The B List: Digging Deep, Part III

1. Rupert Holmes entered his brief 15 minutes of fame in 1979 with the release of Escape (The Pina Colada Song). This one-hit wonder combined a nice groove with lyrics about a guy who responds to a personal ad looking for someone who likes the coconut flavored drink, only to find out…well, we won’t ruin it.

Perpetual Groove played Escape at Mulcahy’s on Long Island back in January. Props to SuperDee for catching a couple of verses on video:

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2. For a few years in the mid ’90s, Vermont rockers Phish instituted a New Year’s run tradition by having Tom Marshall come out to sing a cover that the band wouldn’t typically play. In 1995, it was Collective Soul’s Shine, and in 1997 it was 500 Miles by the Proclaimers. On December 29th, 1996 Marshall came out in the middle of Harpua to sing Oasis’s Champagne Supernova:

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3. No one gets the people on their feet like the pre-child molesting accusations music of Michael Jackson. If Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough from the incredible album Off The Wall doesn’t get you moving, perhaps your a communist. Say what you will about the String Cheese Incident, but those guys do a great job of keeping their audience dancing and hula hooping. In 2002, they busted out Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough complete with falsetto singing. The video shown here is from their last performance of Don’t Stop from the 2005 Langerado Festival:

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4. For more than 10 years the Black Crowes have celebrated Halloween by dressing up as one of their favorite bands and performing a mini set of songs by that group. In 1996, the band started the trend performing dressed as Elvii. Upon their return in 2005, the Crowes played a set of AC/DC covers as BC/DC. In 2006 they played a short set of Beach Boys covers as The Bitch Boys, and here’s their take on Kokomo:

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5. Jenny Lewis is one of the true goddesses of the Indie Rock scene. Lewis formed Rilo Kiley after some notable acting appearances on Growing Pains, Mr. Belvedere, and the Golden Girls as a child. Recently Lewis and Rilo Kiley invited Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard on stage at an LA gig for a take on The Traveling Wilbury’s Handle With Care:

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6. Widespread Panic is another band that celebrates Halloween by busting out a few new covers each year. Last year the band broke out the Grateful Dead’s Morning Dew, The Doors’ People Are Strange, The Beatles’ I Want You, and Golden Earring’s Radar Love. In addition, the boys paid tribute to another band from their hometown of Athens, R.E.M., by playing Can’t Get There From Here:

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7. You don’t hear much about Bob Dylan embracing his Jewish roots. In 1989 the former Mr. Zimmerman performed with Peter Himmelmen and Harry Dean Stanton on a fundraiser for Chabad. Bobby D adds some off-key harp playing to their take on Hava Negilah:

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8. Robert Plant joined Pearl Jam for a few tunes towards the end of 2005 at a Katrina Benefit in Chicago. One of the songs Plant and Pearl Jam played: Fool In The Rain. Led Zeppelin never played Fool In The Rain live, so it’s a real treat to hear Robert Plant finally sing the tune live:

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9. In December of ’06 you couldn’t go anywhere without boyfriends and husbands everywhere joking that they were giving their penis in a box to their ladies for the holidays. This was all thanks to a hilarious short on Saturday Night Live featuring Andy Samburg and Justin Timberlake called Dick In A Box. On New Year’s Eve Umphrey’s McGee covered Dick In The Box as part of their encore:

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10. We’ll end with something completely different. You wouldn’t expect the music of Yes to be transformed into a broadway show number. The Hastings Riverside Company Show Choir shows off their best jazz hands with their cover of Yes’ Roundabout:

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Have you found any other bizarre, unique or kickass covers on YouTube?

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5 Responses

  1. Is it sad that I fucking LOVE Kokomo? I think so. Also, if anyone missed it, Black Crowes are playing SummerStage on 8/9 — and here’s word on the lineup from a friend: “Paul Stacey will be playing on all the upcoming TBC dates. Joining Paul will be Rob Clores, Sven Pipien, Steve Gorman and Chris & Rich Robinson.”

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