When people discuss the brilliance of Warren Zevon’s songwriting they often concentrate on antisocial behavior of the people who inhabit his songs. But the most important thing in the late Mr. Zevon’s writing is the essential humanity of those characters, their search for meaning and love and hope against overwhelming circumstances. Here are a few examples.

David Lindley and Hani Naser “Play It All Night Long” (Warren Zevon)
This song really makes you want to take up farming, doesn’t it?

The Wildhearts “Carmelita” (Warren Zevon)
There are quite a few covers of this song, most staying fairly close to the melancholy feel of the original. This one totally rocks, and that’s kind of odd for a song about being strung out on heroin.

Shawn Colvin “Tenderness On The Block” (Warren Zevon)
One of the greatest songs written by a man about a young woman coming of age.

Jerry Garcia “Accidentally Like A Martyr” (Warren Zevon)
Longtime readers know that I have no special love for the Grateful Dead, but Uncle Jerry’s style suits this wistful song well. Special thanks to Johnny Quest for helping me find this one.

Warren Zevon “Back In The High Life Again” (Steve Winwood)
The original version of this song is pretty upbeat, the song of a guy looking forward to his future. Since this is Warren Zevon singing, he sounds like he doesn’t really believe the things he’s saying.

It’s very sad that Liza has put an end to her Copy, Right? blog. It’s a great loss to everybody who loves covers, music, or amusing writing. This blog would not exist without the example and inspiration of Copy, Right. I wish Liza all the best.

…

I’m up before dawn today because I’m participating in Bike The Drive. It’s a hoot riding your bike down Lake Shore Drive without the fear of instant death you’d have on any other day.

Botanica “Broken Bicycles” (Tom Waits)
I was really hoping that Scarlett Johansson’s album of Tom Waits covers would include “Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis.” I guess that was just too much to hope for. I’m pretty unimpressed with both her song selections and her performance, but I’m not at all surprised. This song’s a much more impressive cover of a pretty obscure tune from Mr. Waits.

Nazareth “My White Bicycle” (Tomorrow)
Tomorrow was Steve Howe’s band before he joined Yes. The original is a minor psychedelic masterpiece of backwards-looped instruments and weird stereo panning. Nazareth turned it into a pretty horrible cock-rock monstrosity, but it’s still a song about a bicycle.

John Fahey “Bicycle Built For Two” (comp. Harry Dacre)
Sticklers for musical history will note that the proper name for this song is “Daisy Bell” even though it is arguably better known with the title John Fahey used.

Upsilon Acrux “Bicycle Race” (Queen)
It’s great to hear a band obviously have such fun covering a song.

The Vindictives “Bike” (Pink Floyd)
You just don’t hear a whole lot of punk covers of Pink Floyd songs. Especially not Pink Floyd songs written by Syd Barrett.

I don’t know if they still do this in school but back in the day they’d show us movies designed to sicken and terrify us as an example of what not to do. There were of course the shots of dead bodies being dragged out of wrecked cars that they showed in driver’s ed. My favorite was the classic Dead Is Dead which illustrated the horrors of drugs by showing us a guy who died of an overdose and whose buddies then tied his body between two old mattresses and dumped it in a vacant lot. That one also included extensive footage of a guy going cold turkey from heroin.

It is in that same spirit of public service that Cover Freak this week presents cautionary tales for musicians that illustrate the dangers of poor decision-making.

Tiny Tim and Eleanor Barooshian “I Got You Babe” (Sonny And Cher)
This comes to us from the 1968 film You Are What You Eat, a 1967 documentary produced by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. The music is performed by The Band. Tiny Tim sings the female part and Ms. Barooshian sings the male part. It’s a sonic train wreck that you just can’t turn away from.

Anthony Newley “Pop Goes The Weasel” (Traditional)
There are plenty of songs that benefit from a jazzy ultra-lounge treatment. This is not one of them.

The Ray Bloch Singers “Everyday People” (Sly And The Family Stone)
A plea for interracial understanding and harmony sung by the most white bread band you’ll ever hear. Apparently the concept of irony was foreign to Ray Bloch.

Mrs. Miller “Green Tambourine” (Lemon Pipers)
I just don’t think that this song suits her voice. Or singing style. But then again, what song possibly could?

Duran Duran “Watching The Detectives” (Elvis Costello)
These pretty boys manage to drain all of the passion and cynicism from an Elvis Costello song. You’d think that wouldn’t leave very much. You’d be right.

Albert Hofmann, the chemist who discovered LSD, died recently at the age of 102. His discovery changed the world in ways large and small, good and bad. Don’t forget that Doc Ellis pitched a no-hitter on acid. Here’s a collection of acid rock, the musical style Mr. Hofmann indirectly helped create.

The Zig Zag People “Little Bit Of Soul” (Music Explosion)
Uncle Flakey pointed me at this album, which was at the extremely cool Redtelephone66 blog. The Zig Zag People recorded an entire album of acid rock covers of bubblegum songs. And I’m so very glad they did.

Curfew “Ode To Billie Joe” (Bobbie Gentry)
This song is sort of a paint-by-numbers primer on how to do acid rock. It’s got the weird time changes, the totally unnecessary keyboard solo in the middle, and the shouted vocals.

Blue Cheer “Summertime Blues” (Eddie Cochran)
You listen to this and you wonder what kind of ungodly noise these kids could have made if they actually knew how to play their instruments. Mister Mitch reminded me that they became much less interesting as they became more “musical” on their later albums.

Fever Tree “Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do)” (Wilson Pickett)
They’re pretty insistent, even if they don’t sound as desperate as Wilson Pickett. Or even Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Vanilla Fudge”Ticket To Ride” (The Beatles)
And here’s the softer side of acid rock. It’s mellow and dreamy but still completely drug-addled. I remember reading a quote from one of the guys in the Fudge to the effect that when they played in bars the owners couldn’t understand why the audience didn’t drink. I think it was the blotter.

One of my neighbors grew up near the lakeshore in Michigan. Her home decor consists mostly of stuff with sailboats and lighthouses on it. A recent visit to her house made “Sloop John B” start running endlessly through my head. Which led to this post.

Barry McGuire “Sloop John B” (Beach Boys)
Yeah, it’s the “Eve Of Destruction” guy. In fact, this is from his Eve Of Destruction album. Thanks to the dynamic Uncle Flakey for bringing it to my attention.

A-Bones “Rock The Boat” (Hues Corporation)
Any disco song sounds better with a Bo Diddly beat.

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee “Sail Away” (Randy Newman)
This is a beautiful, sarcastic song that Randy Newman wrote before he went all sappy and started whoring himself to Disney. Terry and McGhee give it a great bluesy spin.

Face To Face “I’m Popeye The Sailor Man” (Cartoon Theme Song)
As soon as you get your sea legs you can start pumping your fist.

George Clinton “The Banana Boat Song” (Harry Belafonte)
Harry Belafonte’s cool and all, but he just can’t bring the funk like George Clinton.