Hear Swamp Dogg’s New Rendition of Classic Song ‘Answer Me, My Love’

Cult soul singer Swamp Dogg has unveiled his cover of the classic popularized by Nat King Cole, “Answer Me, My Love.” The tune appears on Swamp Dogg’s forthcoming album, Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune, which will be released on September 7th via Joyful Noise Recordings.

As with his previously released “I’ll Pretend,” the singer teams with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Vernon provides Messina – the distorted vocoder/auto-tune vocalizations that punctuate the track and give a warped emotional take on the yearning sentiment of the song.

While it begins with Swamp Dogg’s unfettered soulful croons, the modern production twists woven into the song slowly unfurl. “If you’re happier without me/ I’ll try not to care/ But if you still think about me/ Please listen to my prayer,” Swamp Dogg sings, his voice intertwining with the auto-tuned enhancements and peppered with bleating horns, which gives it a discombobulating feel. “You must know I’ve been true/ Won’t you say that we can start anew/ In my sorrow now I turn to you/ Please answer me, my love.”

“‘Answer Me, My Love’ is what we call a ‘money record’ and since I need money, I recorded it,” Swamp Dogg said in a statement. “You can’t go wrong with a Nat ‘King’ Cole hit! He never recorded a bad song and always got hits. I need to pay some bills.”

Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune follows 2014’s The White Man Made Me Do It. “The songs are about being lonely,” the singer said of his new material. In addition to Vernon, Swamp Dogg worked with producers Ryan Olson of Poliça and MoogStar on the new album.