit Haiti disaster relief. What song are they covering? Only one of the greatest of all time: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ 1958 hit “I Put a Spell On You.”
As the Guardian aptly notes, Cave’s former band The Birthday Party also covered the Hawkins classic (watch them perform the song in 1981 here), as well as a slew of other artists, incuding Nina Simone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Joe Cocker.
No other details about this epic charity single are available at this time, but photographer Danny Clifford teased in a blog post that “later this week all will be revealed.”
**Update: A followup post is on the way, but in the meantime, watch this video with footage from the studio!