The original version of “Mockingbird” was by the sister and brother duo Inez and Charlie Foxx in 1963.
There was a popular cover in 1973 by Carly Simon and her then husband James Taylor. Simon does well but Taylor is horrible. He has no feel for R&B which he also proved on his terrible cover of “How Sweet it Is”. Stick to folk and country, James!
Taj Mahal did a much better version in 1993 with Etta James.
The great blues artist Otis Rush died on September 29, 2018.
Here are his original recording of “Homework” (1962) and a version from 1994.
I have also added a few covers that are not close to Rush’s originals.
Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” was recorded in 1964. It’s one of the best songs of his post-jail renaissance. I love his invented word “coolerator’ which he used instead of refrigerator.
It has been covered by a diverse group of artists such as John Prine (1975) and Emmylou Harris (1977). Bruce Springsteen played it live on his 2013 tour.
It’s also in Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Everly Brothers recorded an album called Song Our Daddy Taught Us in 1958. It has songs taught to them by their father, Ike Everly.
Bear Family released a version in 2013 which also included a disc of recordings that had inspired the Everlys called Songs Our Daddy Learned including “Roving Gambler” by Eddy Arnold.
Billie Joe (from Green Day) and Norah Jones recorded all of the songs for their 2013 album Foreverly.
There are many other versions.
The original version was by the Mississippi Sheiks in 1931 and was covered by Bob Dylan in 1993.
“Tumbling Dice” was the first single from the Rolling Stones great Exile on Main Street (1972). It was also a hit for Linda Ronstadt in 1977. “Good Time Women” is an earlier Rolling Stones track that was not released until 2010 and is the obvious ancestor to “Tumbling Dice”
T-Bone Walker was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s but you don’t hear much about him now. Taj Mahal kept his music alive with some covers in the 1990s.
“One Toke Over the Line” by Brewer & Shipley (1970) is clearly about marijuana.
“The single, “One Toke Over the Line,” peaked at #10 (#5 in Canada) and was the group’s biggest hit. Spiro Agnew said the song with its reference to marijuana use was “blatant drug-culture propaganda” that “threatens to sap our national strength.”
Mike Brewer can give this account of the origin of the song, “One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, “Man, I’m one toke over the line tonight.” I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it.”[4]
A cover version was performed by Gail Farrell and Dick Dale on The Lawrence Welk Show, which billed it a “modern spiritual.”[5] The song is notably mentioned in the opening of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and was notably “sung” by Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) in the film of the same name. “
The cover from the Lawrence Welk Show may be the weirdest cover ever. They clearly have no idea what the song is about or it would never have been on the show.
Brewer & Shipley on Midnight Special
“Hey Jude” was released 50 years ago today. The single was in mono. The album version was in stereo.
There is one well-known cover:
Sad! 