This song, the B-side to "Mother Mother", is a really faithful PJ Harvey cover. For those not family, PJ Harvey was something of a contemporary (and labelmate) of Tracy Bonham in the 1990s, and in that context, this cover makes sense.
The frenzied violin in the middle is a great addition.
This version is from the 1997 PinkPop festival in the Netherlands.
I frequently get asked what my favorite cover might be.
It's tough to pick just one, but this cover of the 13th Floor Elevators classic by Poi Dog Pondering is high on that list. It's a rare band that can take a song so iconic like this one and make it completely their own, making you forget exactly who originally performed the song. And this rendition is hauntingly beautiful.
This is actually a This Mortal Coil cover - as the 4AD house band, with Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on iconic vocal, that is matched here. The TMC version gives me goosebumps, and so does this version.
It's been a beautiful month of Canadian music on Wicked Guilty Pleasures. Totally Covered has mostly stayed out of it, but we could NOT pass up one more œ here. Tœtally Cœvered?
Anyway, it's Cyndi Lauper being covered by Béatrice Martin, beautifully.
Today's Wicked Guilty Pleasure is a little band with sad guitars from Ontario named Babygirl.
I accidentally learned that they have a Sixpence None The Richer cover for all of us to enjoy. It's a little hard to picture the song with sad guitars, and yet they pull it off.
I was watching "How I Met Your Father" the other day. I heard the opening theme song, which is, of course, a cover of the "How I Met Your Mother" theme song, "Hey Beautiful", originally performed by The Solids.
I was thinking to myself, "Tony, that sounds a lot like Lennon Stella."
I decided THIS AFTERNOON to check to see if I was right.
Originally performed by Robyn & Erato, Lennon and Maisy Stella posted this video in 2012, when they were 12 and 8, respectively.
31 million views later, they were cast on the ABC drama Nashville - in fact, the notoriety they gained from this video was instrumental in their work visas being granted (they are Canadian and needed those to work in the US). Their careers have soared from there.
I can't describe this any better than the YouTube description does.
This is a senior songwriting and recording class from Eastwood Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario. Most students in this class are in the Waterloo Region Integrated Arts Program, representing several arts disciplines, including instrumental music, vocal music, strings, visual arts, dance, drama, and production technology. This year we are excited to be able to sing/play indoors but we still faced the challenge of recording music together live due to indoor distancing requirements, co-horting and contract tracing. Many hours were spent planning, arranging, learning the parts, performing, mixing the recordings and video editing for this project and we are proud of how it turned out. We chose “Up We Go” by the Lights because the chorus lyrics really spoke to the class considering the time we are all living in:
“Everyone here is ready to go
It's been a hard year with nothing to show
From down this road, it's only on we go, on we go"
In 1971, Olivia Newton-John released her debut album, called If Not For You. This was a covers album, with mostly recent songs featured. This Gordon Lightfoot classic had been a huge worldwide hit the year prior, so it was ripe to be covered.
To her credit, ONJ understands the mournful feel of the song, and she covered it well.
Once upon a time, there was a big football game that people watched for the commercials. One of those commercials was for a little taco joint chain restaurant, and it featured a song that everyone knew was performed by Hole.... but it wasn't Courtney Love singing it....
...and why was Doja Cat in the commercial?
Well, it turns out Ms. Cat was also the artist of record on that song. And, after that suberb owl of a game, she released the whole song... which became an instant hit on the ROCK charts, a place she hadn't been before.
That's right. Not a pop hit. A ROCK hit.
See?!
Seriously, the song is a walking fire. You can't get rid of it. Here's the whole song, in a fan-made video, clearly cut from the Taco Bell commercial.
Jeanne C. Riley had her biggest hit with her debut single, written by Tom T. Hall. Kelly Willis recorded a fantastic and nuanced cover of this song, building as it goes. Stick with it, because she understands the rising emotional impact of this super huge hit.
Jonathan Coulton is someone who does a lot of quirky songs, including quirky covers. This one, however, is spot on and reverent. Accompanied by a who's who of session musician/songwriters - Jim Boggia (guitar), John Roderick (guitar), Christian Cassan (drums), Jon Spurney (keyboard) - and yes. That's Aimee Mann on bass and 2nd vocal - Coulton and his band give the Ric Ocasek classic its due.
And yes, this is because it's Scott's birthday and I absolutely remember that he saw Aimee Mann ten years ago Sunday, and also that today is his birthday.
Kim Wilde covered Tasmin Archer's biggest hit in 2011. She brings a more pop and less soulful feel than the original, but still, she understands the emotional gravity of the song, and delivers it appropriately.
It sounds like I'm giving her a performance review. I promise that I'm not. She just does a good job. Sometimes, there's not a lot more that has to be said.
The Smithereens released a great and faithful cover of one of Ringo Starr's biggest hits. They really didn't change it at all. Pat DiNizio might as well have been Richard Starkey. Rather than break down the song any more than I already did, I figured you could just listen.
Years ago, my old office had an administrative assistant who listened to a lot of the same indie rock and alt stuff as I did at the time. Needless to say we got along smashingly. One day I was asking her a question and today's song was playing on her computer. I then had a non-work question: "who's this covering XTC?" She wisely asked if I liked it. I said, "yeah, it's pretty cool." She said, "It's Mandy Moore." I died a little inside that day. Fortunately, Mandy went on to marry Ryan Adams which of course made her cool in the eyes of hipsters everywhere (I'm certainly making that last part up). I should say though that her last two records: Wild Hope and Amanda Leigh are some damn fine folkie/pop.
Forget the Ryan Adams comment, which didn't exactly age well. But it was - is - a terrific cover. He was right about that. But also, this started us both thinking, and those thoughts led us to the creation of this blog a couple of months later.
So, I consider this the anniversary of Totally Covered.
When big artists go to BBC Radio 1, they do big covers. So, when Camila Cabello went, she brought.... wait, a mariachi band? - to cover this big Olivia Rodrigo hit. She doesn't curse during it, but she does it justice.
After her album of Olivia Newton-John covers, Juliana Hatfield needed another project.
So, why not The Police?
Indeed, she covered a number of their hits, including this UK hit about teenage suicide. In the video and on the recording, she performs all the musical parts and self-harmonizes - which I guess beats cloning herself....