Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, in honor of the new Massachusetts mandatory gayness laws, my Oriental houseboy Kato and I will be donning our smoking jackets, firing up a couple of cubans, and relaxing with that Mitzi Gaynor reissue Mitt Romney sent us. So posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic for a day or two.
In the meantime, here's another little project for you all:
Best Whitegirl Covers of a Motown Song!!!!!
[utterly arbitrary rules: You are not allowed to nominate anything by Linda Ronstadt, especially her crappy version of "Heatwave." If you do nominate her, I swear to god I'll take a hostage. Also -- some of my choices may be intended ironically. Yours can't be. So there.]
My totally off the top of my head Top Six:
1. Money -- The Flying Lizards
2. Ain't That Peculiar -- Fanny (no video, alas)
3. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted -- Joan Osborne
4. Please Mr. Postman -- The Carpenters
5. Nathan Jones -- Bananarama
6. You Keep Me Hanging On -- Kim Wilde
Join in, won't you?
Woops. Guess I'll recycle these from last week:
ReplyDeleteCome See About Me - Jane Aire & The Belvederes
He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' - Bananarama w/ Fun Boy Three
And add:
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - The Slits (starts around the 4:50 mark)
Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone - Dusty Springfield
I'd also like to list The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game by Blondie, but I can't remember if that's really any good or not.
Since we're celebrating gayness, what about covers by white guys who shoulda been girls?
ReplyDeleteOf course, since that Motown tune by the Shirelles was actually written by Carole King, I think King's covers of several could qualify.
What about Christina covering James Brown?
ReplyDeleteOffered for your approval:
ReplyDelete"Knock On Wood" covered by Chi Coltrane. I believe Eddie Floyd sang the original, which he penned with Steve Cropper, the Booker T/Blues Brothers guitarist.
Used to give me shivers as a young man.
The Carpenters and Kim Wilde?? Now THAT'S Whitegirl!!
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller doing "I Heard it through the Grapevine"?
The vid is out of synch, but you get the picture.
Aretha is not a Motown girl, since she signed with Columbia, but she is the Queen of Soul, so I offer this:
ReplyDeleteRunning out of Fools, by Neko Case
"Heatwave" by Linda Ronstadt
ReplyDeleteEva Cassidy did great covers of some old soul songs. I don't know how many of them were actually Motown, but I know she covered "Take Me to the River."
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites is her cover of "Wade in the Water," which of course long predates Motown.
Ruh roh...
ReplyDeleteRun, Run, Steve Simels has got a gun!
For my money (hah!),the Pretenders' live swipe at Barrett Strong's "Money (That's what I want)" is tops, but Joan Osborne sang the hell out of "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," which is a much better song.
ReplyDeleteBonnie Raitt- You've Been in Love Too Long
ReplyDeleteRickie Lee Jones- Trouble Man`
Cass Elliot doing "Dancin' in the Streets"!
ReplyDeleteYou guys kill me...
ReplyDeleteExcellent choices.
Kevin Hayden said...
ReplyDeleteWhat about Christina covering James Brown?
Good grief, man, I said you oouldn't be ironic.
That's the worst shit I've ever heard. Like almost anything she does, she takes that song and strangles it, choking it around the neck until she leaves it gasping for air and dying like a flounder.
Totally soulless, oversung and awful.
Seriously -- you were kidding, right?
:-)