Resplendent Remakes by Rebecca Sellitti

Here it is, the second post from my favourite guest writer, Becks from all the way across the pond in Washington DC. If you're on Twitter then you should catch up with her at @waltandperry too. She's a massive music fan and we seem to be uncannily in synch, because the two pieces she's given me put on the blog so far have been about two of my favourite musical subjects, covers and movie soundtracks. I love her cover picks below - especially the Iron & Wine and Guns N' Roses ones, which have both been favourites of mine for long time. Check out her first post here. Keep 'em coming Becks...

Resplendent Remakes: My Favorite Cover Songs

It seems every other month Hollywood is releasing a remake of a classic film, and nine out of ten times the reworked versions fall far short of the original. Anyone remember Planet of the Apes featuring Mr. Marky Mark? Yikes! But Hollywood will continue to refashion films, because it is so much easier than writing a new screenplay. Just as the film industry has a penchant for reworking scripts, the music industry has an inclination to rework songs. Songs that have been made-over are often referred to as covers. I was hoping to find the history behind the reason we refer to remakes as covers, but found nothing reputable. (I’ll NEVER trust Wikipedia.)

Anyhow, most of the time covers are tolerable at best. Quite often they make us nostalgic for the original, and angry at the individual who dares tamper with a classic (*cough*American Pie*cough*cough*Madonna*). It’s hard to do a good cover. For a cover to be really excellent it cannot be too similar to the original tune. Otherwise there is absolutely no point in rereleasing the same song that your parents played on their 8-tracks. A truly great cover should keep the basic sound of the original, but add its own unique style and flair. I’ve generously taken precious time out of my impossibly busy schedule to compile a list of my all time favorite cover tunes. Enjoy! (Or don’t.)


1. I Will by Alison Krauss
Blue grass phenom Krauss took a big risk with this release. I Will was originally recorded by The Beatles, arguably one of the greatest bands in history, and many individuals view their music as sacred, and the altering of the slightest piece of it a form of sacrilege.
But, Alison Krauss chose to take on the challenge and managed to produce a version of I Will that I believe is superior to the original.
There is no overly ornate production in this version. Just a banjo, steel guitar, and the mellifluous voice of Alison. Without all the extras, the listener is really able to appreciate the beauty of the melody. In addition, Krauss’s angelic voice adds an air of sweetness and innocence to the tune that transforms this song into somewhat of a lullaby. Absolutely one of my favorite performances of all time.

Fun Fact: This song was featured on the album Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection that consisted of covers of other classic tunes like Bad Company’s Atlanta and Now That I’ve Found You by The Foundations. Definitely worth checking out.


2. Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine
Such Great Heights was originally performed by the indie pop band The Postal Service. Their recording was great and had a sick electronic sound. However, I believe it was Mr. Sam Beam of Iron & Wine who really breathed life into the song. The lyrics to Such Great Heights are so powerful and heartfelt, yet are barely audible in The Postal Service recording.
By opting to do an acoustic version of the song, with only a few simple harmonies thrown in, listeners are allowed to actually hear and fully appreciate the deeper meaning of painfully romantic lyrics like “the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned”. To steal a phrase from tweenyboppers, totally swoonworthy.
In addition, Beam has this amazingly soft and unadorned cadence to his voice that allows him to emote the lyrics in a way that adds to the depth of the words. (Okay, so I’m half in love with the fellow). If listening to this cover doesn’t make your heart flutter, you are probably made of stone.

Fun Fact: Sam Beam’s recording of this song was released for the first time on the B-side of Postal Service’s Such Great Heights single.


3. Please Let Me Get What I Want by Muse
The original recording by The Smiths is still superior in my mind. Morrissey can convey a level of loneliness and heartbreak that neither Bellamy nor any other artist can match. It is for that reason, 25 years after its release, that The Smiths acoustic version remains a staple in the collection of every single Twilight-loving emo-teen in the world.
That being said, I rather enjoyed the version Muse recorded. Muse didn’t do anything profound. Just threw in a distorted bass and strummed the root note on the downbeat, like every classic punk song has supplied. But, those small changes altered the whole vibe of the song. I never imagined it possible to create a ‘feel good’ version of such a morose tune, but Muse managed to do just that.
So, because Muse was able to actually transform The Smiths' depressing tune into a song that DIDN'T make me want to slit my wrists, I give them high praise.

Fun Fact: Muse never released this song as a single, but it can be found on the B-side of the single Feeling Good Hyper Music. Apropos of nothing, I’m still mad at Bellamy for shacking up with Kate Hudson. Really makes me question his intelligence.


4. Since I Don’t Have You by Guns N' Roses
I love me some oldies and I love me some Slash, so naturally I love GN'R’s cover of The Skyliners 1958 hit. Featured on their 1994 album The Spaghetti Incident, it’s one of those odd mashups that you wouldn’t think would work, but actually does. Like Tabasco sauce and scrambled eggs.
Though GN'R kept the tempo and chord progressions of the ‘58 hit, they made a few key alterations that kept the listener from forgetting it was now Guns N' Roses singing the song. For example, in the middle of the song, Axl in spoken voice, utters this romantic interlude: “Yeah,we’re f**ked!” Axl always was the consummate badass. With help from Slash’s notorious guitar riffs and Axl’s rasp, GN'R added some sex appeal that was lacking in the original doo wop classic.

Fun Fact: Guns N' Roses are no strangers to remakes. In 1991 they earned a Grammy nomination for their cover of Wings megahit Live & Let Die.


5. Boyz In The Hood by Dynamite Hack
Back in 1987 the rap group N.W.A. burst onto the scene with Boyz’ N Da Hood and forever changed the face of hip hop. The song was real and raw. Easy-E (gimme a sec while I pour some out for my homey), rapped about the hard life of a gangsta. He made frequent references to drinking, weapons, and even domestic violence. KIND of depressing subject matter.
Enter Dynamite Hack: A Texas-based, post-grunge band comprised of white boy prepsters. A set of young men one would never expect to tackle a gangsta rap classic. But, in the year 2000 these Abercrombie-outfitted boys recorded a cover of Boyz In the Hood on the album Superfast that went all the way to #12 on the Billboard Rock charts. Dynamite Hack never attempted to rap the lyrics to Boyz’N Da Hood, or adopt the thug persona that defined N.W.A. Instead, they recorded an all acoustic version of this old school rap anthem. It’s quite hysterical to hear a group of Birkenstock-wearing, Dave Matthews Band lookalikes strumming their guitars and softly singing the lyrics “she said something that I couldn't believe, so I grabbed the stupid bitch by her nappy ass weave”. Eleven years later it still makes me laugh. Another thing I loved about Dynamite Hack’s cover was the fact that the melody at the end of the song echoed the beautiful melody of The Beatles hit Blackbird. In one song they managed to pay homage to both the greatest rappers and greatest rockers of all time.

Fun Fact: Dynamite Hack got their name from a line in the 70’s classic comedy, Caddyshack. BONUS points for these boys!

Even if you disagree with my picks, I hope you will take with you the fact that not all song covers are Jessica Simpson’s Take My Breath Away bad. Before you cast judgment, pick up your headphones and give the artist a chance.

By: Rebecca Sellitti

Cover Track #10

While watching one of many of the recent Motown documentaries, there were some great insights into the nature of covers in the early/mid 60s, and specifically the Beatles' covers of Motown tracks. On their 1963 album, With The Beatles, there were three Motown covers - Money, You Really Got A Hold On Me and Please Mister Postman.

Watching the documentary on the 1965 Motown tour of the UK, there are some really interesting talking heads, and they make the point that these covers of black US soul music, including the Motown tracks, were tracks that most people didn't really realise were covers. In the UK at that point, Motown hadn't taken root, and it was only a couple of pirate radio stations that played their music, and so buyers of the Beatles records were mostly unaware that these tracks were covers because they hadn't heard them before. The fact that the whole area of 'covers' was much more murky back then than it is now was presumably also a big factor. But like Paul McCartney says on the show, "not everyone was a connoisseur", so most people didn't know.

Another interesting comment came from a guy who was a teenager in the 60s, and he remembers that when he expressed a certain irritation at these covers at the time, he was seen as being a pretty eccentric by his friends. But as he puts it, why the hell would you want to hear the Rolling Stones doing Can I Get A Witness? when you had Marvin Gaye's original version?

It's a great documentary and in this Motown 50th anniversary year is bound to repeated again on BBC somewhere. My favourite non-cover related bit is a great story from Martha Reeves about being introduced to Guinness. It's probably the best doc I've seen in the recent batch, so well worth you seeking out.

Cover Track #11

A friend had one of those slightly dodgy compilations that looked like it had been bought in a garage but in fact turned out to be really pretty good. It was called California Dreaming: The Cream of LA's Seventies Rock. Well, if that ain't a damn fine theme for a bunch of songs then I don't know what is.

Anyway, on it was Randy Newman's version of Mama Told Me Not To Come. Now apart from that Tom Jones cover from his Reload album (you know, the one with that brilliant Mousse T track), I didn't know much about this song but I must confess I wasn't aware of any relationship with Randy Newman.

And then I had one of those moments when I realist that I know less than nothing about music. In a way it was depressing. More than depressing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being a snob here and suggesting that anyone who doesn't know that Newman not only has a relationship with the song, but actually wrote Mama Told Me Not To Come is an idiot, but the fact is that I think I do know about music, and then something like this happens and it blows my ship out of the water and I feel like I'm back to square one.

Perhaps this a little odd, a guy with a music blog confessing that he feels like he knows bubkiss about music, but I also quite like that about the blog, and the monthly picks that I do - I suppose at the route of it is an acknowledgment of how much I don't know. Besides, why would I be showing you all these old songs I've only just discovered if I wanted you to believe that I knew everything about music already?

Okay, I've worked that through and feel better. Still with me? Probably not, but I'll press on regardless.

So, Mama Told Me Not To Come. As the title of this post will alert you, this is about a cover track and if Newman wrote the song, how can he have covered it? Pretty easily as it turns out. It was first recorded by Eric Burdon & The Animals in 1967, but written by Newman, and the version I've just happened upon is Newman's own recording from 1970.

Of course, I now need to go back to the Eric Burdon version, but what I do know is that the Newman version is pretty damn good - it's funky, and light and sounds kind of satirical, but that could just be Randy's voice. Anyway, if you can't find the California Rock compilation next time you're in a Shell station, track it down some other how and banish all memories of Tom Jones for good.

It occurs to me that all of that was pretty similar to how Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U worked out, with Sinead O'Connor doing it first before Prince sort of reclaimed it. Except, I think I'm right in saying that Prince did in fact record his first but with a side project and not just as himself. Oh yes, and apparently Something by The Beatles also worked out in a similar way with Joe Cocker, but I'd have to check my facts there. In fact, I may well have made that up. I'll get back to you.

Cover Track #8

I'm watching Jools Holland's Later show, and Glen Campbell's just popped up. And he's doing a Foo Fighters' song. Times Like These to be precise.

I'm not sure how that makes me feel. He's a legend - at least in the world of country music, even if he's not to your taste. But hasn't this been done before? By Johnny Cash? By Paul Anka? I feel like I'm in danger of repeating myself here so I won't go on, but check out the Musical Talking Points #1 post below for some more on a similar subject.

It was a good shot at the song though, and the guy's voice was as prairie-homespun as ever. Shame he had to read the lyrics so obviously off an autocue, but the guy is 72, so I should probably cut him some slack. And another tick in the Vote For Glen column is of course the towering Wichita Lineman, which brings to mind a million covers of that track by, holy shit, everyone. Ray Charles, The Meters, Johnny Cash (he couldn't help himself could he?), REM, James Taylor, Gomez, Sammy Davis Jr, Smokey Robinson, Andy Williams, Urge Overkill, Jimmy Webb, The Fatback Band, Kool & The Gang - that's quite some list of compliments.

Back to the point - the album's called Meet Glen Campbell and features covers of U2, Travis, Green Day, Tom Petty and the Foos. If you like that sort of thing, you should check it out. I know I will, but I also know that I'll be questioning the logic of it.

Cover track #7

There are a million Rolling Stone covers out there but most aren't worth your effort. There's something about the Stones and their catalogue that seems to encourage coverers to think that a few vocal snarls and some slide guitar will do them justice. So it's nice to remember that some artists have given them the respect and interpretation that their songs deserve, and this cover comes courtesy of one of the best artists out there.

David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album came out in 1973 and was his last album under the Ziggy Stardust name. It was also the follow up album to The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust, his first bona fide hit album. Aladdin Sane was made with all the glam rock bells and whistles on that you'd expect from an early 70s Bowie long player, and the B side featured a sublimely spot on glam cover of the Rolling Stones' 1967 single Let's Spend The Night Together.


A little about the original - its sexually suggestive lyrics caused a bit of a stink upon its release. It came out as a single with Ruby Tuesday as the B-side and part of Ruby Tuesday's fame as a track came about only because radio stations opted to play it instead of the A-side because of the risque content of Let's Spend The Night Together. Chat show host Ed Sullivan told Jagger to change the lyrics to "let's spend some time together" to secure the band's performance on his show, the old grump.

Looking at covers a lot, as I do, they actually don't feature on regular studio albums as much as you'd think, which in itself adds to that feeling of a cover being something special. So when an artist does put one on an album it's always worth taking a good look at what made it special enough for the artist to weave it in to their own original material.

So back to Bowie. Mick Ronson's clattering piano is the highlight, especially at 2 minutes 28 seconds when the track breaks down to the sound of some off-key piano plink-plonking, before Bowie shouts "Do it!" to kick off the song's last glorious fifteen second hurrah. It definitely deserves its place on Aladdin Sane (which admittedly has traditionally divided Bowie fans) and is the mark of an artist riding high in confident mood. Check it out when you can.

Cover track #6

Sad news yesterday that Pink Floyd's Richard Wright has died at 65. I'm not a PInk Floyd nut, but of course it's sobering nonetheless and his keyboards were a key part of the classic Floyd sound.

The obituary mentioned what many consider his defining moment, the track The Great Gig In The Sky, which poignantly starts with a voice saying "I am not frightened to die". Well, I was reading this on the bus with my ipod on, so obviously the natural thing to do was to switch over to Dark Side Of The Moon and spare a thought for him taking his place on stage at the great gig in the sky.

And where today's cover choice comes in is right here: after listening to Breathe on Dark Side Of The Moon, I remembered The Shins doing an impressive acoustic cover of that track (another one with Wright's name on the credits). It was recorded for Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 show and is available on the compilation that they put out of those sessions. The Shins doing Pink Floyd's Breathe. Seek it out.


Richard Wright, left, as part of Pink Floyd. The others are (l-r) Roger Waters, Nick Mason and David Gilmour.

Cover track #5

Although the shadow of Radio 1's Live Lounge (part of Jo Whiley's show) is long and dark, there are other places around the world that are doing similar sessions. And one of those places is right here in London, from the UK's XFM, and their Live From Leicester Square spot has had a few pretty good highlights over the months.

In a sense, it's a shame that they've followed the Radio 1 'quirky cover' route but on the other hand, if the results are at least interesting (and on occasion, actually good), then what the hell - the more the merrier.

Go to the Live From Leicester Square XFM page and you can listen to a bunch of these, such as The Thrills' Dancing In The Dark (Springsteen), Jack Penate's Dub Be Good To Me (Beats International), Nine Black Alps' Pay No Mind (Beck), The Go Team's Rocky Theme and Stereophonics Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles). There's plenty more.

But the one you should really listen to is definitely The Coral's Everybody's Talkin'. There've been a few covers of this Fred Neil track, most notably of course by Harry Nilsson for the movie Midnight Cowboy, but the Wirral band really do a superb job here. I've long been a fan of James Skelly's vocals, and though their music doesn't always particularly move me, his 'I've smoked ten thousand fags this morning and work down the mines' voice is always listenable. And, as it turns out, it works particularly well on this acoustic, rueful track. Seek it out and you won't regret it.



PS. Sorry, couldn't find a picture of The Coral at XFM, which you'd think would have been a given for the radio station to do for their website, but apparently not. Anyway, that's them at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, London.

Cover track #4

George Harrison seems to have fared particularly well with covers. Of course, all Beatles songs have been covered to death, but the quality of the Harrison covers is especially striking, and certainly his track Something falls in to that category. And this post is about Nina Simone's pretty take on Here Comes The Sun.

Released in 1971, Simone was coming towards the end of her peak years, though only 40 years old. Her iconic, but fractured vocals lend the already evocative lyrics a real sense of desperation and hope. It's a beautiful interpretation, and one well worth recommending here.

It's taken from the album of the same name, a collection of covers featuring My Way, Just Like A Woman and Mr. Bojangles, as well as the title track. It's available on iTunes.

Cover Track #3

I'll cut straight to the chase on this one - Cassius Clay recorded a whole album, and on it was a version of Stand By Me. You heard me right. And it's pretty darned good. It came out on his 1963 LP I Am The Greatest (what else would he possibly have called it?), and this is the sleeve. You can pick it up on iTunes.

Cover track #2

Some great cover versions, and lots of awful ones, have a peculiar ability to stop people mid-stride as they cock their head to one side and ask, "who the hell is this?"

One recent track (released in 2007 but new to me) which falls headlong into this category is Killing by The Apples. The band is a deep funk nonet from Israel featuring a four piece brass section, two fellas playing turntables, an upright bassist, a phenomenal drummer and, er, the sound guy. The track in question is a deep funk take on Killing In The Name Of, Rage Against The Machine's classic anthem for people everywhere who are feeling a bit ticked off about something.

As ever when a well-loved song is given a genre-jumping makeover, The Apples' version may divide opinion, but it's impossible to play it in public without someone asking after the band. Personally, I like it so much that next time I silently determine not to do what they tell me, it'll be the Apples' version soundtracking my private rage.

Cover Track #1

Welcome to a new feature on Cover My Tracks that pulls your attention towards a new cover version.

I'm a little bit obsessed by them and with my fellow blogger, Will Communication, am in fact getting a book together on the subject. So that's where my head's at, and hence this.

We'll do our best to tell you where you can get the cover in question from, though we don't make any guarantees. Email us if you get stuck. Here's the first.



The above movie poster is, as you may have guessed, from the 1980s - 1987 to be exact. And it's for a movie called Dudes, featuring Jon Cryer (the weedy brother of Charlie Sheen in US sitcom, Two And A Half Men). Incidentally, the movie also features Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea. But that's not the point. The point is that I picked up the soundtrack on vinyl recently at Zavvi, for £2. It was a bizarre sale - they had dozens of different vinyls, the vast majority from the 80s, and all £2, brand new and sealed. Of course, I bought a lot. And of course, it's mostly shit. Especially Aretha Franklin's cover of Jumping Jack Flash, which will most certainly not be featuring in the Cover Track spot here.

But back to the Dudes soundtrack. The main reason I bought it was because it had the frankly ridiculous proposition of Megadeth covering Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Were Made For Walking. Who could possibly say no? I didn't, and here we are with the first ever Cover My Tracks Cover Track pick.

It truly is a ridiculous song but I love it for a couple of reasons. First, the fact that it sounds ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE THE ORIGINAL. That requires a special talent to take such a basic, catchy and singalong song, by one of the most respected songwriters the world's ever seen (Lee Hazlewood) and turn it into the four minutes of car crash audio that Megadeth pull out the hat.

I did a little digging and it turns out that Megadeth's singer, Dave Mustaine (who was in Metallica in the very early days, by the way), claimed his version to be more parody than straight cover. And then Lee Hazlewood complained about the song's "perversion of the original", which is pretty reserved of him in the circumstances. Mustaine, the wit, retorted that Hazlewood didn't dislike it enough to turn down the royalty cheque. Poor old Lee probably felt it was the very least they could do for him.

So there we go - Megadeth's These Boots Were Made For Walking. It might make your ears bleed, but try to see it as an education in the perils of purchasing cheap shitty vinyl from poorly named entertainment retail behemoths. Though speaking for myself, I kind of hope it's a lesson I haven't learned.