Wednesday, December 30, 2015

To Paraphrase the Supremes, Love is Like an Itching My Crotch. Or Something.

From 2001, please enjoy country star (with the soul of a rocker) Charlie Robison...


...and his kick-ass cover of NRBQ's great "I Want You Bad."



I have no idea why this one popped into my head unbidden today, but it did -- maybe because I've been thinking about songs to cover the next time I get together with my garage band chums The Weasels. I should add that the Q's version is considerably more shambolic -- in a good way -- than Robison's relatively straightforward take on the song, and it definitely behooves behearing.

5 comments:

Blue Ash Fan said...

Sorry. Doesn't hold a candle to this version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lORhgEHnPa4

steve simels said...

I hadn't heard that before, but I love Baird. Thanks for the link.

Mark said...

It's just a flat-out great song. Robison's version is really good, Dan Baird's version IS great, as is the version by The Long Ryders. And just this year, The Clarks (Pittsburgh's great roots-rock band) placed a version on its REWIND album, a collection of covers (a la PIN-UPS) that influenced the band. It's one hell of a great rock album for folks of ... ahem ... our ... ahem ... demographic. See the track listing at http://www.discogs.com/Clarks-Rewind/release/7112489. I WILL DARE, BLOOD AND ROSES, BY THE WAY and A MILLION MILES AWAY are especially good versions. No drastic changes to anything on REWIND; just high-quality bar-band-type covers that remind you how good these songs are.

steve simels said...

That Clarks album sounds like fun -- just ordered a copy, and thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

There's also a good version of I WANT YOU BAD up on youtube now by the Flamin' Groovies (from an April 2013 rehearsal). The guitar solos aren't as stinging, or as fleet-fingered, as Al Anderson's on the Q's original (the Flamin' Groovies' sound a bit more Merseybeat) but I like the FG's take on the song - I'd call it a bit ragged but right.

J. Lag