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.

My birthday is coming up in a few days so I’m gonna post whatever the hell I want. Like that’s different from any other week.

Iron Butterfly “Get Out Of My Life, Woman” (Lee Dorsey)
I saw Allen Toussaint play a couple of weeks ago. He played many of his hits, often mentioning for whom he wrote the songs and also who else had recorded them. He talked about Devo recording “Working In A Coal Mine” and and about all the money he made from the Rolling Stones covering one of his songs.

When he played this song my first thought was “I’ve gotta post the Iron Butterfly version on Cover Freak.” Yes, I’m that much of a geek. Strangely enough, Mr. Toussaint never mentioned Iron Butterfly.

Terry Reid “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (Cher)
Update: Alert Reader John pointed out to me that Cher released her version of “Bang Bang” earlier in 1966 than Nancy Sinatra did.

I’ve known about Terry Reid since I heard “Superlungs My Supergirl” on the original Nuggets compilation when I was in high school. More recently I was at a CD shop that was having a sale to clear out excess inventory, mainly promotional CDs. And there I saw a two-disc Terry Reid best-of collection for $5. I picked it up and was quite impressed with his stuff that’s not “Superlungs,” especially this smoldering guitar freakout.

Giant Sand “Wayfaring Stranger/Fly Me To The Moon” (Johnny Cash/Frank Sinatra)
Update: John also pointed out that “Fly Me To The Moon” was first recorded by Kay Ballard, although the Frank Sinatra version is certainly the most well-known.

Lately I’ve been digging Howe Gelb’s CD from last year ‘Sno Angel Like You. It’s a secular album recorded with a gospel choir and it’s a fantastic listening experience. So I figured I’d post a cover he did with his band Giant Sand.

The Cash Covered CD is a bit uneven as most tribute albums are but there are some true gems like this song on it. Why Mr. Gelb feels the need to combine Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra I don’t know, but he’s the crazed genius of the desert so who am I to question him?

Occidental Brothers Dance Band International “Bizarre Love Triangle” (New Order)
The local NPR station has a morning show (which I think is nationally syndicated) called Eight Forty-Eight. They recently started doing a segment on Thursdays where a Chicago band comes into their studio and records a cover. They’ve only been doing it for a month or so, but so far it’s been pretty interesting.

Apparently only two members of the band even knew what song they were going to be playing before they went into the studio. It’s amazing how tight the band sounds given the lack of rehearsal time.

Juan Vicari and His Orchestra “Old Gray Mare Mambo” (Traditional)
Because sometimes I want to hear a cheesy mambo. So there.

February is many people’s least favorite month, what with the cold dank weather and leaden skies. Suicide rates go up. What’s the cure for the midwinter blues you ask? Dance like you’ve never danced before!

Apollo 440 “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (Blue Oyster Cult)
Normally this song just makes me want to smoke dope. Now it makes me want to dance. And then smoke dope.

Second Run “Seasons In The Sun” (Terry Jacks)
A melancholy song gets a serious shot of caffeine.

Cristina “Drive My Car” (Beatles)
I was introduced to Cristina’s Sleep It Off album when I was doing college radio. One of the other disk jockeys played their cover of “Ballad of Immoral Earnings” from the Threepenny Opera. I didn’t know squat about Kurt Weill at the time but I loved the song, which was sort of a new-wave tango duet about a man pimping his girlfriend. I asked her who performed it and she pointed me at this album.

The original songs were pretty uninspired but another cover on the album caught my ear.

Boogie Pimps “Sunny” (Bobby Hebb)
One of the greatest band names ever.

Pet Shop Boys “Where The Streets Have No Name” (U2)
I find U2 horribly pretentious. I find Bono to be a preening self-righteous prick and the people who receive him like a head of state are idiots. He’s a freaking rock and roll singer, people!

So I’m completely in favor of bands turning U2 songs into scorching disco epics. The snippet of “You’re Just Too Good To Be True” is inspired.

I’m frankly a little hesitant to do a Valentine’s Day post since my Christmas post was one of the least popular I’ve done. But then the Cole Porter post has been way more popular than I anticipated, so what do I know?

Sonic Youth “Superstar” (The Carpenters)
The lyrics of Karen Carpenter’s songs are generally pretty disturbing if you actually listen to them. Thurston Moore sings this one like a creepy diaper-wearing astronaut stalker. Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

Hole “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)” (The Crystals)
Speaking of disturbing lyrics. Wikipedia has this to say about the song:

Goffin and King wrote the song after discovering that singer Little Eva was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied with complete sincerity that her boyfriend’s actions were motivated by his love for her.

The song was written and intended as a sort of protest song from the point of view of an abused woman.

Courtney Love was born to sing this song.

Fastball “This Guy’s In Love With You” (Herb Alpert)
Howzabout a little schmaltz to clear the palette after that last song? “The Way” has always been something of a guilty pleasure for me. So has Burt Bacharach for that matter. The combination of Fastball and Bacharach is too much for me to resist.

Joan Osborne “How Sweet It Is” (Marvin Gaye)
A few years ago Ms. Osborne did a wonderful (and commercially ignored, as far as I can tell) covers CD called How Sweet It Is. It’s really great stuff, all very old school soul and R&B.

Petty Booka “Teacher’s Pet” (Doris Day)
Petty Booka is two absolutely adorable Japanese women who play ukuleles and charm the socks off all who stand in their way. They didn’t perform this song when I saw them play live but they did lead the audience in a singalong of “Que Sera Sera.”

I first became aware of Cole Porter during the Parents Music Resource Center Congressional hearings during the 80s. I remember Tipper Gore saying, “There’s a big difference between ‘The birds do it, the bees do it’ and ‘I’ll force you at gunpoint to eat me alive.'” (Thanks to Cletus for tracking down that second lyric for me.)

In my old age I’m becoming a fan of Porter’s songwriting. Here are a few examples of his craft.

David Byrne “Don’t Fence Me In”
There’s been a whole series of Red, Hot, and Something CDs to benefit AIDS research. The first one was a tribute to Cole Porter called Red, Hot + Blue. David Byrne was one of the contributors with this wacky rhythm-happy tune.

Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg “Let’s Do It”
This comes to us from the sound track of the film Tank Girl. No, I don’t remember that movie either.

Sophie Milman “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”
A strange arrangement. It starts out with a Peter Gunn vamp, slides into more traditional jazz territory, and ends up back in spy-ville.

Local band The Blacks do a great, sleazy version of this song live but they’ve never recorded it as far as I can tell. And that’s just a damn shame.

Tom Jones And Juliet Prowse “I Get A Kick Out of You”
Mr. Jones restrains himself in service to the duet here, but it still takes care of my jones for Jones. For you trivia fans, Juliet Prowse was the first guest on The Muppet Show.

Enoch Light “I Get A Kick Out of You”
Enoch Light is one of the gods of the lounge/exotica movement. Sadly he’s not as well known as Esquivel! or Martin Denny. Sometimes life isn’t fair. This song features some great roller-rink organ. From the album A New Concept of Cole Porter.