Unlikely covers

What song from a non-TP artist do you think would sound good covered by a particular TP artist?

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HBK's post, recasting "Livin' on a Prayer" as a Tom Waits song, made me think of this.

For years in my head I've been able to hear Jay Farrar singing Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'," though to my knowledge he's never actually done so. (I may need to see a shrink about having voices in my head, but at least they sound pretty good.)

I always thought Grandaddy would've done a nice job with the Moody Blues' "In Your Wildest Dreams."

And I would love to hear what Goldfrapp could do with a Carpenters song, maybe "Goodbye to Love."

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For years in my head I've been able to hear Jay Farrar singing Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'," though to my knowledge he's never actually done so.

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If you haven't checked out The Jazz Butcher's version of "Everybody's Talking," you might want to. It's pretty (good).

Possible subject for further study. Harry Nilsson, I mean. Don't really know squat about him. In the record store of my mind, he exists only as bargain-basement cassettes and moldy LPs with creepier-than-needed (???) font design. Maybe he deserves better ... at least a cursory spin through a used CD. Any especially good titles (aside from the obligatory anthology or comp)?

Oh yeah. I seem to associate him with Lennon on his "lost weekend." So what?

Nilsson Schmilsson and Son of Schmilsson were his two biggest albums. Most everything on any compilation will consist of the hits from those two albums and the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack.

Luna did a cover of "Everybody's Talkin" for the Sub Pop singles series, also. And if memory serves, the b-side was a cover of Blondie's "In the Flesh."

Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" is a great bit of uber-cheesy bubblegum that the Monkees also recorded.

Just to give props where, it's Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'", not Nilsson's.

D'oh! You're right.

I've only ever heard snippets of Fred Neil's actual albums, but they sound pretty intriguing. Anyone have any insight into his stuff?

I know that voices-in-my-head (or rather, music-in-my-head) feeling too. I always wanted to hear Hüsker Dü cover The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renée."

I also would love to hear a good ska band cover "Like a Rolling Stone."

I would love to hear Sonic Youth cover "Sail On Sailor". A perfect blend of noise and beauty, that might be. Esp. if they kept the harmonies in.

Anyone else heard that the song's about cocaine addiction? I don't quite get that out of it, but maybe that's just cause of my head swaying to the chorus too much to concentrate.

I guess they're technically both TP artists, but I'd like to hear Arctic Monkeys take a stab at the Police's "Can't Stand Losing You"...they have the propulsive, jagged sensibility to handle it, but I have a hard time imagining how Alex Turner's vocals would work, which intrigues me. Someone like Ted Leo is probably better suited for the job, but I'm pretty sure of how that would sound already.

How about if Cheap Trick covered Rick Springfield's "Human Touch"? I'd buy that for a dollar!

I'd love to hear a good power-pop band with a healthy edge cover Barry Manilow's "Miracles." The Plimsouls come to mind.

Another one that begs for the power-pop treatment, IMO, is Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind." The Smithereens sound, to my mind's ear, like the right band to cover that one.

I always wanted someone to steal the chorus to Manilow's "Weekend in New England", which I think soars wonderfully and woefully. The rest of the song bites, but that's a hell of a hook.

I wanna hear the loosey-goosey modern Dylan do Depeche Mode's "It's Called A Heart.

I wanna hear Morrissey do Uncle Tupelo's "No Sense In Loving," and Kelly Hogan's "No, Bobby, Don't."

And I wanna hear Kanye West do the Talking Heads' "The Book I Read."



Post Edited (07-14-09 20:01)

I want to hear The Pogues do a fast version of Redgum's 'I Was Only 19'

I don't have specific artists in mind, but I've always wanted to hear:

-- a punk cover of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon

-- a death metal cover of "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush

and I know Trouser Press doesn't really cover this type of artist, but:

-- a bluegrass cover, with fiddle and banjo, of "Suffragette City" by David Bowie

Hey Stinky!

It's not death metal but China Drum do a pretty rockin' Wuthering Heights on the Goosefair album, it's a secret track.

you are not alone stinkman.
the tp has long stood, to near point of constipation for the likes of BILL MONROE and MUDDY WATERS compilation discs.

GET YOURS TODAY!

> a punk cover of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon

Can be heard (whistling solo and all) on Me First & the Gimme Gimmes' album Have a Ball, along with eleven other covers of Top 40 AM-radio crapola from (mostly) the '70s.

Blow in the Wind is another excellent covers album by this band. Both albums highly recommended by yours truly.

There's a bluegrass band here in CS called "Grass It Up." I've heard them do some choice covers, including "When Doves Cry," Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," and a superb cover of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." I'll suggest the Bowie song to them, next time I happen to see them.

If you dig bluegrass covers, check out Rebuild the Wall, a song-for-song revision of Pink Floyd's The Wall, by Luther Wright & the Wrongs.

(My band in the '80s did a ska rendition of "Suffragette City," as well as reggae versions of "Whip It" and "When You Were Mine," a calypso "Cum On Feel the Noize," and a hardcore punk "Electric Avenue.")

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> a punk cover of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon

Can be heard (whistling solo and all) on Me First & the Gimme Gimmes' album Have a Ball, along with eleven other covers of Top 40 AM-radio crapola from (mostly) the '70s.

Thanks -- I just listened to it on Rhapsody, and my life is now a little more complete.

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There's a bluegrass band here in CS called "Grass It Up." . . . I'll suggest the Bowie song to them, next time I happen to see them.

I appreciate that too.

Kind of a more general note: doesn't this thread topic seem like fertile ground for a blog, or at least a dedicated Twitter feed? Granted, if you open the field for the unwashed masses to suggest covers, you'll get all sorts of theoretical artistic abortions, but on the other hand, you'd also get some pretty damn good ideas.

I like Sheryl Crow's cover of GnR's Sweet Child o Mine.

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It's not death metal but China Drum do a pretty rockin' Wuthering Heights on the Goosefair album, it's a secret track.

I'll have to check that out -- thanks, aitch.

Okay, I listened to the China Drum of Wuthering Heights. Pretty sweet, but I always thought the song would improve from a slower tempo cover, which is why I thought a good metal band might do a good cover.

Still, very nice. Thanks again, aitch.

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If you dig bluegrass covers, check out Rebuild the Wall, a song-for-song revision of Pink Floyd's The Wall, by Luther Wright & the Wrongs.

I just got around to listening to some of those tracks. That cover of "Comfortably Numb" is great. I am so glad I found this thread. You people are gods.

One of the femmes from Veruca Salt did a more-than-credible acoustic cover of NWA's Straight Outta Compton.

One other cover I'd like to hear. Granted, this isn't a Trouser Press artist, but I've always thought that "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult would be a good song to cover for an orchestra with a boy's choir singing the "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man: Godzilla!" part.

I'm not a musician and have no musical training, but I've thought that an enterprising school with a good classical orchestra and choir could put out an album of pop/rock covers to get themselves some money for ongoing expenses. I want to say that I'm surprised it hasn't been done already, but I half expect that someone is going to point out that it has.

But hey, if it hasn't? I'd be overjoyed if someone ran with the idea.

I'm on a big ABBA kick right now. Oasis should do "Waterloo." And someone, I don't know who, should do "Summer Night City" and really mean it.

Apparently there is an Indie-Rock glee club in Chicago now. I've not heard them but the whole concept sounds unbearably precious to me. A friend of mine swears they're great, but I don't think I could ever get past the entire concept. If I ever witnessed one of their performances I don't know that I would be able to resist the overwhelming urge I'm sure I would feel to rush the stage and begin beating each and every one of them senseless.

Here's their website. I've not been brave enough to check for any audio files.

[blueribbongleeclub.org]