Cover Freak

The title of last week’s post referred to the Arab Spring which has brought freedom (or at least its possibility) to millions of people throughout the Arab world. Last week I also received a large stack of memos that my uncle the spy wrote during the siege of the Dominican Embassy in Bogota in 1980, thanks to the Freedom Of Information Act. Perhaps the newly-liberated Arab countries can enact a similar law to bring some transparency to their new governments. I’ve been thinking about freedom lately and  I decided to devote this week’s post to the idea.

The Amboy Dukes “I Feel Free” (Cream)
For the most part this song doesn’t stray very far from the original, but that guitar solo is pure Ted.

Lea Roberts “All Right Now” (Free)
I always assumed that the band Free intended their name to mean “free” as in freedom, not “free” as in beer. If I ever run into Paul Rodgers I’ll have to ask him about that.

Lea Roberts really brings the funk on this one.

Queen Mariachillout “I Want To Break Free” (Queen)
Yeah, it’s another Queen song. When I was in high school they were one of my favorite bands, which led to no small amount of grief from my classmates. Funny how after Freddy Mercury died all these popular musicians came out of the closet as Queen fans. Anyway, I just can’t stop laughing at this accordion-fueled Mexican polka take on Queen.

Porter Block “Breaking Free” (From High School Musical)
This comes from the very excellent Guilt By Association compilation album, which featured “alternative” artists covering their favorite guilty-pleasure songs. Somehow this version seems to carry much more emotional weight than the original.

Doveman “I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man)” (Kenny Loggins)
Doveman (at least in this case) is Thomas Bartlett. For some reason he decided to cover the entire soundtrack album from the movie Footloose. Most of the covers on the album are rather slow and meditative, bringing a whole new meaning to the lyrics.

More iPhone Goodness: I’ve added a new plugin that gives iPhone users a more optimized layout. That also required me to use a different plugin for the share buttons at the bottom of the posts. Let me know how it all works for you.

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I had lunch at a pita joint last week. I had the chicken schwarma sandwich and it was delicious, thanks for asking. As I was eating I realized that they had tuned their radio to the local station that was playing wall-to-wall Christmas music. I don’t particularly like Christmas music in the first place and it really annoys me to hear it two weeks before Thanksgiving. And it seemed particularly inappropriate in a pita joint. Since the walls were decorated with Middle Eastern art I would have expected that they would be playing Middle Eastern music. Since I’m dedicated to public service, here is a short playlist that any Arab/Middle Eastern restaurant can play when they’re tempted to put on the Christmas music.

Rachid Taha “Rock El Casbah” (The Clash)
In another example of mass cluelessness, this song became very popular during Gulf War I because of the line about dropping bombs between the minarets. Which is too bad because the song was really about Middle Eastern governments censoring and/or banning music.

Rachid Taha is an Algerian musician and political activist who makes music that draws from the Western rock and punk scenes as well as Middle Eastern music.

Dolapdere Big Gang “Billie Jean” (Michael Jackson)
I just can’t get enough of the pulsing Turkish rhythms that the Big Gang traffics in. I was also looking for a Michael Jackson song to post since it seems that the circumstances surrounding his death have been resolved.

Brothers of the Baladi “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield)
Brothers of the Baladi are from Portland, Oregon. Not the place I think of first when I think of hotbeds of Middle Eastern music. They use a mix of traditional Middle Eastern instruments and Western rock instruments and have recorded an amazingly varied selection of traditional Middle Eastern music, great covers, and very interesting original songs.

Hayseed Dixie “Fat Bottomed Girls” (Queen)
Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar as Farrokh Bulsara and grew up to be a famous Western rock star. You’ve gotta wonder if a kid from an Islamic East African country could pull that off these days.

Hayseed Dixie reminds me a lot of Big Daddy, in that they have their schtick and they work it very well. In the case of Hayseed Dixie it’s bluegrass covers, and every one of them is perfect.

Arab Strap “Why Can’t This Be Love” (Van Halen)
Arab Strap was a Scottish band but their name was Arab. Sort of. Probably best that the restauranteurs not know where the name comes from. At any rate, this is a really good live cover that sounds nothing like Van Halen. Which is generally a good thing.

Thanks For Your Support: Thanks to everybody who has so generously contributed to keep Cover Freak going for another year. I particularly want to thank Kiwi Sue for issuing her inspirational challenge, and the Metal Goddess for her evil contribution. If you haven’t yet contributed there’s still time. That big orange button at the top of the left column isn’t going anywhere.

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Attention iPhones And iPads: I’ve updated the plugin that puts an arrow next to the music links that you can click on for quick-n-easy listening. That feature is now available to users of Apple’s mobile devices. Enjoy!

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One of the things I didn’t put in my bio on the site is the fact that I’m an Irish citizen. Ireland has this very cool law that makes you eligible for citizenship if any one of your grandparents was born in Ireland. Since my grandparents came over on the boat I signed up as quickly as I could. My old Irish passport was expiring so I picked up my new one last week. Which of course led to this week’s musical travelogue. I could have just saved this theme until St. Patrick’s Day, but that would be too easy. You’d expect that. And I pride myself on zigging when you expect me to zag.

Scythian “Danny Boy” (Comp. Frederick Weatherly)
This is one of those songs I really hate. It’s so maudlin, and always sung in a way that’s sure to reduce a room full of drunken Irishmen to uncontrollable sobbing. That said, I really like this version. They radically reinvent the rhythm of the tune and sing it as a driving rock song.

The Storyville Jassband “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (John McCormack)
There’s something about a band from Holland playing a Dixieland jazz version of a song about Ireland that really turns my crank.

Metallica “Whiskey In The Jar” (Traditional)
Thin Lizzy recorded this traditional Irish folk song in the early 70s just to remind everybody that they were indeed Irish. Metallica’s version isn’t all that different from Thin Lizzy’s but it is a little more aggressive. And every folk song about a highwayman getting betrayed by his lover needs all the aggression a performer can muster.

And if you haven’t heard the new album Metallica made with Lou Reed, don’t bother. I was kind of dubious about their collaboration, but the whole idea was so fucked up that I thought it might end up being brilliant. Alas, the result is truly awful. And the really sad part is that it’s still the most musically interesting thing either one has done in years.

Pastel Vespa “The Boys Are Back In Town” (Thin Lizzy)
And speaking of Thin Lizzy, here’s a lounge version of their big international hit. Pastel Vespa is a character created by an Australian singer when she was working on a cruise ship. I really dig her non-specific Eurotrash accent.

Elvis Costello “Third Rate Romance” (Amazing Rhythm Aces)
I guess I really should have at least one actual Irish artist in this post, eh? I guess you could argue that Elvis Costello is English since he was born in England to Irish parents, but there’s something about him that’s always stuck me as quintessentially Irish. While Elvis Costello is a cool stage name, I  think that his real name Declan McManus is even cooler. But then what do I know about marketing popular musicians?

Part of the appeal of the Amazing Rhythm Aces’ version is the whole tawdry Jimmy-Buffet-gone-to-seed vibe. But I do like the syncopated 50s spin Elvis puts on it.

Alms For The Poor: Cover Freak is five years old this week. And that means that it’s time for my yearly grovel for money. Cover Freak is my hobby and I quite enjoy it. It does cost money to host the web site and to purchase the music I share with the world. While I understand that times are tough all over, I am asking that you use the orange button at the top of the left column of this page to contribute $2 to the care and feeding of Cover Freak. It’s a modest request considering what it costs to buy a pack of cigarettes or even a sandwich nowadays. And if you’re coming back on any kind of regular basis I would hope that you’re getting at least $2 worth of entertainment out of the site. If all my regular readers would contribute that much it would be a very big deal to me. Thanks for your support.

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Another year has flown past. I posted more than ten great songs, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Without further ado, here’s the best of the last year on Cover Freak.

Trio “Tutti Fruitty” (Little Richard)
I was watching the World Series the other night and somebody made a reference to the Mike Meyers “Sprockets” skits from Saturday Night Live. The ex-jock color analyst Tim McCarver had no idea what the guy was talking about. The play-by-play guy gamely tried to explain it but got nowhere. Poor Tim simply had no frame of reference.

At any rate, this is the kind of art-damaged German music that Sprockets was built on.

Fritz Ostermayer “Angst In My Pants” (Sparks)
Sparks were the prototypical twitchy 80s new-wave MTV band. Which is why this cover, dripping with Weimar cabaret sleaze, always blows me away.

William Elliott Whitmore “Don’t Pray On Me” (Bad Religion)
Mr. Whitmore sings songs that cover some of the same subject matter as Bad Religion so it’s really not that surprising to hear him cover this song despite working in a very different musical style. One of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen featured Mr. Whitmore playing in a former church that had a huge neon cross suspended above the altar. He asked that it be turned on and he then proceeded to sing a song about digging his own grave. Amazing stuff.

Stacy Phillips and Paul Howard “If 6 Was 9″ (Jimi Hendrix)
The music of Jimi Hendrix is firmly rooted in the blues, even if it doesn’t always sound that way. But these two guys boil this song down to its bones as a hardcore Delta blues tune.

Lumpy “Willie The Pimp” (Frank Zappa)
This is my favorite song from the Frank Zappa tribute album I put out last December. It’s a wonderful dub reggae arrangement with lots of overdubbed horns. I always give extra credit for a flugelhorn.

Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women “Que Sera, Sera” (Doris Day)
The original version of this song was breezy and sentimental, but it didn’t rock. Dave Alvin and his all-girl band give it the rockin’ roots rock treatment.

Lizzy Parks “It Was A Very Good Year” (Frank Sinatra)
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know about my love of the Hammond organ. And this is a song that really works the Mighty B-3 to great effect. I also like the fact that Ms. Parks doesn’t pretend to be an old lady looking back on her life. She promises that when she’s 35 she’ll have a gas of a year. And I bet she will.

String Swing “Things Have Changed” (Bob Dylan)
There are a lot of Dylan covers out there, in all musical styles. But you don’t hear a lot of swing jazz arrangements of his music. The song is still cynical but not quite so world-weary and nihilistic as when Bob sings it.

Bent Knee “Since I Been Loving You” (Led Zeppelin)
This one starts off as a rather quiet song. But that’s just to lull you into a false sense of security before the band absolutely explodes. They pack a wallop that Led Zep would envy.

Mark Ronson “Toxic” (Britney Spears)
I have a bunch of covers of this song, but this is hands-down the slinkiest. It also features somebody named Tiggers who contributes a rap that is decidedly not safe for work.

Vote For Pedro: Next week is the annual Cover Freak Anniversary Post. If there’s something from the last year you’d like for me to repost let me know. You can leave a comment or shoot me an email via the contact page.

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Last week I had parent-teacher conferences at young Freakette’s school. She’s doing quite well and it’s always nice to hear people tell you good things about your kid. One of her teachers was running late and as I sat in a tiny chair at a tiny desk waiting for her some songs started running through my head…

Better Than Ezra “Conjunction Junction” (From Schoolhouse Rock)
Those of us of a certain age fondly remember Schoolhouse Rock, the series of short educational cartoons that aired between the regular Saturday morning cartoons. They featured catchy songs and cool animation and they taught you math, grammar, science, and civics. I can still recite the preamble of the U.S. Constitution thanks to Schoolhouse Rock. For some reason this song was always my favorite.

The Last Hard Man “School’s Out” (Alice Cooper)
Talk about your musical schizophrenia. We start with some finger poppin’, slide into a pretty straight cover of the chorus, and then morph into a pretty neat rhythmic arrangement.

Julie Doiron ”Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” (Paul Simon)
I never really thought of Paul Simon as a lively fun guy until I heard this song. This fragile acoustic take on it takes away the infectious joy and replaces it with a quiet thoughtfulness that I’m not entirely sure works all that well. Maybe I’d like it better if I didn’t like the original quite so much.

Theo Bleckmann  and Fumio Yasuda ”Teacher’s Pet” (Doris Day)
Some wonderful cool jazz here. Great vocal harmonies.

Detholz! ”Hot For Teacher” (Van Halen)
I went to an all-boys Catholic high school that had very few female teachers. The ones that they did hire tended not to last too long in the sea of frustrated teenage testosterone. Consequently I didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities for the whole “hot for teacher” thing. There was this one time that I wrote about the last time I posted a cover of this song, but I won’t repeat myself here.

The original version of this song was sleazy but still pretty lighthearted. The folks in Deatholz! sound like they’d like to put their teacher in a rubber bondage outfit. Listening to this song makes me want to take a shower.