h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Inspired by a recent Tuffy UK performance in which the band performed a brilliant cover of "Action" by the Sweet, let's hear some of your favorite cover songs.

Not long ago, I compiled a list of all the cover songs I could find in my collection (who knows if I've acquired more in the past few months?), and here it is...

The Fall- Victoria
Dead Kennedys- Viva Las Vegas
The Clash- Pressure Drop
The Damned- Alone Again Or
Devo- (Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Dickies- (K)nights in White Satin
Psychic TV- Eve of Destruction
Dr & the Medics- Spirit in the Sky
Dinosaur Jr.- Show Me the Way
Ned's Atomic Dustbin- Saturday Night
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Higher Ground
Eater- Sweet Jane
Feelies- Paint It, Black
Government Issue- These Boots Were Made For Walkin'
Richard Hell- All The Way
Stranglers- Walk On By
Wall Of Voodoo- Do It Again
Husker Du- Eight Miles High
The Jam- Heat Wave
The Last- Be Bop A Lulu
The Adicts- You'll Never Walk Alone
Magazine- Goldfinger
MC5- Tutti Frutti
Motorhead- Train Kept A-Rollin'
Cramps- The Way I Walk
Love & Rockets- Ball Of Confusion
45 Grave- School's Out
The Mekons- Lonesome Highway
Thin Lizzy- Whiskey In The Jar
Bollweevils- (867-5309) Jenny
Johnny Cash- I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
The Raincoats- Lola
Plimsouls- Miniskirt Minnie
The Quick- Rag Doll
Black Flag- Louie Louie
Siouxsie & the Banshees- This Wheel's On Fire
Social Distortion- Ring Of Fire
Slugs- Hooked On A Feeling
Trenchmouth- That's the Way (I Like It)
God's Acre- Mississippi Queen
Young Fresh Fellows- Black Betty
Material Issue- Little Willy
New Duncan Imperials- Convoy
Suicide Commandos- She
Ramones- Surfin' Bird
New Bomb Turks- Do The Pop
Tuxedo Moon- Heard it Through the Grapevine
Red Kross- Dancing Queen
Rancid- Bad Moon Rising
UK Subs- Waiting For the Man
Weirdos- 7 And 7 Is
The Hitmen- Didn't Tell the Man
XTC- All Along the Watchtower
Minor Threat- 12XU
13th Floor Elevators- It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Dexy's Midnight Runners- Jackie Wilson Says (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)
Celtic Frost- Mexican Radio
Jeff Dahl- Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
Johnny Thunders- Pipeline
Agent Orange- Miserlu
Plugz- El Hombre Secreto
Minutemen- Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Sonic Youth- Ca Plane Pour Moi
Times Two- Cecilia
Joan Jett- Crimson & Clover
Captain Sensible- Happy Talk
Rezillos- Glad All Over
Laibach- Sympathy For the Devil
Wreck- Atomic Dog
Big Black- The Big Payback
Naked Raygun- Suspect Device
Fluf- Redemption Song
Nip Drivers- Rio
David Bowie- See Emily Play
X- Soul Kitchen
Echo & the Bunnymen- People Are Strange
The Diodes- Red Rubber Ball
The Doors- Back Door Man
Gun Club- Preaching The Blues
Chocolate Watchband- In the Midnight Hour
Danse Society- 2000 Light Years From Home
7 Seconds- 99 Red Balloons
Chron Gen- Jet Boy Jet Girl
Vibrators- Jumpin' Jack Flash
Lords Of the New Church- Like A Virgin
The March Violets- Miss Amanda Jones
Camper Van Beethoven- Pictures Of Matchstick Men
Jonathan Richman- Roadrunner
Superchunk- Train From Kansas City
Tomorrow- Strawberry Fields Forever
Joe Jackson- The Harder They Come
Pete Townshend- There's A Heartache Following Me
Fun Boy Three- Our Lips Are Sealed
Bauhaus- Ziggy Stardust
The Replacements- Another Girl, Another Planet
F.U.'s- Battle Of the Green Berets

Dammit dammit dammit!

I forgot (as usual) to post the looooooooooooooooong bit in a second posting so that my page doesn't require so much scrolling through.

Should I remove this from my space and re-post?

*shrug* I don't mind it...

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a really good cover band (introduced to me by Dan, of course ). I saw them in Milano last summer.
I like pretty much anything they do, but 'Nobody Does It Better' always makes me teary - personal reasons.

I haven't heard them, yet, though I have heard *of* them. No need to explain the personal reasons- I understand totally.

The Wildhearts - Cheers
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
Manic Street Preachers - Theme from MASH
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Midnight Oil - The Real Thing

Not a bad start, though

Oh, I was going to say Jimi Hendrix, too. All along the watchtower, with probably my favorite beginning of a song, ever.

And while I'm in the 60s , Woodstock by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Nirvana: The man who sold the world, Unplugged

A few days ago, I was when I heard a cover version of Smooth Operator, sung by what sounded like a mexican band with lovely spanish accents

I'm a major fan of an inspired cover version myself. I believe that bands should be forced to do them (especially aspiring young bands with little back-catalogue).

Departing slightly from Psychocandy's screechy-noise territory:

Jump - Aztec Camera
Hallelujah - John Cale (or Jeff Buckley - but Cale's is better)
The Sisters of Mercy - Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris
Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil
Fear is a Man's Best Friend - Billy Bragg
Like Young Lovers Do - Maria McKee
World Turned Upside Down - Dick Gaughan
Johnny 99 - Jason and the Scorchers
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt
Can't Get You Outta My Head - The Flaming Lips
Money - John Lennon
Across the Universe - Fiona Apple
Rattlesnakes - Tori Amos
Curly Locks - Sinead O'Connor (in fact...anything from her latest album with Sly 'n Robbie...but I've singled this out because it's sooooo sexy!)
Misunderstood - Elvis Costello
Stop Your Sobbing - The Pretenders
David Watts - The Jam (see any connections between the last three?)
Music for a Found Harmonium - Sharon Shannon
All Tomorrow's Parties - June Tabor with The Oyster Band
Hurt - Johnny Cash
How Soon Is Now - t.A.t.U.
Mr Bojangles - Nina Simone
Mrs Robinson - The Lemonheads
Hey, Joe - Jimmy Hendrix
Time After Time - Miles Davis
St James' Infirmary - The White Stripes
Jolene - The White Stripes
Death Letter - The White Stripes

Daftest cover of all time:
911 Is A Joke - Duran Duran.
Why? Why?!

But I quite like the idea of this album:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004HYJA/104-5897953-0393545?v=glance&n=5174

By the way, PC...did I include 'Tilulilulei', a Finnish "hummpa" cover by Eläkeläiset of Louie Louie on my mix CD? (from their album Humpan Kuninkaan Hovissa ("In The Court Of The Humppa King") I have a huge collection of Louie Louie covers, but this ome is up there with Mötörhead’s. I'm fairly certain I included The Gourds' definitive version of Ziggy Stardust.

Oh...and while I think of them:

Wang Dang Doodle - PJ Harvey (I have several Wang Dang Doodles also)
I Would Rather Go Blind - Chickenshack
You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory - The Mighty Wah!
Kink Afro - The Happy Mondays
The Harder They Come - Willie Nelson

And you must IMMEDIATELY [not e-mail me because that would be illehal and the mods would pull this post] the Sonic Youth and 13th Floor tracks.

Oh...
Into the Groove(y) - Ciccone Youth.

I like this game!

On a related theme...did you hear about the Oasis tribute band? They ripped off all their stuff from The Bootleg Beatles.

Chimes of Freedom - Youssou N'Dour

Dirty Old Town - The Pogues
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
A New England - Kirsty McColl

(see the way my mind is working here?)

Whee! I knew this would be fun... and I knew I'd get some seriously different genres (especially from Edward!). I always enjoy seeing how my friends' tastes differ- and every so often discover something new and brilliant I haven't heard before (even well-done covers!).

How's that cover of "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"?

>did I include 'Tilulilulei', a Finnish "hummpa" cover by Eläkeläiset of Louie Louie on my mix CD?<

Nope, but I wish you had!

Incidentally, Jeff Dahl's put out a couple of cover albums titled "I Was A Teenage Glam F*g". They were limited to 500 copies each, and aren't all that easy to track down. I stumbled across a copy of Vol. 2 a few months back and bought it... it's a LOT of fun!

Edward, I'll see what I can do with the 13th Floor Elevators and Sonic Youth.

>>How's that cover of "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"?

Well...I'm not really able to judge. Wah!/ Wah! Heat/ JF Wah!/ Shambeko Say Wah!/ The Mighty Wah! are a band that I have an irrational attachment to. I was mightily (sic!) pleased when they released The Collected Wah! on CD a few years ago...and I *think* I recall seeing that they'd released a CD of their 'Wah! The Maverick Years' bootleg (which in its vinyl version didn't even have a printed cover - just a small photocopied sheet of blue paper slipped into the sleeve). Either that or I forgot to take my nightime medication and it was one of the bizarre dreams I get when I do that.


Hmm. I need to go and find out now....

...Ah! Indeed! Sample tracks here: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/4858491/a/Maverick+Years+'80-81.htm

Also...

'You Can't Put Your Arms...' streamed here: http://www.petewylie.com/index.html

Hmm... that last link works, but the links to download the tune don't. Bummer. I'll try again later.

Never heard of the "Wah!" before. I must investigate.

I was thinking, on the way here, how many bands have covered Radio Birdman's "Hindu Gods of Love". One of my favorite versions is Angie Pepper's... does it count as a "cover" if, because she's married to him, Deniz Tek plays guitar on her version as well as the original?

The Australian band The Hitmen (there's a US band by the same name, but they sound nothing alike) were in fact a Birdman "tribute" or cover band. I've got various tunes on this comp and that one, but I'll be ed if I can find an album of theirs.

One of K's ideas for a band is an eco-metal cover band called Green Sabbath. And a couple of his buddies played in a KISS cover band. I've got some friends.

It's not a download...it's streamed audio. I don't know whether it's in Windows or Realplayer streaming, but one program or other should open up when you click (if you have them installed).

My next Linux project ought to be getting my stream-ripping software sorted out so I can convert streams to mp3

Never heard of The Mighty Wah! (etc)? Sacrilege! Pete Wylie was one of The Crucial Three, along with Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch.

Chumbawamba do a fine acapella cover of Bankrobber.

Hiya Phil! I've never heard that perticular cover. I haven't heard much of Chumbawumba, actually (except for that one very forgettable tune ), but I'm somewhat familiar with them and I'll see if I can track that one down.

>Pete Wylie was one of The Crucial Three, along with Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch<

Ah. Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch I'm well familiar with. Will definitely try to listen to that streamed audio. I got a "page not found" error message when I tried earlier. I'll have another go later.

A short sample of it can be heard on the chumba website - http://www.chumba.com/Chumbawambalisten1.html as it's on their new album.

Another that winamp random play has just queued up - Song 2wo, Earl Zinger.

I remember that Chumba cover. It was brill! I've had it going round in my head since you mentioned it, Phil.