Cover Wars: War Pigs Edition

Cake released both a studio and a live cover of War Pigs on their 2007 B-sides and rarities. We’re using the studio take for the audio below. Cake also had a fan-made music video contest, you can see a bunch of those entries on YouTube.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cakepigs.mp3]

Video from Artscape 2009:

The Dresden Dolls are making back-to-back appearances in Cover Wars as they also contributed a cover of New Year’s Day for last week’s edition. War Pigs is a bit of a staple in the band’s live repertoire and also appears on their official 2005 DVD release The Dresden Dolls – Paradise Audio Source: 12-31-2010

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dresdenpigs.mp3]

Video from a performance at The Paradise in Boston:

As I mentioned in the intro, Faith No More released this cover on their third studio release on the 1989 release Real Thing. My older brother of course quickly informed me that this was indeed a cover of this band Black Sabbath.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/faithpigs.mp3]

The Flaming Lips recorded this cover for their 2007 iTunes Originals session.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/lipspigs.mp3]

Live video with a little help from Cat Power:

So, as I mentioned in the intro, 17-year-old DaveO saw Gov’t Mule destroy this tune. That concert was without a doubt a major influence during these formative musical years for me. I went out and immediately bought Mule’s Live…With A Little Help From Our Friends CD. Writing this piece and looking up the entry for War Pigs on MULEbase.com, I was surprised to see that the performance I saw in Boston was just the third time it had been played.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/mulepigs.mp3]

Video from 12-31-1998, the first known performance and the version included in the audio above:

String Cheese Incident played War Pigs at their Halloween show in 2003. While I am not including that performance, I am using a version by SCI keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth and his band from 12-12-2009.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/kylepigs.mp3]

Video from the same performance:

And finally we’ve got Umphrey’s McGee. While UM normally performs a truncated version of War Pigs (and it also often preceded by the song Black Sabbath), the band has at least once performed a full rendition – in Santa Cruz 2007 with a little help from Ugly Kid Joe on lead vocals. Source: 6-10-2007

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/umpigs.mp3]

Checking in on last week’s New Year’s Day Cover Wars, moe. has emerged victorious with their performance from 12-31-2007.