Cover versions of songs by "nobodies"

[Harry Joy]

Yes, technically you're right... Zep's version was a cover of a song written in the 1920s!

This will rattle your brain a little - Zeppelin covered the song 42 years after it was written. Our discussion of the Zeppelin version is 45 years after they recorded it.

[lysleder]

There is these guys. I don't  know if they are deemed to be too professional, but here goes..

 

..and if so, you can enjoy these guys instead. They sing in Swedish, but the tune should be well known to all of you. Alternately you can skip forward to 1:40 or thereabouts to hear the vocalist try a verse in English. The lyrics themselves is not what pulled me in into this one, but rather the sound and - should I say vitality - of the music produced.

Edited February 21, 2016 by lysleder

[Snake45]

That Thunderstruck was amazing and awesome! Thanks for sharing it!

 

Here's another of my own alltime favorite "nobody covers":

[Ace-Garageguy]

[Harry P.]

Wow! That version of AC-DC's "Thunderstruck" was pretty cool! Talk about "alternative instrumentation!"

[Harry P.]

One of the most bizarre covers ever! Is this a band... or some sort of cult? Hard to say, but as weird as they are, they actually do a pretty decent version of "Heart of Gold"...

[Harry P.]

[SfanGoch]

Remember Manfred Mann's "Doo Wah Diddy"? You've NEVER heard a cover version like this. It makes one want to tape up the windows and turn on the gas jets. It's so bad it's good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s55g2dUVBfk

 

 

 

[Harry P.]

Wow! That act is almost as good as the Shaggs!

[Tom Geiger]

Here's a guy named Art Starling.  He does covers of obscure Harry Chapin songs.  Not the ones you may have heard on the radio, but some of the masterpieces from the albums.

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

One time I was listening to my favorite Chapin Music, as Harry called it and was mourning that some of the more obscure songs, the ones the fanatics love, would probably never be done live again.   Then I came across this!   Mercenaries is one of my favorite Chapin songs,  he just paints pictures with words and always with an ironic ending.   Spend a few minutes and listen to the lyrics.

 

 

[Harry P.]

Actually "WOLD" got regular airplay here back in the day, because I know the song. And since I don't own any Harry Chapin albums or CDs, hearing it on the radio would be the only way I could possibly have heard it.

[Snake45]

This is My New Favorite Song.

Have never heard it on the radio, though apparently it was a hit in other countries in 2014. I heard it on American Idol last week, and when I started researching it, I realized that I'd also heard it once on The Voice last season. Freakin' song is AWESOME.

Here's the original version by Sam Smith. Not bad at all:

Here two kids singing the snot out of it on The Voice last year. The boy of this duo went on to win the whole show.

Here's the version that grabbed me by the ears on Idol last week. Ricky Minor and the Idol band really nail the arrangement, and I think this kid actually outsings Sam Smith. It's fun to watch Keith Urban REALLY dig it!

And just to show what an awesome song this is, here's a girl named DeAnna Johnson doing it more or less unplugged.

This is such a fabulous song, I would LOVE to hear other versions of it. Can you imagine how it might be done by--

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers?

The Bee Gees?

Pink?

Stevie Nicks and Waddy Wachtell?

The Eli Young Band?

Sprinsteen?

Prince?

Gaga?

Even Blake Shelton, ferpissake?

--just for starters. Just trying to imagine some of these sends chills up my spine.

 

 

[Harry P.]

Ok, there are a lot of professional Beatles cover bands out there. A lot. But how about a "girl group" covering a Beatles song? The redhead lead guitarist doesn't have George's part down exactly on the solo, but not a bad effort. Pretty good job, if I do say so myself...

[Tom Geiger]

Actually "WOLD" got regular airplay here back in the day, because I know the song. And since I don't own any Harry Chapin albums or CDs, hearing it on the radio would be the only way I could possibly have heard it.

It did get some airplay because it's about DJs....  Harry didn't get a lot of airplay,  mainly because most of his songs are pretty long.  It would've been interesting to see how his career would have played out if he hadn't been killed at such a young age.

[afx]

Heard this a few years back and it blew me away.

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by afx

[SfanGoch]

It did get some airplay because it's about DJs....  Harry didn't get a lot of airplay,  mainly because most of his songs are pretty long.  It would've been interesting to see how his career would have played out if he hadn't been killed at such a young age.

Harry received extensive airplay in the NYC area, especially on WNEW-FM. He was a Brooklyn guy who didn't forget his roots and a fellow Brooklyn Tech alumnus.

[Harry P.]

He got pretty regular airplay here, too. Mostly on FM "progressive" stations.

[Harry P.]

It would've been interesting to see how his career would have played out if he hadn't been killed at such a young age.

Ditto Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc, etc. Not to mention Curt Cobain, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lennon... and many others.

Lots of unrealized potential in the world of pop/rock music.

[Tom Geiger]

Harry received extensive airplay in the NYC area, especially on WNEW-FM. He was a Brooklyn guy who didn't forget his roots and a fellow Brooklyn Tech alumnus.

Harry always did acoustic benefit concerts at the area colleges. I benefitted from this as a ute.  I would see him every time he appeared locally, here was once concert. I saw the poster still up the next Monday so I grabbed it.   Had it all these years, it's hanging in my den now.

Back in the day I had a business producing first day covers.   Harry signed a handful of them for me after one concert.  I gave one to a fellow model car guy and Chapin fan recently. I still have two of them.   I have a search agent on eBay for my old "ODDITY" brand, and they pop up all the time.

[SfanGoch]

Cool! Harry was involved in a lot of charitable causes and always performed benefit concerts. He and Father Bill Ayres began World Hunger Year in '75 and had Hungerthons every Thanksgiving on NEW-FM. 

[STYRENE-SURFER]

1000 musicians play Foo Fighters Learn To Fly

[afx]

The Rockin 1000 video ways cool!

[Mike_G]

I played drums and sang in this band:

https://www.reverbnation.com/mudskippers/song/14305748-409

https://www.reverbnation.com/mudskippers/song/17995009-green-river

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2016 by Mike_G
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[1972coronet]

A friends' band whose name was 'The S.A.T.'s' (which stood for Sexually Active Teens ! Ha ha ha ! ) in high school performed a psychedellic version of the infamous 867-5309 (Jenny) song , changing its chorus to "TOpaz-7-5309" and adding early Pink Floyd meets The Stooges instrumentation to it . Unfortunately , no recording of it exists (that I'm aware of at least) ... and that was 30 years ago any-how !