Peter Gabriel has revealed he is struggling to get Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke to commit to recording a cover of his song ‘Wallflower’.
Gabriel has asked a host of musicians including Yorke to take part in his ‘song swap’ scheme, which has seen him complete an album – ‘Scratch My Back’ – of covers by the likes of David Bowie (‘Heroes’), Arcade Fire (‘My Body Is A Cage’) and Radiohead (‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’. In return, Gabriel wants those artists featured to record their own interpretations of his songs.
According to Gabriel, Yorke was all-set to record a version of ‘Wallflower’ for the project – though he hasn’t been in contact in recent months.
“I still haven’t had a response from Thom Yorke,” Gabriel told The Sun’s Something For The Weekend.
He added that he’s still keen for the Radiohead frontman to be involved, but said that he thinks Yorke might not be a fan of his version of ‘Street Spirit’.
“[Yorke] originally wrote to say he wanted to do a version of ‘Wallflower’, but I haven’t heard what he thinks of my version of [‘Street Spirit’]. Not everyone likes it and I’ve no real idea whether he likes it or hates it. We have a little clue, though,” he said.
“We gave out codes for the artists to listen to their songs on a stream and we could see how many times they’ve heard them. I think he’s only streamed ‘Street Spirit’ once, which isn’t a good sign, but who knows?”
