Ghosts And Witches And Zombies

Last Call
Next week is the Best Of Cover Freak 2009. If there’s something from the last year you’d like reposted, leave a comment or send me an email.

I happened to start Cover Freak the last week of October. Since I always do a Best Of Cover Freak post when the anniversary comes around I’ve never done a Halloween-themed post. So I figured that this year I’d do one even if I had to do it a little early. Hopefully this will get you in the mood to go buy huge bags of candy.

Dr. John “Season Of The Witch” (Donovan)
Did anybody actually see Blues Brothers 2000? Was the purpose of making it purely to make a fast buck or did Dan Ackroyd also feel the need to piss on John Belushi’s grave? At least that very forgettable movie gave us this swamp-funk Donovan cover. I have a David Bromberg CD where he says in the liner notes that he’d listen to Dr. John read the phone book. I’d have to agree.

Spiderbait “Ghost Riders In The Sky” (Vaughan Monroe)
I first heard of these guys when they did a demented cover of “Black Betty.” They bring the same energy to the Vaughan Monroe classic. I especially like the Southern-fried guitar freakout near the end.

Edwin Collins “Witchcraft” (Frank Sinatra)
Smooth and keyboard-drenched, it’s modern lounge music that even the Chairman of the Board could get behind.

R.E.M. “I Walked With A Zombie” (Roky Erickson)
My daughter had one of her little friends over for a play date the other day and I got to talking with her friend’s mother about the superiority of zombies to vampires. The conversation made me think of this song, which has a great groove but is hands-down one of the dumbest songs ever written. The only lyrics are “I walked with a zombie last night” over and over and over.

Ben Taylor Band “Time Of The Season” (The Zombies)
This one’s got some great glitchy keyboards and fantastic stereo separation. Listen to it on headphones if you can.

8 thoughts on “Ghosts And Witches And Zombies

  1. Don Mills

    Thanks for the Spiderbait. I’m pretty sure I picked up on the Black Betty cover here and it’s great. Looking forward to hearing this cover too.

    Thanks again

  2. Chris

    I’ve always been amused by how Michael Stipe keeps emphasizing different words in the sentence he has to sing over and over and over, perhaps in an attempt to keep from falling asleep…

  3. Steve McI

    This post wasn’t intended to be a zombie mix. It was intended to be a collection of cover songs loosely related to the theme of Halloween.

  4. Mike FB

    I just found your site a couple weeks back, and after taking a listen on youtube to some now-unposted previous covers, may I request Magic Numbers “Crazy In Love” for this Best of ’09 coming up? Or maybe Jazzistics & Karen Souza “Personal Jesus” cover?

    [I think I may love this site.]

  5. Chad

    Great! I have been looking for “I Walked with a Zombie” ever since my cassette of Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye got eaten by the player. Do you have other Roky Erickson covers? Thanks for posting this! Never seen your site before but plan to visit often.

  6. Steve McI

    Glad you enjoyed the song Chad. I own the CD of Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye and I’m sure I’ll post other songs from it over time as they fit into the theme for any given week.

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