St. Vincent plays spellbinding acoustic cover of Led Zeppelin’s Dancing Days

Last time St. Vincent aka Annie Clark uploaded a cover version, it was Little Wing, and it damn-near broke the internet - and even foreshadowed the unexpected relaunch of Fender’s long-forgotten Lead Series of electric guitars.

Now, the 21st-century’s most avant-garde guitar hero is back with her take on another rock classic: Led Zeppelin’s Dancing Days.

Clark introduces the Instagram clip as a “moderately-played, half-remembered partial-cover” - and true, there’s a chord change or two missing - but the sparse accompaniment makes for a brooding, darker take on the original House of the Holy cut.

Presumably filmed while in isolation, the video showcases Clark performing on a Stella nylon-string acoustic guitar, most likely produced by department-store brand Harmony in the ’60s.

The marque was made famous(-ish) by one of Clark’s key inspirations, Kurt Cobain, when he told GW that he used a “20-dollar junk shop Stella” on Nirvana’s Polly.

Clark isn’t the only artist to play an unplugged rendition of this particular Led Zep track, either; Dancing Days was frequently performed acoustically by Stone Temple Pilots during the mid-’90s.