Feel Bad For You, October 2013 (Covers)

Fall is upon us and there’s a bit of a chill in the air up here in the Seattle area, as well as some rain. October has always a fun month for me. I get a kick out of seeing everyone dress up for Halloween, as well as myself. Kids and adults pretending to be something or someone they aren’t. So why not do the same with music? What do I mean? Covers. Cover Tunes. Re-imagining the originals. Get it?

So we have our theme for the month: Cover tunes. No restrictions on year or genre. This is probably the biggest mix tape to date, this year. We have 25, count ‘em, 25 songs in this month’s mix. Rockstar_Aimz wanted to submit 50, but kept herself to 5. I contributed 3, but could have equaled Aimz. And we had a couple of others that contributed 2 each. Why? Because I’m the curator and I make the rules! To say we are all over the map is an understatement. - @BoogieStudio22

Get your butts in gear, start listening and get those comments flyin’.

Thanks to @AnnieTUFF for the killer artwork! Download

1. Title: Love Hurts
Artist: Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
Album: Grievous Angel (1974)
Submitted By: @toomuchcountry
Comments: On Thursday, September 19, I took in a show at The 5 Spot featuring several of East Nashville’s great singer-songwriters. Included on the bill were Amelia White and Jon Byrd. She reminded the audience the evening was the 40th anniversary of Gram Parsons’ death. Then Byrd sang the Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts” – a song Parsons recorded during sessions in 1973 and eventually released in 74 as Grievous Angel.

2. Title: It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)
Artist: Banda Do Sul; Natascha
Album (year): Bossa n’ Stones, Vol. 2 [2006]
Submitted By: hoosier buddy
Comments: There are two compilation albums of bossa nova covers of Rolling Stones songs, and of the 24 covers, this is my favorite track. The breathy vocal, the percussion, the flute trills…confection perfection. Strangely un-ironic.

3. Title: Whipping Post (Allman Brothers)
Artist: The Blind Owl Band
Album (2013): Live at The Shaskeen 2013-08-29
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: BOB is fast becoming my favorite new band. The whole 2+ hour set is available for free on my blog ifin you want it.

4. Title: If You Catch Me Stealing
Artist: Eilen Jewell
Album (year): Letters From Sinners & Strangers (2007)
Submitted By: @tincanman2010 
Comments: Pick a fave cover tune? And risk having my 9,000 other faves organize a coup against me? Nice try, bastard. This is an original that stitches together several of Jewell’s favourite Bessie Smith songs. I trust it will keep everybody happy.

5. Title: Telephone (Lady GaGa)
Artist: The Morning Pages
Album (year):
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)
Comments: Not my “favorite” cover song ever but it is a fun one.

6. Title: Down By The River
Artist: Indigo Girls
Album (year): Live bootleg, Bogart’s, Cincinnati, OH, April 13, 1993
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: Haters gonna hate.

7. Title: It’s a Long Way to the Top
Artist: Lucinda Williams (AC/DC cover)
Album (year): Little Honey (2008)
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: I’m a cover junkie. But for me this one surpasses all and transcends the original.

8. Title: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Artist: Devo
Album (year): Greatest Hits (1990)
Submitted by: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: I first heard this on Saturday Night Live back in the late 70s. I was floored by this version of the Stones’ hit. It was probably the first cover where I realized a band could reinvent a song in their own style and make it even better. I loved it. My friends hated it.

9. Title: Wonderwall
Artist: Ryan Adams
Album (year): Love Is Hell, Pt. 1 (EP) (2003)
Submitted by: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: I always thought the Oasis version was kind of a whiny and unimpressive affair. Ryan took the song to a new place of absolute, aching love. I was driving to work when this song started playing. I pulled over to the side of the road to listen to it over and over. Ryan owns this song now and it is better for it.

10. Title: Fearless
Artist: Gerald Collier
Album (year): Gerald Collier (1998)
Submitted by: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: Gerald Collier pops up again. Gerald usually has at least one cover on each of his albums. I’m a fan of early-ish Pink Floyd. Though it is not a reinvention of Pink Floyd’s version, I thoroughly enjoy Gerald’s take on it.

11. Title: Ooby Dooby
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Album: Cosmo’s Factory
Submitted by: Brad
Comments: Originally done by Roy Orbison, but written by my English prof in the late 70s, Dick Penner, at Sun Records in Memphis in 50s. Reading James Joyce, Joyce Cary, Virginia Woolf with Dick was a trip for me, part of what made me who I am. Dick told us he was in grad school at Duke in the 60s, when he walked out to the mailbox one day, and there was a hefty check from Creedence, who put the song on their Cosmo’s Factory album. He went out and bought a car and rented a new apartment that day. Love ya, man. You encapsulate everything that was good about my college education.

12. Title: Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
Artist: Neko Case
Album (year): New Coat of Paint — Tom Waits Tribute (2000)
Submitted By: Mike Beebe
Comments: I truly love good cover songs. There are so, so many to choose from but this is the first one that came to mind. Gorgeous.

13. Title: Baby Blue
Artist: Jay Farrar
Album (Year): Bootleg (no clue)
Submitted By: @Rockstar_Aimz
Comments: In honor of the end of Breaking Bad, here’s my boyfriend Jay covering Badfinger. I think I got this boot off of the Son Volt message board.

14. Title: 99 Red Balloons
Artist: 7 Seconds
Album (Year): Walk Together, Rock Together (1985)
Submitted By: @Rockstar_Aimz
Comments: For all the straight edgers in the house. I think it was 1989 when I went with a bunch of high school buddies to a 7 Seconds show somewhere in rural Wisconsin. I got home after curfew, got in trouble, but it was totally worth it.

15. Title: Tombstone Blues
Artist: Richie Havens
Album (year): I’m Not There Soundtrack (2007)
Submitted By: @Rockstar_Aimz
Comments: I could easily submit 25 Bob Dylan covers. This one is my favorite. Havens is the man, and this is possibly the best Dylan cover next to Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.”

16. Title: Last Nite
Artist: Adele
Album (year): BBC One Live Lounge with Jo Whiley (2008)
Submitted By: @Rockstar_Aimz
Comments: Adele covering The Strokes? Yes, and the results are awesome.

17. Title: Superstar
Artist: Sonic Youth
Album (year): If I Were a Carpenter (1994)
Submitted By: @Rockstar_Aimz
Comments: The true mark of an excellent cover is making the song nearly unrecognizable from the original. In other words, making it your own. Sonic Youth kills it with this cover/arrangement of The Carpenters, making it even more interesting when told from a man’s perspective.

18. Title: I Can’t Stand It
Artist: The Cramps
Album (year): Bad Music For Bad People (1990)
Submitted By: @annieTUFF
Comments: I chose this because it was one of my favorite songs that I had no idea was a cover until I started looking into it. The song was originally by Charlie Feathers. Also a solid choice because I think it’s pretty near impossible to listen to The Cramps without doin’ a little shimmy and shake.

19. Title: I Think We’re Alone Now
Artist: Screeching Weasel
Album (year): Kill The Musicians (1995)
Submitted By: @annieTUFF
Comments: This one is a fun cover because while it was originally a hit in 1967 by Tommy James and The Shondells, it’s probably most well known from the Tiffany version in 1987. BUT this cover is great, I don’t know how many times I actually listened to this version before I actually realized what Screeching Weasel was covering…which is pretty perfect.

20. Title: Halo (Beyonce Cover)
Artist: Port O’Brien
Year: 2009
Submitted By: Mad Mackerel Music Blog
Comments: Choosing your favourite cover is a harder task than most. Having selected and then rejected a huge number of possibilities, we eventually settled on the much-missed Port O’Brien and their cover of Beyonce’s Halo – different enough to be bold, faithful enough to be recognisable, yet with a undeniable PO’B stamp all over it. Superb. Although on another day, Phosphorescent’s sublime version of Lucinda Williams’ Big Red Sun Blues might just have pipped it….

21. Title: Speed of Sound of Loneliness
Artist: Alabama 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_3)
Album (year): Exile on Coldharbour Lane (1997)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Not sure if I’ll get away with this, but submitting two versions of the same cover as A3 / Alabama 3 take on John Prine’s Speed of the Sound of Loneliness in two very distinct versions (parental guidance required)

22. Title: Speed of Sound of Loneliness
Artist: Alabama 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_3)
Album (year): Last Train to Mashville Vol2 (2003)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Not sure if I’ll get away with this, but submitting two versions of the same cover as A3 / Alabama 3 take on John Prine’s Speed of the Sound of Loneliness in two very distinct versions (parental guidance required)

23. Title: Eye of the Tiger
Artist: Paul Anka
Album (year): Rock Swings (2006?)
Submitted by: Gorrck
Comment: always fun to put this kind of crap into a mix and see if anyone picks up on it. Also good for shutting down the party at 3a.m. when you need to sleep. You’ll thank me later.

24. Title: 8 Miles High
Artist: Husker Du
Album (year): 8 Miles High Single (1984)
Submitted By: Ryan
Comments: THIS is what a cover is all about – a totally fresh take on the song. Long live the Du!

25. Title: One More Try
Artist: The Silks
Album (year): debut single 2013
Submitted By: @scratchedsoul
Comments: These guys are out of Providence, RI and have been the revelation of the year for me. I first heard of them because I read Paul Westerberg was producing their debut record. Westerberg sings lead on the b-side to their debut single which is this Rolling Stones cover (from 1965′s Out of Our Heads). They just released their debut record ‘Last American Band’ which is chock full of bad-ass, straight-up rock and roll.