I recently listened to Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter.
I am only familiar with a few of her big hits, so I can’t compare it to her past albums and tell you that it’s better or worse.
It’s not a country album from start to finish, but it’s certainly a focal point, which is primarily what has people talking.
I personally enjoy hearing soul/R&B renderings of songs from a different genre or style and am sometimes downright blown away by them. For the most part, Cowboy Carter works for me and is a recommended listen if you haven’t checked it out already.
I’d like to mention in particular “Blackbiird”, her cover of the Beatles’ acoustic ballad.
It’s built on McCartney’s original guitar track, and the lush, multi-layered harmonies only add to the beauty of the song, never detracting from its simplicity.
In addition, when one digs a little deeper to find that in writing the song, Paul has stated that he was inspired by the civil rights movement, and black women in particular, Beyoncé singing this just feels right.
A few years ago, I built a playlist of soulful covers of rock and pop songs, and have continued to add to it. “Blackbiird” is now included.
The full playlist is below, but here are some of the highlights:
We Can Work It Out
Stevie Wonder
That trademark Motown bounce with generous helpings of Stevieness. You know it’s going to cook.
96 Tears
Aretha Franklin
Aretha turns the question mark into an exclamation point in a textbook, defiant shredding of the garage rock classic. Whoever her target was undoubtedly shed way more tears than the title suggests.
Jive Talkin
Rufus and Chaka Khan
This smoldering cover is just slathered in irresistibly down and dirty funk through and through. I’m not telling you lies.
Whole Lotta Love
Tina Turner
Lest anyone forget from where hard rock vocalists like Robert Plant derived their tortured, guttural wailing, Tina reminds us with this hellish, hazy bomb drop of a Zeppelin cover from her aptly named Acid Queen album.
Hey Jude
Wilson Pickett
The Wicked Pickett roughs up an iconic Beatles all-timer and then completely explodes at the end. You don’t want to miss that.
Nights on Broadway
Candi Staton
You want in on the disco game, Brothers Gibb? Candi will show you how it’s done.
Heart-Shaped Box
Amber Mark
Not a household name, but on the radar just enough to land on Obama’s summer playlist, Amber turns Nirvana on its end with this neo-soul slow burn reimagining. If this didn’t end up on a soundtrack for one of those vampire dramas, it should have.
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Amythyst Kiah
Stripped down take on Joy Division from a black country artist whose plaintive, heartbreaking vocals backed by a sparse acoustic guitar manage to make an already tragic song sound infinitely sadder.
California Dreamin’
Bobby Womack
Now, this is just gorgeous.
Got to Get You Into My Life
Earth, Wind & Fire
This tighter than tight spin on the Beatles rose from the ashes of the ill-advised Sgt Pepper movie in ’78 and snapped, crackled and popped its way onto the airwaves. We were all better for it.
Jealous Guy
Donny Hathaway
A man apologizing for abhorrent behavior never sounded better than Donny on this heartfelt Lennon cover. The honky-tonk piano stylings only help plead his case.
Southern Man
Merry Clayton
If this damning, brimming-with-hellfire version had been the original recording of the song, Lynyrd Skynyrd would have absolutely nothing to say in response.
Sunshine of Your Love
Ella Fitzgerald
She starts out in typical classy, jazzy form but by the second verse she’s channeling a bit of Tina Turner, with the horns echoing a surprisingly edgy tone. It’s really fun to hear her let go on this.
Que Sera Sera
Sly & The Family Stone
Breathtaking and virtually unrecognizable from the Doris Day hit. Whatever will be, will be indeed.
Tomorrow Never Knows
Junior Parker
Hypnotic and meditative with barely any accompaniment at all, and somehow even more mystical than the Beatles’ over-the-top psychedelic original. If you’ve never had an out-of-body experience before, listen to this, and that may change.
Here’s the entire sizzling-hot playlist:
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Is that one Phil Collins tribute album with Ray J on it not on Spotify
Just checked, the full album is not but the Ray J and Brandy version of “Another Day in Paradise” is
https://open.spotify.com/track/6JUxqVAvn9td57RvZPpNwL
Here are some others you could add to your playlist, both also from tribute albums.
Aaron Neville, “Ain’t No Cure for Love” (Leonard Cohen)
https://open.spotify.com/track/5kcZDlfZGLJIIrWygqUzy8
Herbie Hancock and Corinne Bailey Rae, “River” (Joni Mitchell)
https://open.spotify.com/track/7M0Od3nNXEdZ58O5FYNVvG
Thank you for the suggestions! I was really moved by the Herbie Hancock/Corinne Bailey Rae cover of Joni Mitchell, perfect for an early morning listen to start the day. I added it to the playlist right away.
A lot of great songs in that playlist and a few I don’t know to pique my interest.
Especially love Donny Hathaway’s take on Jealous Guy. I’ll take his over the original any day and its in a completely different league to the Roxy Music version. There’s any number of Ike and Tina Turner cover versions that could make the list. They might even have enough to make up a whole album of Beatles covers.
This one is just that bit looser and funkier than The Beatles and Tina’s voice gives it so much more power.
https://youtu.be/yqAkdxjneig?feature=shared
Come Together is a strong one for sure. It’s really awesome to listen to Tina singing any cover versions of rock and roll. It’s like holding up a mirror to a mirror. She was a primary influence on so many rock vocalists. After Tom wrote about “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in the number ones a few years back, I did a deeper dive into the old Ike and Tina catalog, as I was largely unfamiliar with it. There were a few songs that sounded a lot like AC/DC lead vocals, one almost exactly like it. Not long after that, I read an interview with Brian Johnson, where he talked about singing Ike and Tina’s “Nutbush City Limits” when he auditioned for lead vocalist for AC/DC and it made total sense that Tina was a foundational voice for his sound.
Agreed on Donny H. That “Jealous Guy” cover is one of my favorites on the playlist and just does something to me every time I hear it. And it’s not to dismiss Lennon’s original. He wrote a sincere, honest and heartfelt song which showed a rare amount of vulnerability for the era.
I just recently learned that Tina Turner and the Ikettes sang backup on a couple of Frank Zappa records, but they went uncredited because Ike didn’t want them associated with such weird music. In that context, Tina doing a Zeppelin cover makes total sense.
So many of these are great. Wonderful job putting them together. Especially love any time Amythyst Kiah makes any list at all. Such a talent.
I remember hearing the Isleys’ cover of “Love the One You’re With” on a K-tel collection (20 Power Hits, vol. 2, I believe) and I was young enough that I didn’t know it wasn’t the original. I still prefer it to Stephen Stills’ version, with Luther Vandross’s take a distant 3rd.
Mary J.’s remake with U2 of “One” still thrills me whenever I hear it. Just as good as the original if not better.
And if you’ve never heard Marlena Shaw’s take on “Go Away Little Boy,” you must. It takes what otherwise is a fairly insipid composition and gives it an amazingly ’70s R&B spin.
The Isley Brothers covered many songs, and pretty much smoked out the original every time. Their version of Love the One You’re With and it’s super tight.
Haven’t heard Mary J. Blige’s collab with U2 on One. Her and Bono sound great together.
“Go Away Little Boy” by Marlena Shaw is a great find. That may be one of the worst #1s (both versions) of all time, and she just completely pulls it out of the trash heap and turns it into a jazzy treasure. Added.
(sigh)
Just played the Earth Wind & Fire version of “Got to Get You Into My Life”.
It takes me back to the YMCA Summer Fun program. Our group leader made us learn these songs: “Moonshadow”, “Fantasy”, and “Puff the Magic Dragon”.
EW&F made it their own. It would be years before I first heard the original. I knew who The Beatles were. Our radio stations just played the hits. No deep cuts. Is it a deep cut? Also, I bought the first commercially available Joel Whitburn book. (I’m guessing here.) I was shocked to learn that “Fantasy” stalled at #32. Almost sounds like prog-rock.
Ooh. Just stopped Donnie Hathaway’s version of “Jealous Guy” at 0:24. I like this.
I knew both versions of Got to Get You Into My Life. The Beatles’ version got to #7 so I wouldn’t call it a deep cut. I definitely heard it growing up.
Fantasy is an amazing song, probably one of EWF’s best. There’s a mariachi version on a playlist I posted awhile back that’s very good as well.
My two older sisters had a pantomime dance they used to do to Moonshadow, so I knew that song very well growing up.
Whoops. I’m getting s/t confused with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The latter was the album with no official singles. That was Prince’s plan for Around the World in a Day. But WB isn’t an indie. And that was probably the start of Prince’s war with his label.
Another Great article RB! Some of the covers I remembered, but a lot of them I hadn’t heard before. Some of them surprised me! Like Ella Fitzgerald singing Cream’s, Sunshine of your Love. I would not have thought that A Motown artist would have covered Neil Young’s, Southern Man. I also really enjoyed Tina Turner’s soulful version of A Led Zeppelin classic, Whole Lotta Love! Like someone mentioned, the Isley Brothers covered a few pop/rock songs. Another classic they covered was Seals and Crofts, Summer Breeze!
Thanks, bro! Always great to see you on here.
That Isley Bros. version of Summer Breeze is really good.
By listening to the samples from the playlist, I can tell that it will be an awesome playlist like most of yours. Of course I will listen completely later.
Thank you, Edith. Enjoy!
Re: ‘Blackbird.’ I always had it in the back of mind that the song was kind of retroactively ‘inspired’ by the Civil Rights movement, and that Paul was originally just writing about blackbirds while in India. I feel like the song was more adopted than anything else, but what do I know about the artistic process? Wikipedia has a little more about it (his step grandmother?) and there’s a rabbit hole waiting for those into that kind of thing.
Also, The Brothers Johnson’s ‘Come Together’ brings out the funk at the heart of that song.
I can only go on what Paul has said himself about the song, and he told Donovan at the time he wrote the song that he was thinking about the riots when he wrote it and that “blackbird” was symbolic for black women. He has reiterated this many times since. He has also mentioned the blackbirds in India and the grandmother. It can be about all of those things and not take away from any of them.
The Brothers’ Johnson version of Come Together does bring out the funk for sure, but in a very understated way, not as down and dirty as Ike and Tina. I like it.
Agreed. This all reminds me of a Moby Dick discussion I had in school about whether Melville really knew he was writing an infinitely deep allegorical tale, or was just having fun cutting and pasting Shakespeare and the Bible around a sailing adventure that doubled as a master class in whales and whaling.
Did Otis ever do a bad job with a song? Not that I know.
Got to Get You into My Life may be the single best Beatles cover ever done.
There is a seemingly infinite amount of competition in that category of Beatles covers, but EWF certainly deserves strong consideration on that one.
I adore Otis’ cover of Satisfaction. I don’t know a lot of his music to be honest, but no, I’ve never heard anything but a top-notch vocal from him. He just makes ya feel.
Thanks for this amazing list of covers! It’s one of those instances where I regret having deleted my Spotify account. (I think it was in support of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell?) But I’ll seek out all of those songs on other platforms.
I’m not a specialist on R&B so I can’t contribute any suggestions to your list. But I’m a sucker for cover versions, especially those that transform the original into something else!
Do you have any favorite genres of covers, like bluegrass covers of pop songs, or salsa versions, or is it just all across the board?
No, no particular preferences. As I listen to lots of “indie”, I often come across covers there, but I love a good cover version in any genre, the more unexpected the better.
I know this list is not meant to be exhaustive, but any list of soulful covers of rock and pop songs should definitely include the Isley Brothers. The list of their soulful covers is LONG. Starting with their album “Given’ It Back”, they covered such rock and pop songs as “Love The One You’re With”, “Ohio/Machine Gun”, “Listen To The Music”, “Hello It’s Me” and “Summer Breeze”, just to name a few. Their cover of “The Most Beautiful Girl” is a wonder.
Thanks for weighing in washingtonknight. Though the Isleys weren’t on the list of highlights and they probably should have been, I did include their cover of “Listen to the Music” on the playlist. I remember you talking about their extensive list of covers in the comment section at the mothership awhile back and have checked out a number of them, all top shelf.