The 40 Best John Lennon Covers Ever

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  3 Responses »
Feb 282025
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

John Lennon Covers

Fifty years ago this month, John Lennon released his covers album Rock ‘n’ Roll, in which he tackled a bunch of pre-Beatles rock and roll classics by folks like Gene Vincent and Fats Domino. Admittedly, the album isn’t all that good. It was done under legal pressure, and sounds like it. But the anniversary is a good enough is excuse to celebrate Lennon covers our own way: Not covers by John, but covers of John.

We should our one rule state up front: No Beatles songs! We did a giant 75-song Beatles covers list last year, which, naturally, included a bunch of John songs. So, for this list, as we did with Paul McCartney a few years back, we’re focusing entirely on his solo output. “Solo” loosely defined as anything post-Beatles: co-billed with Yoko, officially backed by Plastic Ono Band, etc.

If you think the no-Beatles rule adds a pretty strict limitation, think again. There was no shortage of solo-Lennon song covers to choose from. And it’s not 50% “Imagine” covers either; in fact, on our list of 40 covers, only two “Imagine”s make the cut. Most “Imagine” covers are pretty damn saccharine, not a word often associated with the most caustic Beatle. But just about every other mood and sound appears below.

Click to the next page to get started. All we are saying is give these a chance.

– Ray Padgett, Cover Me Founder/Editor

NEXT PAGE →

Police Shootings Inspired This Raw Electronic “Strange Fruit” Cover

 Posted by at 9:46 am  No Responses »
Jul 132017
 
gavin castleton

We’ve written about Rhode Island songwriter/producer Gavin Castleton a few times over the years, spotlighting his airy and enjoyable covers of Peter Gabriel, Frank Ocean, and the Twin Peaks theme. But that didn’t prepare us for his newest, a hard-hitting and powerfully charged of Billie Holiday’s harrowing song about lynching, “Strange Fruit.”

One reason for our surprise is that Castleton recruited another Cover Me favorite to sing: Rescue of funk-rock band Bad Rabbits (hear them covering Smashing Pumpkins and Michael Jackson). Rescue delivers one of the most powerful vocals we’ve heard this year, lurching from aggressive pummel to wavering falsetto. And it blends perfectly with Castleton’s thudding electronic production, spare and unrelenting in a way that won’t let you turn away. Continue reading »

Lex Land and Gavin Castleton Deliver Contemporary Chillout Twin Peaks Theme

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  No Responses »
Nov 062013
 

There are two distinct elements to the Twin Peaks theme song, elements that are difficult for any artist to balance and for any listener to approach. There’s the theme song as a theme song, as Angelo Badalamenti’s mellow, dreamlike instrumentals that play over shots of Northwestern industrialism and waterfalls as the opening credits roll. Alternately, there’s “Falling” – it’s the same song, but it becomes entirely different when Julee Cruise‘s vocals and David Lynch‘s lyrics are introduced. Understandably, most (if not all) covers of the song opt for the latter. And yet, the listener is still somehow presented with the two different versions. Sometimes, like with last year’s Field Mouse cover, we get covers that are evocative of the opening – covers where the vocals are as ethereal as the instrumentals and the whole thing flows together as one ambient whole. Continue reading »

Gavin Castleton Rethinks Frank Ocean’s “Swim Good” with a Touch of Portishead

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  No Responses »
Jul 142011
 

Odd Future vocalist Frank Ocean’s mixtape Nostalgia/Ultra includes several catchy pop gems, but none as moody and ominous as the grammatically-incorrect standout “Swim Good.” Picking up on the darkness in the song, Providence, RI native Gavin Castleton just released what he calls a cover/mashup/remix of the track, using a newly-recorded vocal track and samples from “Roads” by Portishead as well as Lee Oskar’s “Our Road” and Ananda Shankar’s “The Ocean.” Continue reading »

Song of the Day: Gavin Castleton, “Sledgehammer” (Peter Gabriel cover)

 Posted by at 9:00 am  2 Responses »
Aug 262010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

When we talk about a “solo cover” here, we’re usually talking guy with an acoustic guitar. If we really go nuts, maybe with a piano. Yawn. When you’ve got a loop pedal though, “solo cover” potential opens wide.

Gavin Castleton has such a pedal. He puts it to good use on this dancey Peter Gabriel cover, blending piano, organ, clapping, synth, beatboxing, and a backing chorus with his singing. Because he has to add the elements one by one, it’s a slow-build that pays off. When the signature riff finally comes in (at 1:04) it feels like the sound you’ve been waiting for all your life. Continue reading »