This week we’ve got both sides of Country and Western covers. Songs that sound country when they’re not supposed to and country songs that are a little different.
Brødrene Lövenstjerne “Nothing Compares 2 U” (Prince/Sinead O’Connor)
This is from a Norwegian Prince tribute album that he’s suing to have pulled. Since Prince’s little purple lawyers might send me a stern note demanding I take the song down I’d advise you to check it out while it’s still available.
The BossHoss “All The Things She Said” (t.A.T.u.)
A German band doing a country cover of a song by a prefab Russian pop duo, brought to you on the Internet. These are amazing times we’re living in, people.
The Knitters “Baby Out Of Jail” (Marty Robbins)
The Knitters are L.A. punk rockers X playing country music. Their album Poor Little Critter In The Road caused many snotty punk fans to take country music seriously.
The Groovegrass Boyz “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” (Bill Monroe)
This is what happens when Bootsy Collins plays bluegrass.
Cowboy Junkies “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (Hank Williams)
A very dreamy song with some beautiful pedal steel work.
California is in flames. It happens every year around this time, but it’s still pretty dramatic. Not to mention dangerous to lots of people. Here are a few tunes for my friends in the Golden State to listen to while they flee the fires.
GIANTfingers “Baby’s On Fire” (Brian Eno)
The original version is pretty foreboding. This one chugs along quite innocently, despite the disturbing lyrics.
Shirley Bassey “Light My Fire” (The Doors)
Shirley Bassey can certainly belt out a tune. She’s been doing a lot of covers lately of contemporary songs, apparently trying to follow the Tom Jones career track.
Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha “Play With Fire” (Rolling Stones)
Every time there are fires in California they end up busting some idiot for starting some of the fires intentionally. Remember kids, if you play with fire Smokey the Bear will maul you in your sleep.
The Goddard High School Stage Band “Fire” (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
I’m sure that the band director had big sideburns and desperately wanted the kids to think he was hip.
This Kid Named Miles “Ring Of Fire” (Anita Carter/Johnny Cash)
Let’s say you’re a reggae band and you want to cover a song that wasn’t written by Bob Marley or Peter Tosh. What’s the most logical choice? “Ring Of Fire” of course.
I probably should have done my Independence Day post last week but I was inspired by my Kiwi houseguest. Anyway, here are some songs to listen to as you nurse your patriotic hangover.
Yes “America” (Simon And Garfunkle)
Yes is everything that was terrible about corporate rock music in the 70s. Album after album of pompous, bloated arena rock. And apparently every song they touched ended up like that.
The Butthole Surfers “American Woman” (The Guess Who)
A corrosive, almost unlistenable take on the great Canadian song about America. Take that Lenny Kravitz!
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes “Coming To America” (Neil Diamond)
The Gimme Gimmes are always the easy choice when you’re looking for a cover, but this is the only cover I could find of this little slice of flag-waving bombast.
Willie Nelson “America The Beautiful” (Traditional)
This really should be the American national anthem. Anybody can sing it and it talks about the wondrous beauty of our country. Willie does a great job with it.
Marvin Gaye “The Star Spangled Banner” (Traditional)
The Star Spangled Banner is a very difficult song to sing but it’s truly beautiful when sung well. This version was recorded before an NBA all-star game.
Vote For Pedro: The one-year anniversary of Covering The Mouse is fast approaching. To celebrate, Kurtis is asking his readers to vote for their favorite Disney covers that he’s posted. Head on over here to let him know what you want to hear.
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My niece has been in town this week, visiting with her boyfriend who’s from New Zealand. That’s all the excuse I need to present a collection of Kiwi music. Special thanks to Frank and to Kiwi Sue for helping me put this week’s post together. Wing “Highway To Hell” (AC/DC)
Wing was born in Hong Kong but moved to New Zealand, where her apparently well-to-do husband has financed a series of CDs featuring Wing’s singular performances. She is so famous she was featured in an episode of South Park. She reminds me a lot of Mrs. Miller.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” (Split Enz)
When I was researching the song I discovered that people either love this song or absolutely despise it. I’m not sure why, it’s harmless enough. This is just Ted Leo and his electric guitar, doing his best Billy Bragg impression.
Bic Runga “Ashes To Ashes” (David Bowie)
I had never heard of Bic Runga before I started writing this post but she’s apparently quite popular in New Zealand. And rightly so, she’s got a beautiful voice.
Head Like A Hole “Summer Nights” (From the musical Grease)
HLAH were huge in New Zealand before they broke up, even snarling traffic by playing atop a rooftop in downtown Auckland.
Stephen Malkmus “Death And The Maiden” (The Verlaines)
New Zealand is so isolated that people outside of NZ haven’t heard many Kiwi bands and so there aren’t a whole lot of covers of them. Especially once you get past the Finn brothers (Split Enz and Crowded House). But here’s a cover of New Zealand’s Verlaines.
Rachael Barton “God Defend New Zealand” (Traditional)
Rachael Barton is a very talented classical violinist from Chicago. Here she has her way with the national anthem of New Zealand. And it’s a strange national anthem. Usually a national anthem boasts about how great a country is and/or how mighty its military is. This one basically asks God to protect the nation from everything from foreign invaders to athlete’s foot.
The great Bo Diddley died recently. Before we get to the covers tribute let’s pause to review one of the more amusing commercials of recent years. For you youngsters, Bo Jackson was an athlete who played professional baseball and professional football at the same time.
Mary Shelley Overdrive “Who Do You Love” (Bo Diddley)
Boy, this is one creepy song. They do a great job of taking one of the great old warhorses and doing something new with it.
Blues Magoos “Who Do You Love” (Bo Diddley)
This one’s a repost from last year. I don’t normally repost stuff but this is another good example of taking a song well-known for its beat and doing something else with it.
Quicksilver Messenger Service “Mona” (Bo Diddley)
This is from the live album that also includes a twenty-minute version of “Who Do You Love.” It’s also the song that introduced me to Bo Diddley’s music. Really.
Melanie C “I Want Candy” (The Strangeloves)
So many other songs have used the Bo Diddley beat over the years. This is the first one that came to mind.
Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra “You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover” (Bo Diddley)
You don’t often hear trumpets and clarinets on a Bo Diddley song.