Tag Archives: cover songs

Get on the bus with The Who, y’all. And as I threatened promised last week, here’s Pete Townshend doing this solo, at The Deep End: Who needs backup vocalists when the whole audience sings along? Also, too: windmilling. I swear, … Continue reading →

I’m going to indulge my Pete Townshend fixation for the next two weeks. First, here’s former Pink Floyd guitarist and friend of Townshend David Gilmour with a single from his 1984 CD “About Face”: And here he is performing the … Continue reading →

Here’s Dave Matthews and Emmylou Harris paying tribute to Johnny Cash with a cover of a classic country tune: You’d be forgiven if you thought that was an old folk song, but it’s actually a 1959 Lefty Frizzell song, covered … Continue reading →

The brightest light of the grunge era, Nirvana and one of their big hits, “Lithium”: Kurt Cobain was exactly a year and a day younger than I am, so he’d have been 50 years old next February. Hard to believe, … Continue reading →

I give you the great Rev. Al Green: Makes you want to rush out and buy a ring, doesn’t it? Now for a Scottish twist on that, here’s The Proclaimers: If someone in that audience didn’t take advantage of the … Continue reading →

It was the year 1984, the year Van Halen gave us this: Albums like 1984 hghlight a problem with our streaming-and-downloads music market these days. Back then, when men with hair like David Lee Roth strutted on the earth, bands … Continue reading →

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs take on a typically tricky Yes staple: I love Susanna Hoffs’ voice, and I love her interpretation of this song. You should definitely check out her various collections of covers with Sweet, called “Under The … Continue reading →

It’s one of my favorite Celtic bands doing their thing with this REM classic: The was Great Big Sea, the finest band from Newfoundland. Hard to believe you could take that song up-tempo, but there you have it. For comparison … Continue reading →

I posted three videos of the classic “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” a few years back, including a video of the original, by The Four Lads. Now here’s a video of the They Might Be Giants version, done over a montage of … Continue reading →

Still one of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite bands: As a sax player who was in jazz band in high school, Glenn Miller was my first musical love. And let me tell you, the sax part for … Continue reading →

A classic of the 80s, from a pre-bald Phil Collins: Collins gets a lot of guff for hist stylized, very-80s albums, but I thought “Face Value” and “Hello, I Must Be Going!” were great. I loved his re-take on Genesis’ … Continue reading →

The Cowboy Junkies take on Hank Williams: I love the ethereal quality of Margo Timmins’ voice. Her singing just floats over the music. Not everyone can make that work, but she does. And for the opposite end of the vocal … Continue reading →

A classic and a standard, performed by Bobby Darin: The version I have is from the soundtrack to the movie Swingers, and I feel like Darin enunciates differently in that one. I can’t find a video for that, however, so … Continue reading →

Here’s national treasure Pete Seeger, with an introduction by John Mellencamp: The recording I have of this comes from a Smithsonian collection, with Seeger leading and being backed up by a church choir, with him doing it singalong style, as … Continue reading →

Lyle Lovett sings one of his best songs in a stunningly beautiful concert hall while sitting next to John Hiatt and Joe Ely swoon. Gorgeous, and the verse about Tonto telling the Lone Ranger to kiss his ass gets me … Continue reading →

The all-time disco and karaoke classic, by Gloria Gaynor: How do I know this is a classic? It came up on the car player, and Olivia made me repeat it because she liked it. That’s how I know. Such a … Continue reading →

Feel the 70s goodness with the Raspberries: Somewhat forgotten 70s goodness, I suppose. I got that song from a collection CD, and I can’t say I’d ever heard it before. Not even from a K-Tel commercial. I may not have … Continue reading →

A song made for the voice of John Fogerty, with Creedence Clearwater Revival: Easily one of the most iconic voices in rock and roll. How can we make this any more enjoyable? By hearing Pete Townshend sing it at the … Continue reading →

From the prolific and often covered Nick Lowe: That song will either elicit a conspiratory laugh by people enjoying a private joke, or it’s an exercise in passive aggression by someone who needs to get over an ex-girlfriend. All depends … Continue reading →

Back to the Ike and Tina songbook: It’s always interesting listening to these songs and thinking about what their relationship was like. It doesn’t detract from the music because you can’t do that when Tina Turner is singing, but it … Continue reading →

Here’s an awesome live version of Marvin Gaye doing one of his signature tunes: What an amazing voice. What a tragedy his death was. Here’s Creedence Clearwater Revival with their almost-as-iconic version: Once again I can say, what a voice. … Continue reading →

Ready for a standard? Here’s the Chairman of the Board himself: I feel like that would have been an appropriately ironic background song for a whacking on The Sopranos. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20. Now here’s Ray Charles: Like all … Continue reading →

Reaching back to the 1920s and the legendary Duke Ellington: I love me some Glenn Miller, but of all the big band leaders of that era, I think Ellington had the best overall body of work. The movie The Cotton … Continue reading →

Here’s The Trammps with a little soul for your soul: The Trammps were probably best known for the 70s classic “Disco Inferno”, for which I can’t recommend The Bobs’ a capella cover enough, though sadly it doesn’t exist on YouTube. … Continue reading →

From their very first album, the Asylum Street Spankers doing this traditional classic: From the late great Dave Van Ronk: And finally, a version that’s both more modern and even more old school, from Willie Nelson and Asleep at the … Continue reading →

Here comes a very young Peter Gabriel, doing a very acoustic piano version of “Here Comes The Flood”: That was from a 1979 Kate Bush Christmas special. Who knew Kate Bush had a Christmas special? Who knew that was a … Continue reading →