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!
Summer 2023 saw the kick-off of Foreigner’s farewell tour, and it rolls on through the end of this year, with a bonus few summer 2025 shows on the books. The performers are not the original members, and Mick Jones, the only original member still involved with the band, is no longer able to perform on this tour due to his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, but the songs are still the ones we know and love.
Foreigner is one of the great bands of the arena rock era where everything was just big and in your face. If you think you don’t know any Foreigner songs, my guess is that by the end of this post you’ll have said “oh, I know that one” at least once. Their hits are myriad and ubiquitous, so much so that I couldn’t just pick a few to highlight in this post. In honor of the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, we present covers of the setlist of this farewell tour. This way we get to reminisce about hits across multiple albums and hear a fuller span of the band’s work.
These won’t be the only Foreigner covers to cross your path in the near future. During the induction ceremony itself, we’ll hear plenty more. The band is in luck getting Kelly Clarkson to be part of their induction. Clarkson is a whiz with covers and is sure to give us some new takes on the hits that will keep Foreigner in our heads in the weeks following the ceremony.
So without further ado, bring on the hits!
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” wasn’t just a song to Loretta Lynn; it was the story of her life. Lynn grew up in poverty, married at 13, had four children by 19. For most, it would be a recipe for disaster, but not for Lynn. When her husband Moony (named for the moonshine he ran) gave Lynn a guitar for her 24th birthday, she taught herself to play and began her journey towards country stardom. Loretta Lynn has written hundreds of songs, released over 70 albums and was one of the first women in Nashville to write songs from a woman’s point of view. Lynn was unafraid to be a liberated woman, releasing songs about birth control (“The Pill”), teen sex (“Wings Upon Your Horns”), and the Vietnam War (“Dear Uncle Sam”).