Category: Music covers

Covers: I’m Movin’ On (Hank Snow song)

“I’m Movin’ On” was originally a 1950 country record by Hank Snow. The 1959 cover by Ray Charles is amazing. It starts with railroad sound effects – whistles by the saxes and train sound effects by the drummer before it starts with lyrics about moving on by riding a train. It was recorded in his last session for Atlantic. I recall reading somewhere that it could be interpreted as his message to the label.

Another unique cover is the version by Professor Longhair. It’s not one of my favorite of his great recordings but like Charles, he reimagines the song in a version far from the original.

A list of covers from the great site Second Hand Songs.

Covers: The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)

“The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” (1970) was the last song Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green recorded with the band. It hit #10 on the UK charts but was not successful in the US. It was on the remastered version of the album Then Play On. I thought of it because it was covered in the tribute to Peter Green organized by Mick Fleetwood which I just got in a Blu-ray/2 CD set. The original inspired a lot of hard rock covers.

Covers: (You) Got What I Need

Freddie Scott’s 1968 “(You) Got What I Need” was sampled on Bix Markie’s 1989 “Just a Friend” and Ghostface Killah’s “Save Me Dear”. It was written by Gamble and Huff, famous Philadelphia writers and producers. Most people will know it from the Biz Markie record. I didn’t know about the Scott record until I read this tweet today.