In anticipation of their upcoming fall tour, nu metal band P.O.D. have released a cover that you may not expect: their take on The Beatles‘ “Don’t Let Me Down.” And while in the abstract that might sound like oil and water, their version, while certainly in their style, sticks pretty close to the Lennon-written original from the Let It Be sessions. Continue reading »
One Great Cover looks at the greatest cover songs ever, and how they got to be that way.
Let’s get one thing out in the open at the start: Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” did not make our list of the 75 Best Beatles Covers Ever. The list favored fresh discoveries over the tried-and-true classics, so the omission is not too surprising. More surprising is that over twenty readers responded to that post, and not one mentions Elton’s version either, though many of the comments included suggestions as to which covers should have made the grade.
But make no mistake, this is clearly one great cover. It is the only Beatles cover to reach #1 in the US, which must count for something. It’s a little ironic that the original “Lucy” was never released as a single–in fact no track from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released as a single.
‘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
Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.
Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).
Today’s question comes from one of our readers, Micah Goldfus. He wants to know:
What’s your cringiest cover song?
You’ll find his answer below, along with plenty more from the Cover Me gang…
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It takes some guts to cover songs as venerated as the ones on Valerie June’s Under Cover. As in, either you delude yourself if you think you can add to, or better, any the myriad other versions, let alone the originals. Or you are pretty damn good. Self-belief is certainly part the job prècis, and Valerie June has that in spades. She has the talent in spades as well.
You may have heard her name, maybe even some of her material, possibly whilst listening to a blues station on the radio. Or a country music station. Or pop, R&B, or folk. Gospel, even. For she straddles each of these genres, a woman of color from Tennessee, exposed to all and comfortable with each. Following self-releasing her first couple of recordings, she was spotted by Black Key Dan Auerbach, who, no mean gauge of talent, co-produced her 2013 eponymous label debut, which introduced her to a broader and welcoming audience, at home and worldwide. Europe has been especially supportive. Ahead of this, and also worthy of mention, is an EP she released independently, credited to Valerie June and the Tennessee Express. The Tennessee Express were Old Crow Medicine Show.
There have been a couple of albums since, each well-received, if remaining hard to classify under any one genre, perhaps explaining the changes of record label along the way. Fantasy Records demonstrate their faith by issuing this EP, on the back of last year’s album The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers, which had also been on this label.
Is it any good? Let’s see.
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In support of their latest album, Dance Fever, English rockers Florence + The Machine stopped by radio station SiriusXM to play a couple of tracks, including a new cover of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy.” Continue reading »