Glen Campbell Archives

Five Good Covers: “Up Where We Belong” (Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes)

Posted by Mike Tobyn at 12:00 pm 1 Response »

Sep 052025

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Our journey through the Oscar-winning songs of the 1980s brings us to “Up Where We Belong,” the 1983 winner. Read about Christopher Cross’s “Arthur’s Theme” here.

A brash, cocky individual, who travels by motorcycle and who appears to think of little but himself, arrives at a Naval Aviator school on the US Pacific Coast. He encounters tough love from a father figure / instructor and the love of a woman who is emotionally and intellectually smarter than he is. He is part of a system exquisitely designed to find the best in people, and discard them if it is not there, bringing him to a place where he is a much better person. During breaks from elevating himself and saving the nation, he can let off steam in a special tavern, where the jukebox always has the right song available. A classmate is tragically lost during the process. The protagonist is ultimately ready to defend and elevate his nation in its time of need. The sacrifice and Military Method have won out.

An Officer and a Gentleman was a huge movie in 1982, and those of us around at the time could not miss its presence. Young men in ersatz dress uniform were regularly carrying young women around city centers, or TV shows (in the years before Internet memes). Richard Gere was the idol of the day. However, the movie was soon eclipsed by Top Gun, which drew upon aspects of the story and added layers of bombast and more modern sexual politics. Of course, the main thing that the 1986 movie added was sexy shots of planes and boats, which required a relationship with the Navy. Could they have achieved that relationship without the sizzle reel of a multiple Oscar-winning film? Simpson and Bruckheimer, along with Tony Scott, certainly set their ambitions higher. It ultimately worked for all parties, as the Navy saw a bump in recruitment and Top Gun became a cultural phenomenon. There was probably not a rush for paper mill jobs after Officer.

Another similarity between the two films was the use of emotive music, and how integral it was to each movie. Director Taylor Hackford is a musical sophisticate, and directed Jamie Foxx in Ray, but he had a limited budget for the soundtrack in this case. The jukebox in the bar contains Van Morrison, Pat Benatar and Dire Straits. The cheesiness of the music at the Officers’ mixer is very specific. Hackford hired Jack Nitzsche to do the soundtrack. But he did not have a hook for the final, climactic scene. Despite its schmaltzy nature, and against the better initial judgement of the director and probably, a few lines of the Naval Code of Conduct, the arrival of Gere, in his first act as an officer and in an iconic Dress White Suit, at the factory where his lover worked to rescue her from a life of drudgery was loved by test audiences and had to stay in. But you needed the music to drive the point home. Nitzsche initially struggled, but then his then-wife, Buffy Sainte-Marie, let him use her work in progress, “Up Where We Belong,” which seemed to fit the mood and theme. With lyrics from Will Jennings, emphasizing that love (or person or Country) can lift us all, with the implication that the Navy can elevate the nation, the complete package was a winner.

Jennifer Warnes already had one Oscar-winning song to her name (“It Goes Like It Goes,” from Norma Rae), and was immediately in the frame for this opportunity to present the work. Although the piece is not necessarily a two-hander or a call-and-response, Warnes thought it might work as a duet. Her choice as a partner, as she had some leverage, was Joe Cocker. Who wouldn’t want to work with him? As it happens, lots of people, as his career was in the doldrums. But his powerful voice, honed by years of experience and a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit, was the perfect foil for Warnes, whose voice was sophisticated but more delicate. There is a dynamic between the powerful but controlled voice of Cocker, and Warnes’ controlled passion. The song could be interpreted as the partnership between Gere and Debra Winger. Or Cocker could be a representation of Lou Gossett Jr., the Staff Sergeant whose apparent hard heart was just a man who wanted the Navy to only have the best in their ranks. It could be the nation itself, battered and bruised by military escapades, but still standing tall. Overall, the package was a winning one, reaching the Top of the Charts and taking the 1983 Best Song Oscar, with Olivia Newton-John doing the presenting honors.

There have been many covers over the years, here are Five of the Best.
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In The Spotlight: Bread

Posted by Hope Silverman at 12:00 pm 2 Responses »

Jul 182025

Even during their absolute peak of popularity in the early ’70s, when I was kid living for AM radio, the gushy, on-bended-knee, soft-rocking romantic balladry of Bread held no allure for me. My musical palate at that time, was as unrefined as my daily afterschool snack of a single Devil Dog™ with a Hawaiian Punch™ chaser. Sammy Davis Jr.’s “The Candy Man” and The Aristocats soundtrack were unironically being spun in my blue shag carpeted bedroom on a daily basis. I thought the Bay City Rollers were amazing and as good as The Beatles. But even my sugar-pickled brain with its relentlessly questionable taste, was able to discern that softer-than-soft rocking Bread were not cool.

I knew this because their songs were all icky-lovey-dovey like you’d hear at a wedding. I knew because in my grade school music class, their song “If” was deemed unthreatening and un-rock ‘n’ roll enough for we innocent children to be taught to sing. I knew this because they weren’t like, you know, cute, or at least cute enough for a table of pop-worshipping little gals at a lunch table to ever gush over (never happened ever). I knew this because easy listening crooners Andy Williams and Perry Como seemed really into covering Bread songs on their lame, grandma-seducing TV specials.

Bread’s imperial years ran from 1969-1973, during which time they released five (!) studio albums and landed nine songs in the Top 20 of the U.S. pop chart, every one of which is now a massively-streamed, seventies pop-soft rock monster standard. “Everything I Own”. “Make It With You”. “If”. “Baby I’m-a Want You”. “The Guitar Man”. Hits, hits, hits! The band—David Gates, Jimmy Griffin, Mike Botts, Rob Royer (from ’69-’71) and Larry Knechtel (’71-73, ’76-78)—broke up and reunited twice (1976-78, 1997-98)…and, as the timeline hints, there was a fair amount of inter-band drama.

Gates and Griffin were both were gifted songwriters but the former’s compositions featuring his lead vocals were the ones consistently released as singles. This led to a fair amount of bad blood and resentment which later manifested in a lawsuit over use of the band name which Gates and Griffin co-owned. Along with this excess of alpha dogs, there were drugs. Yes, even the sonically gentle Bread weren’t immune to all the traditional band-related tropes.

So why am I writing about these sappy suckers? Well, because as the years have passed, I’ve come to realize that while Bread weren’t “cool,” they definitely didn’t suck. They were in fact really good. Bread were a bottomless pit of memorable, lovely windblown pop songs…and they’ve inspired a staggering number of covers.

I’ve written a couple of lengthy, nerdy love letters on Cover Me about R &B covers of soft rock (here) and hoary old regular rock (here). While researching those pieces, I was struck by just how many covers of Bread songs there were. Not only were there a whole lot of soulful reinterpretations but there were a ton of alternately fascinating, weird and impassioned pop-flavored takes of Bread songs…and we are gonna explore.

Welcome to the gorgeous and goofy world of Bread covers.
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The 40 Best John Lennon Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 12:00 pm 3 Responses »

Feb 282025

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

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

In the Spotlight: Kool & the Gang

Posted by Curtis Zimmermann at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Oct 142024

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

On their 1985 hit “King of Rock,” the future Reverend Run declared: “As one def rapper, I know I can hang/I’m Run from Run-DMC, like Kool from Kool & the Gang.” In retrospect, it seems only fitting that the group that helped bring rap to the mainstream would namecheck Kool & the Gang on one of their biggest hits. Kool & the Gang’s multi-instrumental fusion of rock, pop, R&B, funk and disco, provided the backbone for modern rap. As of this writing, the website WhoSampled.com lists 2053 known samples of their music, and the number will only keep growing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. If you went to a party, dance or club in the ‘70s and ‘80s, odds are that Kool & the Gang was booming through the speakers. Whether you were from New York or Hollywood and wanted to “Celebrate and have a good time,” “Get down on it,” “Get up with the get down,” “Go dancin’,” or perhaps “Reggae dancin’,” they had a song for seemingly every type of occasion. Even today, it’s rare to attend any life milestone event (wedding, bar mitzvah, etc.) and not hear their good-time anthem “Celebration.”

Though the group has not recorded many covers throughout their long career, cover songs were an important part of the band’s origin story. The band was founded in the mid-‘60s in Jersey City, New Jersey by a group of child jazz prodigies that included brothers Ronald and Robert “Kool” Bell. Performing under various names, they got their start playing bars, clubs and events throughout New Jersey in the ‘60s as teenagers. In a 2023 interview with Questlove, drummer George Brown said that would often perform the hits of the day to win over the crowd. It’s a not-uncommon story for many of the world’s greatest rockers.

One can hear elements of these origins on their early albums. Singing with Dee-Lite Records in 1969, the band included a handful of covers on their first few releases. Listening to these songs now, on the eve of the band’s long-overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, provides a fascinating glimpse into their virtuosity as musicians. One can hear elements of just about every style of popular music from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It’s easy to imagine them as members of the house bands at Motown or Muscle Shoals.

In their early years, the band were masters at emulating other people’s music, even if they had not quite found the sound that would make them superstars. Listen to their past, and you’ll hear why their future was indeed a “celebration to last throughout the years.”

Author’s Note: The group would later release a Christmas album in 2013 that contained several covers, but we’ll save that for another time and instead focus solely on the early years.

Good, Better, Best: “Gentle on My Mind” (John Hartford/Glen Campbell)

Posted by Tom McDonald at 10:00 am 2 Responses »

Oct 112024

Some covers are more equal than others. Good, Better, Best looks at three covers and decides who takes home the gold, the silver, and the bronze.

In terms of commercial metrics, like the number of plays on US radio, or the number of cover versions released, John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind” is massively popular and always has been since its 1967 debut. And yes, the most successful version of Hartford’s hit is a cover: namely Glen Campbell’s arrangement, which he recorded with the Wrecking Crew in LA within months of Hartford’s original release.

Both Hartford’s version and Campbell’s version earned Grammys (in different categories) in 1968. Every subsequent cover of “Gentle on My Mind”–and there are several hundreds of them–is most likely a take on Campbell’s version. Hartford didn’t seem to have a problem with Campbell stealing his thunder–see this video in which the two artists perform “Gentle on My Mind” together on the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour TV show. Both artists revisited the song multiple times through the decades to come; the best of these may be this one, in which Hartford convenes a few bluegrass and country music legends to pick and grin on it.

The song’s chances of success must have seemed thin in 1967 when Hartford first shopped it around. “It violates all the principles of songwriting,” Hartford told an interviewer in 1987. “It’s a banjo tune, it has no chorus. It has a lot of words so that it’s hard to sing.” Indeed, it’s too bare-bones, musically, to amount to much. There’s no chorus, no bridge, no catchy instrumental riff. Second, the song doesn’t slot into any particular genre–it’s not quite bluegrass, country, folk-rock, or pop–it’s all of the above and therefore none of them. Finally, Hartford breaks basic lyric-writing rules (and he breaks them beautifully). His verses are long-winded; his rhyme scheme is offbeat. He crams in janky words and phrases that are difficult to sing. Lines like “I dip my cup of soup back from a gurglin’ cracklin’ cauldron in some train yard” would have most vocalists calling for a rewrite. But this free-spirited prose poem is deeply American in the Walt Whitman/Jack Kerouac tradition, as is fitting for a song of the open road, a song of freedom. The song that shouldn’t work at all works perfectly.

If traveling the backroads and riding the rails and hanging out in hobo camps is the life, why is the song’s narrator always thinking of one special person back home? Who is the person whose door is always open and who is ever in his thoughts? Hartford himself never committed to one definitive interpretation of the song. He admitted that if he had been trying to write a hit song, he would have written it differently.

Hartford also revealed that this quintessentially American song was actually inspired by Doctor Zhivago, the epic Russian novel (and 1965 David Lean film) about the Bolshevik Revolution. And with that, comrades, it’s time to look at three interpretations of this undyingly popular song…
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