Creative Individuals are always looking for new challenges. Singers want to act, actors want to sing. But not everybody can be a double threat like Frank Sinatra, as the songs below attest.

Sebastian Cabot “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (Bob Dylan)
Does anybody remember the TV show Family Affair? It starred Brian Keith as a widower with two young children (Buffy, who would later die of a drug overdose, and Jody) who lived in a New York City apartment with their morbidly obese English butler Mr. French. Sebastian Cabot played Mr. French.

The album Sebastian Cabot Actor, Bob Dylan Poet is really special. Pompous recitations of Dylan lyrics over cheesy Muzak musical arrangements. I just love hearing Mr. French say the word “ain’t.” This is another nugget from the George Blowfish Collection. Thanks, GB.

Leonard Nimoy “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” (Randy Newman)
The song is a pretty obscure one from Randy Newman’s first record, but you don’t really have to know the song to understand the damage that Mr. Spock is doing to it. The whole album that this comes from popped up recently over at Stax O’ Wax.

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman “You’re So Vain” (Carly Simon)
The Odd Couple performs in character on this one, which makes it pretty funny. Jack Klugman doesn’t even pretend that he has any vocal skills, God bless him.

Telly Savalas “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (Johnny Cash)
Yes, it’s the greatest song ever written about being hung over, sung by Kojack. I think he’s trying to sound like Dean Martin. He doesn’t.

Jim Nabors “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” (Stevie Wonder)
Jim Nabors actually had a reasonable singing career around the time that Gomer Pile was on the air. I remember my parents going to see him at a little theater they used to have in the parking lot of the Golf Mill shopping center.

The thing about Mr. Nabors’ singing is that it’s both full-throated and strangely devoid of emotion. Mister Spock puts more feeling (if less raw talent) into his vocal stylings.

Hey kids, it’s No Theme Week! Let’s get right to it.

Betty Dylan “Brand New Key” (Melanie)
My good friend George Blowfish sent me this one. I had never heard of Betty Dylan before, but I’m a believer now. Great guitar riffing.

The Waco Brothers “The Harder They Come” (Jimmy Cliff)
Turning reggae songs into two-fisted rockers is a Good Thing.

Big Daddy “Graceland” (Paul Simon)
I first heard of Big Daddy when they covered “Eye of the Tiger” as a doo-wop tune. Uncle Flakey turned me on to this one and I think the song works much better with the faux Elvis arrangement

The Lost Prophets “Cry Me A River” (Justin Timberlake)
Being an old fart, Justin Timberlake was pretty much off my radar until “Dick In A Box” became unavoidable. You’ll need to stick with this one for a minute or two. It starts out sounding much like the original, but then the guitars come roaring in.

Ben Folds Five “She Don’t Use Jelly” (Flaming Lips)
I just can’t resist a good cha-cha. It’s a deep-seated character flaw.

The vernal equinox happens on Wednesday. As a public service I thought I’d post some songs to serve as a soundtrack while you perform your naked and freaky pagan rituals. What I discovered is that while there are quite a few songs about summer (just wait for my post for the summer solstice), there are relatively few about spring. And even fewer covers of those songs. So this week’s theme is very loosely based on Spring. And sunshine. And sunny weather.

Rosie Flores “Red Red Robin” (Al Jolson)
Hey, robins come back in the spring. I didn’t know that Al Jolson did this song until I started researching this post. I wonder if he sang this one in blackface.

Husker Du “Sunshine Superman” (Donovan Leitch)
Boy, what a fun song. A wonderful tune to crank while you’re cuising in your convertible with the top down.

Voodoo Glow Skulls “Here Comes The Sun” (The Beatles)
I just had to sneak in one more fast and loud song. I met the Voodoo Glow Skulls when I was doing some work for Victory Records. I didn’t know who they were when I saw them but the first thing I thought was that they looked like rock stars.

Parthenon Huxley “Mr. Blue Sky” (Electric Light Orchestra)
Not quite as bouncy as the original version, but I still really like this arrangement.

Petty Booka “We’ll Sing In The Sunshine” (Gale Garnett)
Okay, it’s not about spring. And it’s only marginally about sunshine for that matter. But there is something undeniably warm and springtimey about the girls of Petty Booka regardless of what they’re singing.

Last week’s Tom Waits post seems to have brought a lot of new readers to my little blog. So now I’m going to piss off and alienate all of them.

I grew up on Black Sabbath and Motorhead and I still like a good shot of noise every now and again. It gets the blood flowing and blasts the cholesterol out of the arteries.

Motorhead “Blue Suede Shoes” (Carl Perkins)
If Elvis were still alive this would kill him. I first saw Motorhead at the Aragon Ballroom opening up for Ozzy Osbourne on Ozzy’s first solo tour. The audience was confused because they couldn’t hear a bass even though Lemmy was obviously playing one.

Wendy O. Williams and Lemmy Kilmister “Stand By Your Man” (Tammy Wynette)
It sure sounds like the rest of Motorhead playing on this song but they’re not credited on the 45. Wendy O. Williams is largely forgotten now, but in her day she was famous for destroying cars on stage and performing in a bikini made of shaving cream. Really.

Sid Vicious “My Way” (Frank Sinatra)
He can’t remember the words (what’s all this about killing a cat?) but it doesn’t matter. From the classic album Sid Sings. They really should shoot that one into space for alien races to marvel over.

Dead Kennedys “Rawhide” (Frankie Laine)
Frankie Laine died about a month ago. I was going to do a post of different versions of “Rawhide” but never got around to it. This has always been one of my favorite songs to play really loud while driving really fast.

Slayer “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (Iron Butterfly)
A couple of weeks ago I posted Iron Butterfly’s version of an Allen Toussaint tune. Bringing things full circle is Slayer with a bludgeoning mile-a-minute rave up of the psychedelic favorite.

The title of this post comes from a pun made by Fred Willard when he was co-host of Fernwood 2Night. Remember that show? It was a spinoff of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and featured Willard as a sidekick to Martin Mull’s talk show host.

Anyway, that show was where I first encountered Tom Waits. I was young and impressionable and it left me scarred for life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Blacks “Goin’ Out West” (Tom Waits)
Friday night I went to a free show at the Logan Square Auditorium. It was sponsored by Camel. They had a table set up where folks could get their driver’s licenses scanned (thus allowing Camel to track them and market to them for the rest of their lives) in exchange for a pack of cigarettes. I almost asked the guy behind the table if he felt ashamed of himself.

Local band The Blacks were opening for the Detroit Cobras. The Blacks were absolutely ferocious and blew the Cobras off the stage. Their set featured a piledriver version of my favorite Tom Waits cover.

Jon Dee Graham “Way Down In The Hole” (Tom Waits)
I first saw Jon Dee Graham opening up for somebody else I went to the bar to see. As he played I could only keep thinking “why have I never heard of this guy before?”

The Blue Hawaiians “Jockey Full of Bourbon” (Tom Waits)
According to Hollywood legend, Quentin Tarrantino was a regular at the Lava Lounge where the Blue Hawaiians had a standing gig. Supposedly their performances influenced the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction. I have no idea if that’s true but it’s a good story.

Johnny Cash “Down There By The Train” (Tom Waits)
A powerful reading of a powerful song.

Tom Waits “Sea of Love” (Phil Phillips)
Mr. Waits knows his way around a cover. From the brilliant rarities collection that came out last year called Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards.