More from the file marked “Bloody Hell, is that a cover version?”.
To reiterate my previous argument: if you’re going to cover a song, there’s no point in faithfully reproducing the original. Make it your own, so that people assume you wrote it.
Or, ideally, pick a song which very few people will know, which makes the whole assumption thing a whole lot easier.
A case in point:
When Deep Purple disbanded for the first time, guitarist Richie Blackmore went on to form Rainbow, which disappointingly was not a tribute to Zippy, George, Bungle, Geoffrey, Rod, Jane & Freddy.
One of their earliest (and let’s face it, latest too) hits was this absolute belter, which I love even though the title brings out the Grammar Nazi in me:
I bloody love that tune.
But it’s a cover version, something I was oblivious to until fairly recently. Here’s the original by the much-less-well known Head East, who have somwhat, erm, dubious taste when it comes to photos on record sleeves:
Head East – Since You Been Gone
Head East were a bunch of Illinois Uni friends, so perhaps it’s understandable they didn’t get the concent of the word You’ve.
Mental note to self: now that wacky haircut in a suit Boris Johnson is our Prime Minister, I’m not really in a position to take the piss out of Americans for having wacky haircut in a suit Donald J Trump as President. Still, at least we didn’t actually vote for Boris, but then again, the popular vote in the States was not for the cheesburger-munching, Coke-swilling, racist, philandering, law-breaking buffoon either….Must …stop…too…many…comparisons….
But, to get things back on track, here’s my favourite, somewhat unexpected, cover of that song, which is by former lead singer of The Runaways, Cherie Currie, who decided to rope in her sister Marie. You can consider that an odd thing to do, or revel in the fact they made the title grammatically correct, or just enjoy this, which sounds like Heart playing in someone’s garage:
Cherie & Marie Currie – Since You’ve Been Gone
If I ever find that single in a Marie Curie charity store, my life is complete.
More soon.
A History of Dubious Taste 