covers that folk/rock/soul song-interpreters of the '60s and '70s would have on their records

stuff like "blackwaterside" and "reynardine" for the uk folk-revivalist crowd, "i'll keep it with mine," "eleanor rigby," "suzanne," something laura nyro or bacharach/david or jimmy webb in general for pop audiences. jacques brel certainly had his moment as the high-art guy that aspirational left-of-center artists would cover. that sort of thing.

this is a good place to list examples, but let's not do youtubes because that will crash people's browsers.

"i think it's going to rain today" is another one.

Lester Bangs wrote the following in a Jerry Lee Lewis review (The Killer Rocks On) from 1970: "...even if it does feature two more cover versions of those fucking Joe South songs that've been covered so often I'd like to cover Joe South in tar and feathers and dump him into the mouth of Popocatapetl." He was referring to "Games People Play" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes."

1972, that is.

this is a good place to list examples, but let's not do youtubes because that will crash people's browsers.

For a sec when I saw this I thought it must be an old thread

Anyway, "Nature Boy"

"Both Sides Now?"

Firstly, it's frightening how many people felt compelled to cover "Hey Jude".

anyway try "Everybody's Talkin'" from wikipedia:

Since Nilsson's cover of the song achieved chart success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006[1]—including Tom Jones, Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Spanky and Our Gang, The Beautiful South, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, the actor Leonard Nimoy, Moose (band), Crosby, Stills & Nash, Matthew Sweet, Neil Diamond, Steven Stills, Arlo Guthrie, Percy Faith, The Four Tops, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Emmylou Harris, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Richard Barone, Lena Horne, Engelbert Humperdinck, Julio Iglesias, The Kingston Trio, Vera Lynn, Liza Minnelli, Jesse Malin, Willie Nelson, Zucchero, Madeleine Peyroux, Tedeschi Trucks Band, BJ Thomas, Bill Withers, Sir Francis Highly, Bobby Womack, Stevie Wonder, Crowded House, Dwight Yoakam, Linda Eder, Van Morrison, Alain Bashung, and Tonic.

"The Other Side of This Life" (I must have ten versions of this without actually seeking them out)

"Without Her (Him)", the Nilsson song.

"River Deep, Mountain High"

Kristofferson - "Me and Bobby McGee" "For the Good Times" "Help Me Make It Through The Night"
Michel Legrand - "The Windmills of Your Mind"
Johnny Mandel - "The Shadow of Your Smile"

Buffy St. Marie: "Until It's Time For You To Go"

This could be a long thread. The thing is in the 60s and to an extent the 70s I think there was still this idea of "repertoire" left over from the jazz/american songbook recording years, like you know the origin of the term "A&R" -- Artists and Repertoire, part of the job was finding the "right" songs to showcase the singer's talents etc. So there are tons of country/folk/pop/rock singers whose careers were still approached that way, don't know when it completely died though it seems pretty close to dead now.

So point being that there were still a lot of people in the industry who figured pop or folk songs could become "standards" just like Autumn Leaves or My Funny Valentine

It's the process where the form provided by the record supplants the form supplied by the written song. Appropriately at the point where records completely supplant songs we get sampling, and songs built in part on bits of well-known records.

"Little Green Apples"
"Sunny"

Tim Hardin: "If I Were A Carpenter", "Reason To Believe"

Xp "Little Green Apples" is a good one! Required by law to be on every other album released from 1968-1971.

Seems like "Angel of The Morning" would fit in here.

"Tobacco Road"

"Hey Joe," obviously--folk song adopted by garage bands.

Johnny Mathis's late 60s/early 70s albums are a good place to look for these sorts of songs: Bacharach, Beatles, bossa nova.

Billy Edd Wheeler's "High Flying Bird"

"god bless the child"

i'm partial to the judy henske version, the aretha one is a bit too caffeinated. not sure about the rest.

we need an ilx covers project of the great pop songbook of like 1965-1972

xp the anita kerr singers' "god bless the child" is far and away my favorite.

There's got to be a few dozen versions of "Sally Go Round The Roses" recorded back then.

but the jaynetts' is the only one you need.

songs from 'Hair' - Aquarius, Let the Sunshine In, Good Morning Starshine.

or Broadway in general

An interesting subsection of this is songs that were seemingly only popular during this period. I mean, singers still drag out "Suzanne" and "Wichita Lineman", but how about "Come Sunday Morning (Theme From The Sterile Cuckoo)", a modest hit for the Sandpipers and a staple on Easy Listening LPs of the era, or "With Pen In Hand", a Bobby Goldsboro song the Vicki Carr scored with which had similar traction?

as has been expressed, this happened all the time in the late 60s-early 70s. i love this example: bobby womack: sweet caroline

Bobby Womack's version of "California Dreaming" is so great.

in addition to all the Bacharach lounge and pop people, "The Look of Love" was done by Isaac Hayes, The Meters, The Delfonics, El Chicano, Four Tops ...

Neil Diamond album, "Stones", has the following covers: "The Last Thing on My Mind", "Husbands and Wives", "Chelsea Morning", "If You Go Away", "Suzanne" AND "I Think It's Going to Rain Today".

ha, that sounds incredible actually.

Glen Campbell covered, "Without Her", "Until It's Time for You to Go", "Both Sides Now", "Reason to Believe", "If You Go Away", "The Last Thing on My Mind"... no doubt more. Songs by 'folk' singer songwriters seem to have been esp. popular choices for covers.

but how about "Come Sunday Morning (Theme From The Sterile Cuckoo)"

Saturday...I get the Sandpipers and Velvet Underground mixed up all the time.

I always used to group this song with "Never My Love," the Mary Tyler Moore theme, the Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile for Me," Mercy's "Love (Can Make You Happy)," and a few others. I had a genre, I just didn't have a name for it at the time: Sunshine Pop.

Stating the obvious, but everyone was doing Dylan. "Tomorrow is a long time", for instance, done by Dion and Rod, on top of my head.

Long Black Limousine

Gentle On My Mind

I always used to group this song with "Never My Love," the Mary Tyler Moore theme, the Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile for Me," Mercy's "Love (Can Make You Happy)," and a few others. I had a genre, I just didn't have a name for it at the time: Sunshine Pop. - clemenza

I LOVE "Smile a Little Smile for Me". That's one of those songs I remember not only from the hit but from the elevator music versions (and it was easy to hear elevator music versions of most of these songs --- a big part of their getting into the psyches of anybody born in the 60s).

For the British division of Sunshine Pop I'd also add "Toast and Marmalade" by Tin Tin (although this gets a little Bee Gees so might not qualify) and "On A Saturday" by Keith West (definitely qualifies).

One more from The Sandpipers: "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". Extra points for the twisted movie connection.

how have we gotten this far without a mention of "Yesterday"

astrud gilberto and claudine longet albums are full of these - songs written by nilsson, leonard cohen, margo guryan, bee gees, newman etc

Another Tim Hardin tune that was recorded a lot was "Misty Roses."

my favorite thing claudine longet did was her version of "golden slumbers."

Traffic/Dave Mason: "Feelin' Alright?" (RIP Joe Cocker)

Stating the obvious, but everyone was doing Dylan. "Tomorrow is a long time", for instance, done by Dion and Rod, on top of my head.

― Mule, Tuesday, December 23, 2014 8:21 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Even Elvis! The only Dylan cover he released in his lifetime iirc: http://youtu.be/wipPRxEXAPY

Basement Tapes A-Go-Go: "I Shall Be Released", "This Wheel's On Fire", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"

People Get Ready

The Weight

MacArthur Park

One Hand One Heart, Somewhere (West Side Story)

Feelin' Alright (xpost)

Mr. Bojangles

You've Got a Friend

To Love Somebody

Call Me (Chris Montez, Petula Clark)

Silver Threads and Golden Needles

If You Go Away

I Don't Know How to Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar)

If, Make It With You (Bread)

The Windmills of Your Mind

Yesterday When I Was Young

there was a handful of dylan songs -- like "i'll be your baby tonight" -- that were just generic enough to be highly coverable by a variety of mainstream artists.

Mary in the Morning

"Delta Dawn"

obviously now listening to all of these, i am a well-documented stan of Dobie Gray's hit cover but the song is sort of hard to fuck up (uncle kracker notwithstanding). the stones were complete idiots to not release theirs.

Oh man, I'm not a huge fan of "drift away" but a Stones cover sounds tasty.

it's on youtube but not on spotify. ditto Mud's version which is... kinda odd and dinky but also kinda charming. tina turner tears it up but the rhythm track is oddly lugubrious and stoned.

roy orbison seems out of place rocking even this hard

rod stewart is really not able to convince me that anybody is soothed or drifting, despite the, i guess, "island" vibes.

This is somewhat related to the thread topic: I'm listening to Buddy Miles rn and realizing he recorded "Them Changes" on his own, with Hendrix (on Band of Gypsies), and with Santana (on their duo live album). It seems like if you made a record w/him in the '70s, you had to let him do "Them Changes".

the stones were complete idiots to not release theirs

It was meant for the original version of It's Only Rock'n'Roll, which was gonna be one side live and another of studio R&B covers, and was scrapped (save for the version of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg") when they started writing songs in the studio.

big fan of jackie deshannon's drift away
break my mind was covered a lot at least going by my music collection

big fan of jackie deshannon's drift away
break my mind was covered a lot at least going by my music collection
never heard this one but Byrds backing Linda R, kinda cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BjbnNzWLM

Several "morning" songs mentioned already, but not "Morning Dew"

"Take Me To The River": One of the Talking Heads said they were amazed that they had the (Pop) hit w/the song, as they were directly competing with versions by Foghat, Bryan Ferry, and Levon Helm. Furthermore, even though Al Green originated the song, labelmate Syl Johnson had the initial (R&B) hit recording.

John Denver: "Leaving On A Jet Plane"

Some Country songs:

Merle Haggard: "Today I Started Loving You Again"
Jim Reeves: "He'll Have To Go"
Waylon Jennings: "Love of The Common People" & "We Had It All"
David Houston: "Almost Persuaded"
Steve Goodman: "The City of New Orleans"

Rusty & Doug Kershaw: "Louisiana Man"

Sunday Morning Coming Down - written by Kris Kristofferson, sung by Johnny Cash and many others

Noticing "El condor pasa"(Simon & Garfunkel) and ""Put Your Hand In The Hand" (Ocean) popping up a alot when checking out '70s Easy Listening albums on Spotify.

Hoyt Axton, "Greenback Dollar"

XP On that tip, practically ever Johnny Mathis album from the late '60s and early '70s is named for someone else's big contemporary hit: "Those Were The Days"; "Song Sung Blue"; "Me & Mrs. Jones"; "Close To You" etc.

Of course:

Johnny Mathis's late 60s/early 70s albums are a good place to look for these sorts of songs: Bacharach, Beatles, bossa nova.

― jaymc, Monday, December 22, 2014 10:49 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Ventures always throw one or two of these on their albums too.

"Feeling Good" from the musical The Roar of The Greasepaint - The Smell of The Crowd

I am currently obsessed with "By the Time it Gets Dark." Lotsa great versions out there but as far as I can tell the sole writer is Sandy Denny herself, right?

Astonishing that she did that alongside everything else, and also collaborated on the best version of "When Will I Be Loved," and her whole career lasted barely ten years before she died tragically.

Lawrence Reynolds: "Jesus Is A Soul Man"

Paul Siebels' "Louise" was a fairly familiar, dependable folkie staple---here's Bonnie Raitt's studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wut4Tn7GcBY

later live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTxunDKrAM8

The wiki for the adapted French song "What Now, My Love?" has a extensive A-Z list of recorded versions, with '60s hit recordings by Shirley Bassey, Sonny & Cher, and Herb Alpert. I was brought there by discovering Lee Dorsey's surprisingly un-Funky 5-minute version, a b-side from 1969.

"Ode To Billie Joe" very quickly attracted a diverse set of performers to interpret it on record.

Wayfaring stranger and last thing on my mind

The website Second Hand Songs is good for looking up these things

https://secondhandsongs.com/

There are an awful lot of "Love of the Common People"s ot there

Not to derail but to YMP's point about Denny - hell yes. This version of By the Time It Gets Dark is gorgeous. Denny has that 'old and knackered before my time' thing, as if she was born at 80, 90, or a dozen lifetimes old.

https://thememoryband.bandcamp.com/track/by-the-time-it-gets-dark

Chinask, thanks for posting that. Splendid.

Perhaps the ultimate catnip for this thread would have been Sandy Denny covering "Love of The Common People" or "Feelin' Alright?".

The Bee Gees' "Marley Purt Drive" was intensively covered between '69 and '71 by major names like Jose Feliciano and Lulu, as well as a bevy of lesser stars worldwide: Bonnie St. Claire, David Frizzell, Victor Scott, Jean Bouchéty, Nash Chase, etc. Wikipedia hastens to note its similarity to "The Weight," shouted out early itt.

weird song btw

Well, it's an early Bee Gees song, so...

I heard the OC Smith version of "That's Life" on the radio this morning. First recorded by Marion Montgomery in 1963, Smith covered it two years later, and then...

While "That's Life" was first recorded by Marion Montgomery, the song came to the attention of Frank Sinatra when he heard O.C. Smith's chart-climbing version in his car in 1965. He stopped the car, called his daughter Nancy and told her to find the publisher of the song because he wanted to record it; she did. Sinatra first performed the song on his television special A Man and His Music – Part II in 1966, with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle.

...followed by a studio version that becomes a big hit, and tons of covers follow, from James Brown to Bono.

it's always interested me how quickly The Doors were incorporated into this canon; how many jazz/bossa/easy-listening versions of "Light My Fire" were there?

As Kevin Dillon once said, a little Latin beat will do it some justice.

Jose Feliciano had a hit with it, no?

Uh-huh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4WlmwD8Wg

Jackie Wilson did a cool Soul version too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDWyTMKM2Fc

Tommy Tucker: "Hi-Heel Sneakers" which was inspired by Jimmy Reed & "Big Boss Man", which also fits in here.

"What'd I Say?" fits too.

Nat Adderley: "Work Song"

"C.C./See-See Rider"

People Get Ready

Stones did not cover “Drift Away” but Humble Pie did. It’s pretty good, although Greg Ridley and not Marriott was the lead singer.

The Stones cut "Drift Away" during the It's Only Rock'n'Roll sessions, but left it in the vault when that album was repurposed from a half-covers/half-live set to a regular studio album during the sessions. It got bootlegged and eventually saw official release a few years ago as an bonus track on the expanded Tattoo You.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDD4UlUT0PA

"Gotta Travel On": a Folk song that became a hit for Billy Grammer in 1958, and has been recorded by the Springfields, Timi Yuro, Solomon Burke, and Bob Dylan (on Self-Portrait) amongst many others.

Circling back to "That's Life" for a sec. I got a look at the Sinatra album today, and among the tracklisting is much fodder for this thread: the title track; "I Will Wait For You"; "What Now, My Love?"; "The Impossible Dream"; "You're Gonna Hear From Me"; "Winchester Cathedral"; and "Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme)".

"I've Gotta Be Me" from the musical Golden Rainbow

#onethread

"Witchi Tai To”

#onethread