the-bird-and-the-bee

The Bird and The Bee share Van Halen "Panama" cover, reissuing LPs for RSD19

Inara George and Greg Kurstin are back with their first The Bird and The Bee single in four years, a cover of Van Halen’s “Panama” which is out as part of the Amazon Originals series. No strangers to covers — they did a whole record of Hall & Oates covers — The Bird and The Bee put their whimsical, loungy spin on the ’80s hard rock classic. “You really know when a song was embedded in your brain at a young age,” said Inara George. “I had always assumed that ‘Panama’ was about the Panama Canal? Is it because I was studying that at school at the time the song came out? It’s possible. So imagine my surprise when Greg and I started working on the song and I started learning the lyrics… the song is about a car and a girl!! Duh!” You can listen to that below, and let’s hope more The Bird and The Bee is on the way.

Meanwhile, The Bird and The Bee are reissuing their 2007 self-titled debut and 2009’s Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future on vinyl for Record Store Day this year. The latter is being billed as a 10th Anniversary edition but no details are given for it or the other reissue. It won’t be out in time for RSD, but their Hall & Oates tribute record is also being given its first-ever vinyl pressing this year as well and is available for preorder. You can listen to those albums below