This song is 50 years old today. Gulp!

This is the best bluegrass version out there, but I do have an issue with it: I'm an American with Western and Southern roots -- cowboys/surfers and moonshine runners, if you're hewing to stereotypes. I never met a T that I couldn't soften. Yet, American diction mars this performance, even for me. There's something about the hard Ts in the original that reflects the almost classical formality of the arrangement (a formality that's due to George Martin, no doubt).

These boys, who usually display a keen eye for detail, could have turned a good performance into a great one with that one, small adjustment.

Here are The Punch Brothers with "Paperback Writer".