I've decided I'd like to go back to my original focus on Cleveland-area culture: sports, art, music, theatre, literature, journalism, dining, and lifestyles in general. I'd also like to expand this to a larger scale and talk about pop culture in a societal context.
In that spirit, I'll be offering several blog entries about music and a weekly poll question about cover songs. I know "cover songs" are a dirty phrase to some musicians, but the right artist can make a bad song good and a good song great. To wit:
"I Fought the Law" -- original by Sonny Curtis and the Crickets, covered by many artists, including Bobby Fuller, the Clash (my personal favorite), and Green Day
"All Along the Watchtower" -- original by Bob Dylan, covered by Jimi Hendrix
"Sweet Jane" -- original by Lou Reed, covered by Cowboy Junkies
"Georgia on My Mind" -- original by Hoagy Carmichael, covered by Ray Charles (my favorite) and others
"Alabama Song" -- originally written for a German songspiel called "Mahoganny" in 1927 (!), covered by many artists, most brilliantly by the Doors
"Your Mama Don't Dance" -- original by Loggins and Messina, covered by Poison. Yes, I just admitted I like Poison. Deal with it, music snobs.
"Nothing Compares 2 U" -- original by Prince, covered brilliantly by Sinead O'Connor
"Joy to the World" -- original by Hoyt Axton, covered by Three Dog Night
"Some Kind of Wonderful" -- original by Grand Funk Railroad, covered best by Joss Stone and interestingly enough, by Christian artist Mark Farner
"Livin' After Midnight" -- Judas Priest's original was brilliant, but the Donnas' cover put a whole new, fun spin on it.
"Mony Mony" -- original by Tommy James and the Shondells, covered by Billy Idol. That one got a good many of my classmates in trouble in high school for the call-and-response, "Hey, hey what . . ." (if you were in your teens or 20s during the late 1980s, you know the rest, plus my Mom might be reading this, so I'm not going to finish it, okay?)
"I Don't Like Mondays" -- Tori Amos adds a certain haunting dimension to the Boomtown Rats' original.
0 comments:
Post a Comment