“It was a hard song to cover straight knowing that Phil (Lynott of Thin Lizzy) died basically from complications due to substance abuse,” says World Blanket leader, Mike Pomranz, “So, I gave it a more sentimental and cautionary tone.” Pomranz is speaking about his band’s cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Got To Give It Up” The Thin Lizzy reworking is the follow-up to Pomranz’s “polishing” (as he terms it) of Syd Barrett’s “Let’s Split”.

“As someone who likes the occasional tipple, ‘Got To Give It Up’ seemed like a natural song for me,” explains Pomranz. “The tune never seemed to receive as much fanfare as it deserves, as both a hard-driving musical and lyrical masterpiece. I took a couple stabs at it acoustically, and it soon became apparent that buried below the song’s riff-rock exterior, it’s actually a deeply emotional recounting of despair.” Pomranz concludes, “With this knowledge, the song becomes less barroom rocker and more of a confessional from beyond the grave. With the references to ‘mama’ and ‘pa’ and ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ it almost stands as a final apologetic note to family, friends and fans for a lifelong battle that eventually took a man’s life.”

Pomranz has recorded these on-the-fly cover versions as part of promoting the latest World Blanket album titled, 2012. In addition to Pomranz, the album features performances from The Calder Quartet, which has previously contributed strings to The National, Vampire Weekend, Andrew WK, and many others.