Last week I took a look at Time Magazine’s 100 Greatest Songs list, and listed the sixteen songs on that list that I have in their original form. As it happens, I have cover versions of sixteen more of those songs:
1. Single Ladies – Grand Atlantic (Beyonce)
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Tori Amos/Meat Puppets (Nirvana)
3. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Bis (Joy Division)
4. Billie Jean – Big Daddy/Josh & Anand (Michael Jackson)
5. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – Great Big Sea (REM)
6. Superstition – Stevie Ray Vaughan/Beck, Bogert & Appice (Stevie Wonder)
7. God Only Knows – Petra Haden (The Beach Boys)
7. How High The Moon – Charlie Parker/Manhattan Transfer (Les Paul)
8. That’ll Be The Day – The Beatles (Buddy Holly)
9. Stormy Weather – Julie Murphy (Lena Horne)
10. White Christmas – Edwin Hawkins Singers/Charlie Parker/Ella Fitzgerald (Bing Crosby)
11. It Had To Be You – Harry Connick (Betty Hutton)
12. Baby It’s Cold Outside – Bette Midler and James Caan/Asylum Street Spankers/The Priestess and The Fool/Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting (Ella Fitzgerald)
13. I Got Rhythm – Julie Murphy (Ethel Merman)
14 Minnie The Moocher – The Cotton Club soundtrack/Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Cab Calloway)
15. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) – Duke Ellington
16. Over The Rainbow – Julie Murphy (Judy Garland)
The Time list artist is in parentheses; I listed the artist for each cover version that I have. In case you’re wondering, Julie Murphy is the main vocalist with one of my favorite bands, Eddie From Ohio, and she did a solo CD of standards that I have, which clearly hit a sweet spot somewhere. Here, it’s a lot harder to argue with the song selection for the artist – what else do you think of when you hear “Cab Calloway”? – though I might have chosen “There’s No Business Like Show Business” for Ethel Merman, if only because it was presented as her signature tune when she guested on “The Muppet Show”. What are your thoughts?
There is an outstanding version of God Only Knows by Jonatha Brooke.