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7) I Remember You- U2
A Ramones song in tribute to Joey Ramone. Sometimes you don't know how beautiful a song is until U2 slow it down and sing it for you.
8) No Woman No Cry- The Fugees
"I remember when we used to rock in a project yard in Jersey,
And little Georgie would make the firelight,
As stolen cars passed through the night"
Bob Marley's live version is one of the greatest records ever made, and Wyclef, Pras and Lauren Hill's version is the best rap cover that's ever been done. Wyclef has a great voice, he should sing more; but only good songs like this one.
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Showing posts with label 10 Greatest Covers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10 Greatest Covers. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The 10 Greatest Covers Ever (Part 3)
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5)Time is on My Side- The Rolling Stones
The first top ten U.S. hit for the Rolling Stones. Irma Thomas had released a version of the song a month before as the B side of one of her singles when the Stones released theirs. (They actually cut two versions of the song in 1964 but one is much better than the other. The better one is the version that's always played, the other one is on their 12 X 5 album). Irma Thomas has a beautiful voice but on this song Mick's voice cuts through like a fire bell in the night. And Keith's guitar playing is Keith at his best, and actually this song is the whole band at it's best. Driven soul from the heart by British boys in love with soul and who just happened to be white.
6)Where Did You Sleep Last Night- Nirvana
From their 1993 unplugged album, and about 5 months before he killed himself, Kurt Cobain played a century old folk song most commonly associated with Huddie Ledbetter. So here's why he was good, past all the eulogizing and past the martyrdom, at his best he howled on MTV and resurected Huddie Ledbetter. And that's how to be haunted, not by making ghosts out to be more than they were, but by resurecting their spirit back to life on this Earth.
continued next post
5)Time is on My Side- The Rolling Stones
The first top ten U.S. hit for the Rolling Stones. Irma Thomas had released a version of the song a month before as the B side of one of her singles when the Stones released theirs. (They actually cut two versions of the song in 1964 but one is much better than the other. The better one is the version that's always played, the other one is on their 12 X 5 album). Irma Thomas has a beautiful voice but on this song Mick's voice cuts through like a fire bell in the night. And Keith's guitar playing is Keith at his best, and actually this song is the whole band at it's best. Driven soul from the heart by British boys in love with soul and who just happened to be white.
6)Where Did You Sleep Last Night- Nirvana
From their 1993 unplugged album, and about 5 months before he killed himself, Kurt Cobain played a century old folk song most commonly associated with Huddie Ledbetter. So here's why he was good, past all the eulogizing and past the martyrdom, at his best he howled on MTV and resurected Huddie Ledbetter. And that's how to be haunted, not by making ghosts out to be more than they were, but by resurecting their spirit back to life on this Earth.
continued next post
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
10 Greatest Covers Ever (Part 2)
continued from last post
3) Red Cadillac and a Black Mustache- Bob Dylan
Warren Smith was a singer and guitarist signed to Sam Phillips's Sun Records in the 50's. Never as popular as his label mates Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins or Roy Orbison, he nevertheless releasead some great records. This was one of them and Bob Dylan covered it on a Sun Records tribute album in 2001. Dylan, if anything, has always had great taste in music, and with this song he finds the poetry in every rockabilly line.
"Who you been loving since I've been gone?
A long tall man with a red coat on,
trifling baby you been doing me wrong,
who you been loving since I've been gone?
Now who's been playing around with you?
A real cool cat with eyes of blue
Good for nothing baby why can't you be true?
Who's been playing around with you
Who's been playing around with you
Somebody saw you at the break of day
Dancing and a dining at the cabaret
He was long and tall he had plenty of cash
He had a red cadillac and a black moustache
He held your hand and he sang you a song
Who you been loving since I been gone
Who you been loving since I been gone?"
And to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "If this be not poetry, then where is poetry to be found?".
4) Mountain Of Love- Bruce Springsteen
Mountain of Love was originally written and recorded by a rock singer named Harold Dorman in 1960 and it went to number 21 on the charts. Four years later Johnny Rivers re-recorded it and it went to number 9. In 1975 Bruce and the E Street Band played a show at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania that was broadcast on the radio and the second song they played was Mountain of Love. It's a widely bootleged show that was never released, but here's why John Landau called him the "future of rock and roll". "Standing on the mountain looking down on the city" you can't help but have visions of saviors and prophets.
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3) Red Cadillac and a Black Mustache- Bob Dylan
Warren Smith was a singer and guitarist signed to Sam Phillips's Sun Records in the 50's. Never as popular as his label mates Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins or Roy Orbison, he nevertheless releasead some great records. This was one of them and Bob Dylan covered it on a Sun Records tribute album in 2001. Dylan, if anything, has always had great taste in music, and with this song he finds the poetry in every rockabilly line.
"Who you been loving since I've been gone?
A long tall man with a red coat on,
trifling baby you been doing me wrong,
who you been loving since I've been gone?
Now who's been playing around with you?
A real cool cat with eyes of blue
Good for nothing baby why can't you be true?
Who's been playing around with you
Who's been playing around with you
Somebody saw you at the break of day
Dancing and a dining at the cabaret
He was long and tall he had plenty of cash
He had a red cadillac and a black moustache
He held your hand and he sang you a song
Who you been loving since I been gone
Who you been loving since I been gone?"
And to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "If this be not poetry, then where is poetry to be found?".
4) Mountain Of Love- Bruce Springsteen
Mountain of Love was originally written and recorded by a rock singer named Harold Dorman in 1960 and it went to number 21 on the charts. Four years later Johnny Rivers re-recorded it and it went to number 9. In 1975 Bruce and the E Street Band played a show at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania that was broadcast on the radio and the second song they played was Mountain of Love. It's a widely bootleged show that was never released, but here's why John Landau called him the "future of rock and roll". "Standing on the mountain looking down on the city" you can't help but have visions of saviors and prophets.
continued next post
Monday, May 18, 2009
The 10 Greatest Covers Ever (Part 1)
1) All Along The Watchtower- Jimi Hendrix
A dark, supremely powerful rendering of Bob Dylan's 117th nightmare. The apocalypse, the colapsing sixties, the jungles of Vietnam, heroin, pot, lsd, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Watts and Harlem, RFK, they're all in there. The monsters of the sixties in the form of two riders approaching, and the howling in the wind is the dreams fading away.
2) Twist and Shout- The Beatles
It was a top twenty hit for the Isley Brothers in 1962 but before that it was recorded by a rising white R & B band from Philly called the Top Notes the year before. And they got Phil Spector to produce it, but it was before he was good and the record went nowhere. In 1963 the Beatles recorded it for their first album and John gave the best vocal performance he'd ever give, unseating Little Richard and everyone else who'd ever screamed good off their thrones.
continued next post
A dark, supremely powerful rendering of Bob Dylan's 117th nightmare. The apocalypse, the colapsing sixties, the jungles of Vietnam, heroin, pot, lsd, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Watts and Harlem, RFK, they're all in there. The monsters of the sixties in the form of two riders approaching, and the howling in the wind is the dreams fading away.
2) Twist and Shout- The Beatles
It was a top twenty hit for the Isley Brothers in 1962 but before that it was recorded by a rising white R & B band from Philly called the Top Notes the year before. And they got Phil Spector to produce it, but it was before he was good and the record went nowhere. In 1963 the Beatles recorded it for their first album and John gave the best vocal performance he'd ever give, unseating Little Richard and everyone else who'd ever screamed good off their thrones.
continued next post
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