NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS WEBSITE
Cover Me Impressed
With a focus on the 60's-90's music scene, CMI is a Paradiso for Lovers Cover Songs! Each post focuses on a particular song and provides its original and most popular recordings as well as covers versions. Patrons of CMI vote on the most deserving cover version, which will then live to compete again, battling other cover songs in a future post.
Bands, musicians, troubadours, and their ilk, submit your cover songs for future CMI competitions.
CMI welcomes the opportunity to introduce new artists.
Contact RDubbs at covermeimpressed@yahoo.com
Music Genres?
We've Got 'em Covered ...
Rock / Alt-Rock / Rock 'n Roll / Rockabilly / Indie Pop / New Wave / Old Wave / Surf / Reggae / Ska / Punk Rock / Psychobilly / Cowpunk / Alt-Country / Bluegrass / Folk / Croon-Tunes / A Cappella / Motown / Gospel / Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Jazz / Big Band / Lounge / Classical / Celtic / Bossa Nova / Worldbeat / Show Tunes / Cartoons / Bizarro / Musical Calamities
Tune du Jour: “Thousands are Sailing” – The Pogues
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Patrick Clifford vs. East Wall vs. Puck & Piper
Broccoli For Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles … Oh Yeah!
Phenomenal song, simply phenomenal!!! Let me be clear, there is simply no way to improve upon The Pogues’ masterpiece. In some ways it seems foolhardy that lesser bands even attempt the task. Not sacrilegious, mind you, but seemingly self-defeating, impractical and ultimately foolish.
But in the immortal words of Hunter S Thompson, “But the ticket, take the ride”. So go ahead. You’ve got much to prove and might as well start making a name for yourself tonight. March on up to the cadre of Hells Angels at the end of the bar and slug the biggest one in the latissimus dorsi. Just please wait until I’m at least 15 miles down the road before you cash in that ticket …
The Original
The Pogues:
space
The Cover Songs Competition
space
Forget the naysayers! C’mon mate. That big dirty bastard is ripe for the taking …
space
Patrick Clifford vs. East Wall vs. Puck & Piper
space
Patrick Clifford:
East Wall:
Puck & Piper:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Tune du Jour: “Thousands are Sailing” – The Pogues
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Brassknuckle Boys vs. Don Chambers & GOAT vs. McGillicuddys
Broccoli For Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles … Oh Yeah!
Phenomenal song, simply phenomenal!!! Let me be clear, there is simply no way to improve upon The Pogues’ masterpiece. In some ways it seems foolhardy that lesser bands even attempt the task. Not sacrilegious, mind you, but seemingly self-defeating, impractical and ultimately foolish.
But in the immortal words of Hunter S Thompson, “But the ticket, take the ride”. So go ahead. You’ve got much to prove and might as well start making a name for yourself tonight. March on up to the cadre of Hells Angels at the end of the bar and slug the biggest one in the latissimus dorsi. Just please wait until I’m at least 15 miles down the road before you cash in that ticket …
The Original
The Pogues:
space
The Cover Songs Competition
space
Forget the naysayers! C’mon mate. That big dirty bastard is ripe for the taking …
space
Brassknuckle Boys vs. Don Chambers & GOAT vs. McGillicuddys
space
Brassknucle Boys:
Don Chambers & GOAT:
McGillicuddys:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Pots-Pourris du Jour: “Baby It’s You” / “A Message to Michael” (orig Burt Bacharach) – “Miss Otis Regrets” / “Just One Of Those Things” (orig Cole Porter) – “Seppi War A punk Rocker” / “Kumm Dantz” (orig The Ramones)
THE CLASH of Cover Medleys: Chrissie Hynde vs. Kirsty MacCool & The Pogues vs. Sigi Pop
Peruse, Comment and Vote (I Beseech, Implore and Urge Thee, respectively)
For our purposes we will rely on medley standards as outlined at the 2012 Institute of Chartered Music Listeners Music-Medley Symposium, which identified and defined the following categories of
Broccoli For Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles … Oh Yeah!
Music Medleys:
The Meager-Medley – a musical composition comprised of parts from two independent songs.
The Mini-Medley – a musical composition comprised of parts from three independent songs.
The Medial-Medley – a musical composition comprised of parts from four independent songs.
The Mega-Medley – a musical composition comprised of parts from five or more independent songs.
THE CLASH of Cover Medleys
Chrissie Hynde vs. Kirsty MacColl & The Pogues vs. Sigi Pop
“Miss Otis Regrets” / “Just One of Those Things” – orig Cole Porter
Sigi Pop:
“Seppi War A punk Rocker (Sheena is a Punk Rocker” / “Kumm Dantz (Let’s Dance)” – orig The Ramones
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which medley of cover songs prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
While not a huge fan of most of her work, it’s impossible not to admire Kirsty MacColl. Hell, any musician worthy of working with Billy Bragg, Talking Heads, The Smiths and, most of all, The Pogues, has earned my respect. And while on stage she always looked to be having a grand time, a sentiment that is foreign to many “important” musicians. “Fairytale of New York” is an enduring masterpiece and, of course, it is MacColl who expertly croons and trades barbs with Shane MacGowan in the song. If that were her only musical accomplishment then I’d still consider her a special talent for contributing to a pitch-perfect, raucous, yet sentimental ballad.
Billy Bragg’s “A New England” is far superior to any cover I’ve heard of the song. Still, it is worth noting that Kirsty MacColl actually enjoyed the most commercial success from the song. A year after Bragg included “A New England” on his 1983 album, Life’s A Riot With Spy vs. Spy, MacColl released it as a single. She obviously had Bragg’s blessing in that, at her behest, he wrote additional verses for her, which she consolidated into one closing verse. “A New England” became MacColl’s biggest hit, reaching number 7 in the UK Singles Chart and number 8 in the Irish Singles Chart. In 2000, MacColl tragically died while saving the life of her son during a boating accident. In tribute to Kirsty MacColl, Bragg subsequently began including the additional verse during performances of the song.
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
Across the Border vs. The King Blues vs. Too Much Joy
Across the Border:
The King Blues:
Too Much Joy:
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
“Free markets will not prevail without unfettered competition among cover songs.” – Milton Friedbyrd
The Pogues’ Christmas masterpiece, Fairytale of New York, was released in 1987 on their album, If I Should Fall From Grace with God. The song, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, features female vocal accompaniment by Kirsty MacColl and string arrangements by Fiachra Trench. It was originally planned as a duet by Shane MacGowan and Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan, but O’Riordan left the band in 1986 before the song was completed. At the time the Pogues were being produced by Kirsty MacColl’s husband, Steve Lillywhite. Lillywhite asked his wife to provide a guide vocal of the female part for a demo version of the song. However, the Pogues were so impressed with MacColl’s contribution that they asked her to sing the part on the actual recording. Fairytale of New York has correctly been cited as the best Christmas song of all time in various television, radio and magazine related polls in the UK and Ireland.
space
The Original
space(space)
The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl:
space
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
space
Billy Bragg with Florence + the Machine vs. Third Eye Blind
Billy Bragg with Florence + the Machine
Billy Bragg is a recipient of CMI’s universally coveted title of Uni Victor Melodious Maximus in Adversarial Replication. Among the title’s myriad of rewards and benefits, perhaps most desirous is that it bestows upon the recipient the eminently yearned for privilege of having one’s name appear in print media in bold yellow.
Billy Bragg’s triumphal performance in CMI’s THE CLASH of Cover Tunes competition is detailed below:
11/18/2013 – “Which Side Are You On?” (Almanac Singers) – Billy Bragg (57%) bests Dropkick Murphys (43%)
This is a live rendition of Fairytale of New York played on BBC Radio 1 on December 19, 2009. I read somewhere that Bragg and Florence got the idea to play Fairytale of New York about two hours before the Christmas special was to begin. Assuming that’s accurate then this is what they put together within a couple of hours. Brilliant!
Third Eye Blind:
I read somewhere that Third Eye Blind got the idea to cover Fairytale of New York precisely 12 seconds before the studio tapes began to roll. Not bad…
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
space
space
Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
In deference to the recent anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy I chose the greatest song John Lennon ever penned to launch Cover Me Impressed. Needless to say it is beyond disheartening that 42 years after this brilliant plea for peace was introduced it is as pertinent today as the day it was written.
The Original
Bob Marley:
space
The Cover Songs Competition
space
Can the steel drum conquer the mighty Pogues?
space
Bob Lyons vs. The Pogues
space
Bob Lyons:
The Pogues:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Also, keep in mind that if you should spontaneously self-actualize while playing a cover then you could – and probably should – nominate it for Top 10 (i.e. “Impeccable”) consideration.
space
space
Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
Broccoli For Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles … Oh Yeah!
The Original
Barry McGuire:
space
The Cover Songs Competition
space
The Pogues vs. Johnny Thunders
space
The Pogues:
Johnny Thunders:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Also, keep in mind that if you should spontaneously self-actualize while playing a cover then you could – and probably should – nominate it for Top 10 (i.e. “Impeccable”) consideration.
space
space
Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
Broccoli For Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles And Miles … Oh Yeah!
Phenomenal song, simply phenomenal!!!Let me be clear, there is simply no way to improve upon The Pogues’ masterpiece. In some ways it seems foolhardy that lesser bands even attempt the task. Not sacrilegious, mind you, but seemingly self-defeating, impractical and ultimately foolish.
But in the immortal words of Hunter S Thompson, “But the ticket, take the ride”. So go ahead. You’ve got much to prove and might as well start making a name for yourself tonight. March on up to the cadre of Hells Angels at the end of the bar and slug the biggest one in the latissimus dorsi. Just please wait until I’m at least 15 miles down the road before you cash in that ticket …
The Original
The Pogues:
space
The Cover Songs Competition
space
Forget the naysayers! C’mon mate. That big dirty bastard is ripe for the taking …
space
Don Chambers & GOAT vs. Puck & Piper
space
Don Chambers & GOAT:
Puck & Piper:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
Also, keep in mind that if you should spontaneously self-actualize while playing a cover then you could – and probably should – nominate it for Top 10 (i.e. “Impeccable”) consideration.
space
space
Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
cover me impressed 