I was looking at the stats for Cover Freak and I noticed that I have more readers in Holland than I do in Canada. I wondered why, and eventually I figured out that it must be because I haven’t been posting enough Canadian content. Jamie over at Fong Songs is from Edmonton and he tells me that can-con just means that they play way too much Loverboy on the radio. But to be fair it also gave the world Bob and Doug MacKenzie.

So in order to help Cover Freak dominate the English-speaking world, here are some covers from the Great White North.

Emma Zunz “She’s A Lady” (Tom Jones)
I didn’t know that Paul Anka was born in Canada. I thought he sprang fully-formed from the sand outside Las Vegas. I also didn’t know that he wrote “She’s A Lady.” Wikipedia is a wonderful thing, ain’t it?

I’ve always loved this song, mainly for the line about he can leave her alone and know that “there’s no messing.” What kind of skeezy ho-bag does Mr. Anka usually date? To me that doesn’t mean that a woman is necessarily a lady, it just means that she’s less likely to give you the clap.

Cowboy Junkies “Walking After Midnight” (Patsy Cline)
Cowboy Junkies is a band that has grown on me over the years. They’re a great cover band, largely because they choose songs to cover that match their style very well. This is a great bluesy version of a song that seemed too cheerful for its lyrics when Patsy Cline did it. And I’m sure that I don’t need to mention that the Cowboy Junkies hail from Canada.

The Knitters “Born To Be Wild” (Steppenwolf)
This song was written by Mars Bonfire. I’ve always thought that was a pretty cool stage name, second only to Lux Interior. Now I learn that his real name is Dennis Edmonton. That’s a great stage name all by itself, especially since he’s from Ontario. Wait, Edmonton’s in Alberta. He should change his name to Dennis Toronto. If I ever become a famous musician I’m going to call myself Joe Chicago.

Screaming Jets “My Heart Will Go On” (Celine Dion)
Whenever I hear that Celine Dion will be on television I try to watch. Not because I like her music (I don’t) but because she makes me laugh whenever she speaks. There’s just something about a scrawny woman who talks like a hockey player that I find endlessly amusing.

The Bobs “Bird On A Wire” (Leonard Cohen)
Leonard Cohen is a truly great songwriter and poet and a tribute to Canada. It’s cool that he’s touring again even if the unfortunate reason is that he needs the cash. But most of his songs are kind of depressing. So are most of the covers of his songs. This is a rare upbeat Leonard Cohen cover.

I saw the Bobs perform a few years ago and they sang this tune. After the show I asked Richard Bob if Mr. Cohen knew what they had done to his song. He said that they had sent him a copy of the CD and hadn’t heard back from him, but that mutual acquaintances had assured him that Mr. Cohen does have a sense of humor.

Spring has officially started, it’s kinda warmish, and the garlic in my garden has started to sprout. It’s time to go out for a stroll.

The Mavises “Walk On By” (Dionne Warwick)
The original is a grandly swelling description of the wreckage of a broken relationship. This one is very upbeat and will put a spring in your step and you walk on by.

The Puppini Sisters “Walk Like An Egyptian” (The Bangles)
In some alternative universe the Andrews Sisters were an 80’s pop band. Or maybe the Bangles worked the USO circuit during World War II. Either way, this is what it would sound like.

Sheliyah “Walk This Way” (Aerosmith)
Aerosmith is another one of those popular bands that just never grabbed my interest. They did a couple of good songs but I just don’t get why they got so popular famous and rich that they became olympic-level heroin addicts. At any rate this swinging jazzy rendition really made me listen to the song in a new way.

Javier Alvarez “These Boots Are Made For Walking” (Nancy Sinatra)
I found this over at the very excellent Cover Vs. Original. The author says that it comes from a popular French television show. It’s mostly acoustic with very tasteful washes of distortion and a great breathy chick background singer.

Ghoti Hook “Walking On Sunshine” (Katrina And The Waves)
I’ve really been digging those ska horn sections lately.

The New Kid: If you check the links on the right side of the page you’ll see a new one for The Cover Story. This guy presents YouTube videos of covers as done by amateurs. He’s got some good stuff there, you should check it out.

And speaking of YouTube, you should also check out Thru You. This guy called Kuitman takes YouTube videos of original songs performed by amateurs and remixes them into new songs. The results are simply amazing. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen on YT in a long time.

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I don’t usually post Disney covers because Kurtis over at Covering The Mouse does such a good job of it. No need for me to reinvent the wheel. He’s probably posted all of this week’s songs at one point or another. In fact, I posted Heigh Ho on CTM as a guest blogger awhile back. But I just picked up a couple of albums of Disney covers and I enjoyed them so much that I felt inspired.

Tom Waits “Heigh Ho” (from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs)
Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. People don’t work as miners by choice. They do it because they have to, because they don’t have other options.

So even as a child I thought the dwarves seemed weirdly chipper about going to work in the mine. Especially when they had a hot chick with a dwarf fetish living with them. Tom Waits gets this. His song makes those little guys sound like they hate the mine and would rather be anywhere else. It’s one of the most harrowing Disney covers you’ll ever hear.

Gene Simmons “When You Wish Upon A Star” (from Pinocchio)
I always thought KISS was pretty lame, and that’s why I had to buy Gene Simmons’ solo album when I found it in the cutout bin. I had to find out how bad it was. It was worse than I thought possible. Just listen to him try to hit the high notes.

Bowling For Soup “The Bare Necessities” (from Jungle Book)
This song takes the joy of the original and puts it nicely in a more modern context. It’s not deep or particularly artsy, but it’s a whole lot of fun.

Asparagus “Winnie The Pooh” (from Winnie The Pooh)
The original version is pretty wistful, and so is this cover at first. Then the band finds another gear and turns it into quite the rockin’ ditty.

Smash Mouth “I Wanna Be Like You” (Louis Prima, from Jungle Book)
Smash Mouth is my guilty pleasure, my secret shame. There’s just something about them that I love. That troubles me because they really are the ultimate frat-party band. And I hate frats.

It’s always gratifying when a publicist or a record label or a band sends me some music in the hope that exposure on Cover Freak will help the band. It makes me feel like a big and important part of the Media Marketing Machine.

I also like doing anything I can to help independent artists.

If you would like me to post some music from your band just drop me a line. Remember, of course, that I only post cover songs. You’d be surprised at the number of publicists that have a hard time with that concept.

Here’s a selection of songs that have been sent to me recently. If you like what you hear, encourage them. Buy their music and go to their shows.

Wiley And The Checkmates “Ode To Billy Joe” (Bobbie Gentry)
The great thing about this song is that it’s sung to the tune of Hip-Hug-Her. Wiley And The Checkmates is a great soul band. Check out their new album, it’s got a great original song on it about chicken.

Kesang Marstrand “Say Say Say” (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson)
If Paul McCartney could go back in time and take back one thing, this would probably be it. Not only is it the low point of two songwriters’ careers this was also when he gave Michael Jackson the bright idea to buy the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog.

I really like what Kesang Marstrand does with this song. She delivers a wonderful heartfelt acoustic version that sounds light years better than the original, which makes me cringe every time I hear it.

Painting Tasters “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Nirvana)
Every time I think that I don’t need to hear another version of this song another one comes along that sounds great and different. It’s a hallmark of a well written song that it can stand up to being reinterpreted in so many different styles. You can download a lot of this band’s music at their web page.

Telling On Trixie “Mad About You” (Belinda Carlisle)
The publicist who sent me this described it as a “sinister” Belinda Carlsile cover. I don’t think it sounds particularly sinister in its own right, although just about anything sounds sinister if you compare it to anything Belinda Carlisle ever recorded. These guys have their own web site too. I like that better than having a MySpace page. I’m not sure why, maybe I’m just old school like that.

Bertie Higgins “Brown Eyed Girl” (Van Morrison)
According to Mr. Higgins’ publicist, “Bertie has been touring and performing since the ‘60s, when he honed his skills as a drummer with Tommy Roe, opening up for superstars like the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and Roy Orbison, among others. But he is easily best known for his 1982 #1 hit ‘Key Largo,’ which became an international sensation.”

Somehow I missed out on that international sensation. In 1982 I was a college freshman and was interested in more localized sensations. Still I found the tropic-flavored covers on his latest album enjoyable.

And I wonder why Jimmy Buffett sells out huge ampitheaters and owns a chain of overpriced burger joints and this guy doesn’t. Is it just blind luck? A deal with the devil? The fact that Bertie likes to dress like a pirate in public?

Tomorrow is my birthday, which prompted me to look at Wikipedia to see what notable events have occurred on the day I was born. And from that list comes this musical tribute.

Chad Everett “Nights On Broadway” (Bee Gees)
Tomorrow is St. Chad’s Day in the Church of England. I never knew there was a St. Chad, but that’s what I get for growing up Catholic. This was the only cover I had by somebody named Chad. And yes, that’s Chad Everett of Medical Center fame.

Martin Denny “Caravan” (Duke Ellington)
The god of exotica/lounge music died on March 2, 2005. Generally I try to avoid observing the date of somebody’s death because I prefer to celebrate the lives of people I admire. But it’s a good excuse to post a Martin Denny song. This is a good one to listen to on headphones as all the odd percussion skitters from one side of your head to the other.

Johnette Napolitano and Danny Lohner “The Scientist” (Coldplay)
It’s Chris Martin’s birthday tomorrow. I’m pretty indifferent to Coldplay so I think of him mostly as Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow. After Coldplay appeared on the Grammys I was surprised by the hatred several of my friends have toward them.

Mata Hari “For No One” (The Beatles)
In honor of Mikhail Gorbachev’s birthday we have this Russian Beatles cover. When I first heard it I thought the guy was singing in Russian. He’s not, he just has a really thick accent.

Gorby’s Wikipedia bio includes this little tidbit:

That same year (2007), he visited New Orleans, Louisiana, a spot hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, and promised that he would return in 2011 to personally lead a local revolution if the U.S. government had not repaired the levees by that time. He said that revolutionary action should be a last resort.

An old Russian guy leading an army of angry black people? While I certainly hope New Orleans gets rebuilt I’d love to see Gorby dropping by to storm the barricades.

The Bigfellas “Mr. Blue Sky” (Electric Light Orchestra)
On March 2, 1949 the first automatic street light was installed in New Milford, Conn.

When Mayor Daley The Elder was elected to his first term as mayor of Chicago one of his first acts was to install street lights every thirty feet or so on every street in the city. He figured that everybody would see that he was getting things done. He kept getting reelected until he dropped dead.

Now the night is brighter than day and if you’re in the suburbs you can always orient yourself by looking for that eerie orange glow of Chicago. It was a little unsettling when I went to college in central Missouri because the night sky was so big and bright. I had never really grasped the glory of the stars growing up because of all the light pollution.

BTW this song sounds wonderful played on banjo and spoons.