One Great Cover looks at the greatest cover songs ever, and how they got to be that way.

“Well it’s story time again,” says a young Tom Waits to a live audience in July, 1975. So begins his intro to “Big Joe and Phantom 309,” Red Sovine’s country hit from 1967. But his listeners were already involved in a story that night: they were collectively pretending to be in “Raphael’s Silver Cloud Lounge,” a seedy LA nightclub.

In truth, they were seated in The Record Plant, the illustrious Los Angeles recording studio. Waits had moved studio equipment aside, dragged in a few tables and chairs, set up a makeshift bar, and invited some friends over for a show. The opening act was a strip-tease. With the correct vibe established, Waits recorded his third album that night, Nighthawks at the Diner. And it included his first departure from original material with “Phantom 309.”
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