'cover songs' yielded 36 matches.

Showing matches 1 to 20:

1. Song Cover Versions Rock! Song Cover Versions Rock! While there has been many a musical misstep over the decades, some songs just beg to be covered. Imagine if only Bob Dylan ever sang Bob Dylan songs like Knockin' on Heaven's Door or no one covered Leadbelly's fabulous Black...
2. Cover Songs and Standards I collect cover songs and various versions of blues and jazz standards. One of the joys of a truly great song is finding interpretations from different bands or singers, especially across genres. I've made lenses for many of these songs, and wanted a...
3. The Peter Gunn Theme Song Peter Gunn had a theme song, and it's been re-made and remixed since his television show debuted in 1958. Once it hit the airwaves, a new hit song began making its way through musical genres year after year. From the Duane Eddy smash in 1960 through...
4. Feliz Navidad: A Merry Christmas Song In 1970, Jose Feliciano wrote Feliz Navidad and taught the world to wish each other a Merry Christmas en espanol. Little did anyone suspect that the bouncy little tune would become one of the most-played holiday songs in the world. But one listen wil...
5. Mele Kalikimaka: The Hawaiian Christmas Carol Robert Anderson, born in Honolulu, Hawaii and better known as R. Alex Anderson, wrote Mele Kalikimaka in the 1940s. The first major recording came from Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters, from Decca Records, in 1950. Although it's not the best-know...
6. Stagger Lee: A Murderous Blues Standard It seems that folk and blues songs about otherwise minor historical characters, like Frankie and Johnny and Stagger Lee, make for lasting standards. The history of Stack O'Lee or Stagger Lee dates back to at least 1895, but the song may predate the m...
7. Ain't Nobody's Business Would you believe that there are three songs, all having been recorded for decades, expressing identical sentiments that it "ain't nobody's business" what the performer does? While Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do and Ain't Nobody's Business But My Ow...
8. People Get Ready: A Gospel-Inspired Standard Curtis Mayfield wrote People Get Ready for The Impressions, who had their biggest hit with the song in 1965. The song has been credited with changing the face of popular music, and dozens of singers and bands have recorded cover versions ever since....
9. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate Consider the Roaring 20s, with flappers and their fringe-covered dresses dancing the shimmy while goggle-eyed fellows stand by admiringly. This song would likely have been on the playlist of the band that was playing at that dance. Around 1915, Arma...
10. The Banana Boat Song: Day-O The Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O, grew out of a traditional Caribbean folk song. Trinidadian Edric Connor first recorded The Banana Boat Song in England around 1954, under the title Day Dah Light (Banana Loaders Song), then The Tarriers and...
11. The Christmas Song When you take a song written by wonderful Mel Torme and Bob Wells, then have smooth Nat King Cole and his trio record it, you get an instant Christmas standard. That's what happened with The Christmas Song in 1946. Since then, the song has been perfo...
12. Caravan: A Jazz Standard Although the original recording of Caravan was made in 1936 by Barney Bigard And His Jazzopators, Duke Ellington composed the music for this jazzy cover song recorded it many times. Then again, Irving Mills wrote the lyrics and the song was based on...
13. Cecilia Song Cover Versions Paul Simon wrote Cecilia and the song first appeared on the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bridge over Troubled Water" in 1970. Whether because that original version was so amazingly well done or simply because it was so popular--reaching #4 in the US--n...
14. Knockin' on Heaven's Door Cover Versions Bob Dylan wrote Knockin' on Heaven's Door as a part of his soundtrack for a movie about Billy the Kid in the early 1970s. Whether it was the imagery of the lyrics or the global fascination with cowboys and bandits, the song was an instant success. Kn...
15. Mack the Knife: A Swingin' Standard For a complete explanation of where Mack the Knife came from (and why you ought not be too taken with the scoundrel), check The Straight Dope. This lens picks up at the point where Louis Armstrong recorded the smash hit swing version of the song in 1...
16. Sweet Georgia Brown: A Whistlin' Jazz Standard Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard got together and composed a little ditty, for which Kenneth Casey wrote some saucy lyrics. Thus, Sweet Georgia Brown was born, a song which Bernie and His Orchestra recorded in 1926, at the height of the roaring 20s, and...
17. Rock Me, Baby: A Blues Crossover Standard Rock Me, Baby has been bouncing around the blues world since its first recording in 1940 by Big Bill Broonzy, and has been covered and reimagined by dozens of musicians of both blues and rock-and-roll fame. The song has crossed genre boundaries and h...
18. White Christmas: A Holiday Standard What lyrics conjure up more memories than, "I'm dreaming...of a white Christmas..." Whether you love the traditional Bing Crosby version, Martina McBride's country-pop version, or the hundreds of other takes on this classic, White C...
19. James Bond Theme Song Covers Perhaps the best measure of how cool a character has become is how many different bands play your theme song. From the release of the first 007 movie, Dr. No, in 1962 the James Bond theme has captured the imaginations of musicians in every genre and...
20. Frankie and Johnny: A Murderous Folk Music Standard Frankie and Johnny has been covered and recorded for a hundred years. While the music for Frankie and Johnny was copyrighted to Hughie Cannon in 1904, there have been various claims regarding the authorship of the lyrics. Some claim that the song goe...