Cover Songs Radio Show

Intro

      Welcome to Andy See’s (mostly) Rock N’ Roll Variety Show!  Today, we have ourselves a show all about cover songs.  Specifically, we’re talking about good ones that are better than the original versions.  So, if you’re expecting Michael Bolton’s version of (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay or Limp Bizkit’s versions of Faith and Behind Blue Eyes, you will be disappointed.  These are some songs that were better than the originals.

Georgia on my Mind – Ray Charles

      Our first song today is one you probably didn’t even know was a cover.  As it turns out, Ray Charles’ signature song is a cover of big band leader Hoagy Carmichael.  He made the song in 1930 with music that wouldn’t be out of place in the background of a Looney Toon. Ray Charles covered the song in 1960 and it was called Georgia on my Mind.
      Originally Georgia on my Mind was written with Carmichael’s sister in mind, but the focus generally shifted to the point where it became Georgia’s state song in 1979.  By the way, Ray Charles’ version of this song was not only a #1 hit from November 14-20, 1960, but was also on an album called “The Genius Hits the Road” an early concept album with song titles like Alabamy Bound, Mississippi Mud, and Moonlight in Vermont which are all on side one.

All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix

      We move from a cover that came out 30 years after the original to a cover that came out less than a year after the original.  In December of 1967, Bob Dylan released his “John Wesley Harding” album.  One of them was a straightforward folk song called All Along the Watchtower about two spirits defying the norm.  Jimi Hendrix decided to make his own version of the song with much more unique and exotic Rock N’ Roll music.  Let’s hear that version.
      Hendrix got his only top 40 hit out of his cover of All Along the Watchtower putting him in the technical one hit wonder category of influential musicians with The Grateful Dead, Warren Zevon, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Frank Zappa, Rush, and The White Stripes.

Summertime Blues – The Who

      The original writer of this song was Rockabilly musician Eddie Cochrane.  It was released in 1958, and it definitely has that decade’s signature Rock N’ Roll sound.  The Who released a cover of this song for their “Live at Leeds” album in 1970.  The song is about trying to get out of work during the summer and it’s called Summertime Blues.
      Eddie Cochrane’s original version made it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The Who’s superior version only made it to #27. Sometimes, life isn’t fair.

Runaway – Bonnie Raitt

      The original version of our next song was made by Del Shannon and was one of the first songs to use a synthesizer.  The song was basically just about being sad at a breakup.  In 1977, Bonnie Raitt made a Country Rock cover making it seem like an entirely different song.  The song in question is Runaway.
      While the original Runaway was a #1 hit from April 24-May 21, 1961, Bonnie Raitt’s version could only scrape the bottom half of the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #57.

I Fought the Law – The Clash

      This next song had its origins when a man named Sonny Curtis joined The Crickets after Buddy Holly died.  While that version of the song didn’t become a hit, The Bobby Fuller Four’s version made it to the American top ten in 1966.  Of course, we’re not using that version, because those versions didn’t sound bitter enough.  For that, we have to go to the world of Punk Rock.  In 1979, The Clash put this song on their “The Cost of Living” EP.  The song I’m talking about is I Fought the Law.
      Since The Clash had not yet broken through in the U.S., I Fought the Law did not chart here.  It didn’t even chart in the U.K. until a 1988 rerelease made the song a minor hit peaking at #29.

Take Me to the River – Talking Heads

      It was Al Green who made the original version of our next song and didn’t even release it as a single.  The version we are playing today is from Talking Heads’ 1979 album “More Songs about Buildings and Food”.  According to the liner notes for “Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads”, David Byrne described the song as “A song that combines teenage lust with baptism”.  The song I’m talking about is Take Me to the River.
      The Talking Heads version of Take Me to the River made it to #26, the first of three top 40 hits for them.

Highwayman – The Highwaymen

      In 1985, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed a supergroup called The Highwaymen.  Their name comes from a Jimmy Webb song.  Webb may not be a household name today, but he wrote many hits in the 60’s and 70’s.  I listened to The Highwaymen’s version of Against the Wind and it was inferior considering there were four singers doing a song with only one narrator. However, this song has four different narrators each one getting a verse.  The song is called Highwayman.
      While Highwayman didn’t even have a prayer at making it onto the Billboard Hot 100, it did top the Billboard Country Chart.

Higher Ground – Red Hot Chili Peppers

      The next song today was made by Stevie Wonder just before he got in a life-threatening auto accident.  His version is a slick slice of 70s funk.  Of course, that version is too laid back, so the Red Hot Chili Peppers made a funk rock version.  The song in question is Higher Ground.
      Higher Ground is about reincarnation, but that’s not what I think of when I think of this song.  I first heard this version in the opening scene of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie.  Thus, when I think of this song, I think of skydiving.  If only the actual music video didn’t look like something from a Make your Own Music Video booth.

Mrs. Robinson – The Lemonheads

      The Graduate is a movie from 1968 about a young man who just graduated college. His name was Benjamin Braddock and he was lost in life.  He ended up getting seduced by an older woman named Mrs. Robinson.  Simon & Garfunkel made a song titled after her that was about her (or at least an early draft of her character).  The original was bright folk/pop, but the Lemonhead’s version is darker and more sinister – listen to Julianna Hatfield’s bassline. Let’s listen to this darker and harder version of Mrs. Robinson.'
      This cover is from 1994 at the end of the album “It’s a Shame about Ray”.  

The Man who Sold the World (live) – Nirvana

      From what I can tell, our next song is about a man who confronts his past self.  He may have changed, but he still remembers who he once was.  David Bowie originally made this song, but it thematically fits better with Nirvana.  After “Nevermind” sold over ten million albums in the U.S. alone, Kurt Cobain probably thought he had sold out.  He probably covered this song to reassure himself this was not the case.  The song is called The Man who Sold the World.
      I’m not sure if this version of The Man who Sold the World was released as a physical single.  Nevertheless, it made it to #6 on the U.S. Alternative Songs chart and was a #1 hit in Poland of all places.

Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm

      Alien Ant Farm wanted to be an angsty Nu Metal band, but they didn’t have the level of tortured sounding music that Korn and Linkin Park had.  It was clear they fit the Sum 41 backyard party model of Nu Metal.  The song that made this clear was their cover of a Michael Jackson song about how awesome he was and like Higher Ground, it’s a rock cover of a funk song that understands the strengths of the original and pumps them up even further.  Here is Alien Ant Farm’s version of Smooth Criminal.
      Smooth Criminal made it to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Alien Ant Farm’s only hit.  They joined Orgy, Taco, Pseudo Echo, and Jimi Hendrix on a technical level as one hit wonders whose one hit was a cover.

Hurt – Johnny Cash

      If you were to listen to the original version of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails on its own, most people would probably conclude that it is overdramatic with its diesel engine noises, whispered angst, and unnecessarily long coda which could have faded out a minute and a half before the song actually ended.  In the context of “The Downward Spiral” album, it is the last song about a man who becomes a Nietzsche wannabe only to find out that this has made his life pointless and Hurt is about him committing suicide.  Of course, a song shouldn’t need context from the accompanying album to make it good, which is why Johnny Cash’s version is better.  He stripped down the song to two acoustic guitars and one piano.  That’s all a song like Hurt needs to work.
      Like the original, Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt gets better if you know the context.  When Cash recorded the song, he was suffering from both Autonomic Neuropathy (which is associated with Diabetes) and Severe Pneumonia.  As a result, he had about a year left to live when he recorded this cover.  Unlike the original, this version of Hurt is still a good song even if you don’t know the context.  Even Trent Reznor himself admitted that Cash’s version of the song was so much better than his that it didn’t feel like his song anymore.  Reznor even said it was like losing a girlfriend.  Let’s not forget the music video which shows clips from Cash’s youth juxtaposed against the ailing singer himself and the House of Cash Museum in Nashville, which by that point had been closed to the public for so long that its state of disrepair mirrored Cash’s health at the time.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Regina Spektor

      So how can I follow-up a song in the radio show that was made right before the artist in question died?  Well, last year, Laika released an animated film called Kubo and the Two Strings.  Unfortunately, the Carmike Cinemas in Indiana did not show the film so my parents and I had to drive out to Delmont to see this movie, and it was worth the effort.  The movie turned out to be a well-made quest movie that is actually about moving on after a loved one has died.  The main soundtrack song is sung by Regina Spektor covering a Beatles song written by George Harrison a man who was famously into Eastern culture and even converted to Hinduism.  The song is called While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
      If you ever get the chance, watch Kubo and the Two Strings.  It’s equal parts child friendly, scary, and contemplative, and takes place in a surprisingly accurate historical recreation of Japan (although it’s only surprising because the main stars are all Americans).  Trust me, I had enough entries for great cover songs to fill up four of these radio shows.  I will be posting the script for this show as well as the full playlist on my Deviantart page.  Just go to andyofindiana.deviantart.com/gallery and click on Radio Show Stuff on the left-hand side of the screen.  Please note that playlists have now been given their own subfolder.

Next Week’s Show (0:12)

      Well, this is a show that has been a long time coming.  I don’t like this band as much as I used to because their lyrics rarely make sense, but my dad certainly does.  I’m focusing on R.E.M. next week on Andy See’s (mostly) Rock N’ Roll Variety Show.