Jan 182013
We did something on this topic years ago, if memory serves. I hope to dig out the old thread, so we don’t repeat ourselves, but how about “Baby, It’s You” as an example of a song that, by the strength of its writing and structure, is impervious to subpar performers? As bad as the above 1969 cover by Smith is (and too bad, because its fringed-headbanded-Dry Looked band members promise so much), it’s still hard for me not to “root” for the song’s turns, doing my best to overlook the band’s clunky navigation.
I think it only works because we can hear the good versions playing in the background in our minds (especially the backup singers). I wonder what we would think if our first exposure to the song came here. I suspect we would think it was a clunky song.
That’s a good point, although I do think the “architecture” of certain songs helps keep interest. A simple song like “Mustang Sally,” for instance, can sound lousy in the hands of subpar performers. There are less structural peaks to anticipate.
I think the singer in that band has early signs of that head shaking thing you can get when you’re older.
I think we did cover this before, but I’ll still toss in Wild Thing as the indestructible song. Even Jimi Hendrix couldn’t wreck it, and he tried his best. I used to think Louie, Louie was the same way, but The Kinks do a version of that that’s so uninspired and dull they succeeded in ruining it.
The song I have always thought it would be difficult to mess up is “Goin’ Back” by Goffin & King. It may be that the Byrds & Dusty Springfield made such a lasting impression but I like Nils Lofgren’s version & a live Springsteen I have.
I just discovered that Phil Collins recorded the song but there are limits to how far I am prepared to go in the interest of musical investigation. Maybe the drummer/crooner will prove to be a cover too far.
OK, it’s time to come clean: I’ve read about this song for years, including numerous references to it here. It always occurred to me that, based on the title alone, I couldn’t have hummed that tune with a gun pointed at my head.
I just listened to Dusty’s version, which did not ring a bell.
I listened to the Byrds’ version, which I must have heard at some point in my numerous attempts at liking more than a handful of songs by them. No bells were rung, but it’s pretty good as Byrds songs go.
I came across an early Freddie Mercury/proto-Queen version, which I read about last year, in the Mercury bio. Still didn’t ring a bell. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68p5xYBCVzA
I like the live Lofgren version I checked out!
I take pride in knowing a lot of rock stuff and am a professed fan of Goffin-King compositions, but this song never made an impression on me. I’m troubled by this, but it’s best I come clean. It reminds of something else I like, though, which will bug me even more.
You owe it to yourself to check out the Collins version!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrxFpcaNlCU
WoW!
I suppose Ima the only one that enjoys Smith’s version of this song???
Wow. Phil is clearly a very, very sensitive artist. I admit I only know this song by the Byrds (oh, and now by Phil Collins, thanks very much), and though I always liked it, it walks a fine line between painfully maudlin and, um, merely maudlin.
Until I started to look too deeply into it, I was prepared to say “Everlasting Love.” Great in its original (?) 1967 version by Robert Knight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg7vobult7o) A version by Love Affair from the same year is not as good, but quite ok. it was even better in the 70s by Carl Carlton (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3AXKjlH4rQ). A late 80s version by U2 is still pretty solid, and I remember that even Gloria Estefan’s version wasn’t as sucky as it might have been.
Wow, but then I heard the version by Rex Smith & Rachel Sweet–how I missed out on this the first time around, I don’t know. Impervious to subpar performers? Holy crap, give us a chance.
Mod, I now know more than I did before about Phil’s last album. I knew there were some Motown covers but not that there were so many. Did he make this record before or after he was quoted as saying that he did not like music anymore ? I’m with misterioso on this & would like to add that he changes the lyrics. If it’s good enough for Goffin & King, good enough for Dusty, then…
Hey Hank Fan is back!
Not Fade Away is obviously one of those impervious songs.
I’ve heard lots of takes at “Shakin’ All Over” and have always come away tapping my feet.
Here’s a YouTube playlist for the unconvinced.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEC11384D4158C292
John Entwistle and Adam Ant fall into the subpar performance category.
X did a horrible version of Wild Thing.
But then, I like Hendrix’s version, so what do I know?
The first song that came to mind is “Walk On By.” I did some digging and found some stupendous covers. Just check out Isaac Hayes and his backup singers (I covet one of those gowns especially for when I get a little older or need to dress up as Maude): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5tqAbrZeX0
The thing that made that version even more interesting for me was the ad running at the bottom of the screen (I don’t know if you get it too): Your arrest record is now viewable on line!
In contrast, Hugh Cornwell et al do their best to murder the song, but the chorus still stands up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqfqVDHNW6c
Who would have thought that a Bacharach song would be described as “Like The Doors with balls!”
Yes. Is there somethang wrong with Jimi Hendrix’s version of “Wild Thing?”
What??? I love the Stranglers version! What is wrong with youse people???
I’ve always loved the Smith & Mighty version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt_G7PO093Y
LMKR’s Isaac Hayes post reminds me of this, PRECIOUS cover of a song that remains impervious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bbdJSW3pvM
I love the Stranglers, but Hugh’s growl lack’s the emotional punch that I think this song requires.
X’s version isn’t particularly good, but I think they did it to sound like a tried and true rock anthem for a movie. It’s still Wild Thing, and it’s still not awful. Jimi’s version is plenty enjoyable, but it always seemed to me like he used it more as an excuse to just wail and chew gum.
Any song is capable of being wrecked. There is no Teflon song.
“Horrible” is probably over the top. It is a hard song to mess up, but I thought they phoned it in.