Thanks to Chris Salmon for the nice mention in the Guardian.

Once again I take my monthly break from theme-mongering to bring you… stuff.

The Blues Magoos “Who Do You Love” (Bo Diddley)
It’s possible to play a Bo Diddley song without a Bo Diddley beat, but is it advisable? Discuss.

Erin McKeown “It’s Only A Paper Moon” (Ella Fitzgerald)
Ms. McKeown was apparently so focused on being a successful singer/songwriter that she had a hard time taking up the challenge of doing a covers album. This nicely syncopated version of the jazz standard makes me glad she did.

Ludwig Von 88 “We Will Rock You” (Queen)
I was a huge fan of early Queen when I was in grade school, but this song never did much for me. The stupid dinosaur-stomp beat just makes my head hurt. I wince every time I hear it at a sports arena.

Luckily the wacky Frenchmen of Ludwig Von 88 make it sound like a rocking Clash tune.

Lou Rawls “Season of the Witch” (Donovan)
Boy, this is way better than the original. Thanks to Uncle Flakey for this one.

Axton Kincaid “I Wanna Be Adored” (Stone Roses)
Some really nice fingerpicking on this song. And killer pedal steel guitar. Do you need anything else?

Update: Apparently the hotlink blocking was causing problems for people going directly to the main page of the blog. Sorry about that. I’ve turned the feature off at least until I can figure out how to get it to work correctly.

And you crazy kids with the flash-based audio players please don’t add songs from my site to your playlists. Thanks.

Moving right along…

The humble ukelele is often the butt of jokes or at least dirision. But in the hands of a talented player it is a wonderful instrument. Don’t believe me? Check this out:

Petty Booka “Singin’ In The Rain” (Gene Kelly)
The girls of Petty Booka are so cute I just want to pinch their cheeks.

And before anybody writes in, I know that this song was first recorded by Cliff Edwards. Gene Kelly’s version is the one most people think of when they think of this song.

Pauline Easy “Billie Jean” (Michael Jackson)
Is it possible to moonwalk in the sand?

Magnetic Fields “If I Were A Rich Man” (From Fiddler On The Roof)
Steve Martin had a bit when he was doing standup comedy about how you just can’t sing a sad song while playing the banjo. I used to think the same thing was true about the ukelele before I heard this. Somebody get this man some Prozac!

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole “Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World” (Judy Garland/Louis Armstrong)
You might have heard this before since it’s been used in serveral movies and television programs. It’s still quite lovely.

Jake Shimabukuro “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The Beatles)
Apparently George Harrison was very interested in the ukelele toward the end of his life. He allegedly used to travel with two ukes so that he could always play with somebody else.

This is really amazing stuff. George would be proud.

The history of rock and roll is sadly replete with examples of white musicians ripping off black musicians. Too often the original artists don’t get credit or (more importantly) money for their creative efforts.

So let’s turn the tables this week and listen to black artists covering songs written and recorded by white folks.

Otis Redding “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones)
The Stones only wish they could rock this hard. Nice punchy horn section.

Wilson Pickett “Sugar Sugar” (The Archies)
More soul than a bubblegum song deserves.

Stevie Wonder “Blowin’ In The Wind” (Bob Dylan)
It’s not often that you’ll see “Stevie Wonder” and “crap” in the same sentence, but that’s the case here. He just has no feeling at all for what this song is about.

Isaac Hayes “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” (Glen Campbell)
This is an edited version. The song originally included a four-minute rambling introduction about the nature of love. I thought that if I left it in nobody would stick around to hear the music. And that would be a shame because Chef really mines a deep vein of love and regret from this tune.

Booker T. and the MGs “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (U2)
It’s nice for what it is, but it just pales beside “Time Is Tight.”

Years ago I was a college DJ in central Missouri. We used to have a program where we would play comedy records. It was near the Fourth of July so I played Richard Pryor’s Bicentennial Nigger. Mind you, the show was airing at midnight and I did do a disclaimer beforehand warning the easily offended to turn off their radios.

One of the school’s leading lights heard it (apparently his kid was listening to my show when he walked into the room) and freaked out. The station had to cancel the comedy show. That was a bad thing since we had a sponsor for that show and no college radio station wants to lose sponsorship money.

That was really an Independence Day to remember.

Betty Dylan “The Star Spangled Banner”(Lyrics by Francis Scott Key)
This is a really hard song to sing, but it’s truly beautiful when it’s sung well. I was looking for the audio from Bobby McFerrin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live but I couldn’t find it anywhere. There’s not even any video of it on YouTube, so it must really not exist.

Richard Cheese “American Idiot” (Green Day)
Leave it to the Cheese Man to make this song part of a patriotic medley.

The Germs “You’re A Grand Old Flag” (George M. Cohan)
I think they need to brush up on the lyrics to this one.

Ray Charles “America The Beautiful” (Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates)
This really should be our national anthem. It talks about America’s natural beauty and doesn’t get militaristic. And everybody can sing it. Brother Ray does a fantastic job.

Boxcar Willie “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (Traditional)
Remember those late-night commercials for the Best of Boxcar Willie album? He was an Air Force veteran and a big star in England. After he died in 1999 (in Branson MO, of course) they named an overpass in Texas after him.

They’re not covers, but here are two of my all time favorite patriotic songs.

The Tubes “Proud To Be An American”
Put American culture in a blender and hit “puree” and you’ll end up with the Tubes.

Alice Cooper “I Love America”
I don’t especially love Velveeta slapped on Wonder Bread, but it’s still a song full of great patriotic sentiment.

I’ve had a busy week, so I had no time to come up with a theme.

Andy Prieboy “On The Road Again” (Canned Heat)
Andy Prieboy used to sing for Wall of Voodoo, taking over when Stan Ridgway left. These days he apparently hangs out in Los Angeles writing novels and releasing the occasional album.

Bryan Ferry “The ‘In’ Crowd” (Dobie Gray)
Greg Kot, the rock music critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote a column last week about cover songs. The occasion was the impending release by Bryan Ferry of an album of Bob Dylan covers. Mr. Kot published a list of his favorite covers, I sent him a list of mine, and he even wrote back.

At any rate the column got me thinking about my favorite Bryan Ferry covers. This is one of them.

Nostalgia 77 “Seven Nation Army” (The White Stripes)
I’m not a huge White Stripes fan. The drumming gets on my nerves pretty quickly so I can’t listen to their music for very long.

That said, I think that many of their songs make for good cover material because they’re so stripped down to begin with. It leaves other artists a lot of room to put their own stamp on the songs. This song is a wonderful, funky example.

Petra Haden “Mary Ann With The Shaky Hand” (The Who)
Petra Haden recorded an a capella version of The Who Sell Out. A very ambitious undertaking, but she pulls it off wonderfully.

Oranger “Mister Sandman” (The Chordettes)
Reader B. Halsey turned me on to the Stubbs The Zombie videogame soundtrack. Not being a gamer I was unaware of the album, but it’s chockablock with great covers.

And as a reminder folks, if you have any covers lying around that you think I’d be interested in please drop me a line.