covers that folk/rock/soul song-interpreters of the '60s and '70s would have on their records

Firstly, it's frightening how many people felt compelled to cover "Hey Jude".

anyway try "Everybody's Talkin'" from wikipedia:

Since Nilsson's cover of the song achieved chart success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006[1]—including Tom Jones, Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Spanky and Our Gang, The Beautiful South, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, the actor Leonard Nimoy, Moose (band), Crosby, Stills & Nash, Matthew Sweet, Neil Diamond, Steven Stills, Arlo Guthrie, Percy Faith, The Four Tops, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Emmylou Harris, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Richard Barone, Lena Horne, Engelbert Humperdinck, Julio Iglesias, The Kingston Trio, Vera Lynn, Liza Minnelli, Jesse Malin, Willie Nelson, Zucchero, Madeleine Peyroux, Tedeschi Trucks Band, BJ Thomas, Bill Withers, Sir Francis Highly, Bobby Womack, Stevie Wonder, Crowded House, Dwight Yoakam, Linda Eder, Van Morrison, Alain Bashung, and Tonic.

"The Other Side of This Life" (I must have ten versions of this without actually seeking them out)

"Without Her (Him)", the Nilsson song.

"River Deep, Mountain High"

Kristofferson - "Me and Bobby McGee" "For the Good Times" "Help Me Make It Through The Night"
Michel Legrand - "The Windmills of Your Mind"
Johnny Mandel - "The Shadow of Your Smile"

Buffy St. Marie: "Until It's Time For You To Go"

This could be a long thread. The thing is in the 60s and to an extent the 70s I think there was still this idea of "repertoire" left over from the jazz/american songbook recording years, like you know the origin of the term "A&R" -- Artists and Repertoire, part of the job was finding the "right" songs to showcase the singer's talents etc. So there are tons of country/folk/pop/rock singers whose careers were still approached that way, don't know when it completely died though it seems pretty close to dead now.

So point being that there were still a lot of people in the industry who figured pop or folk songs could become "standards" just like Autumn Leaves or My Funny Valentine

It's the process where the form provided by the record supplants the form supplied by the written song. Appropriately at the point where records completely supplant songs we get sampling, and songs built in part on bits of well-known records.

"Little Green Apples"
"Sunny"

Tim Hardin: "If I Were A Carpenter", "Reason To Believe"

Xp "Little Green Apples" is a good one! Required by law to be on every other album released from 1968-1971.

Seems like "Angel of The Morning" would fit in here.

"Tobacco Road"

"Hey Joe," obviously--folk song adopted by garage bands.

Johnny Mathis's late 60s/early 70s albums are a good place to look for these sorts of songs: Bacharach, Beatles, bossa nova.

Billy Edd Wheeler's "High Flying Bird"

"god bless the child"

i'm partial to the judy henske version, the aretha one is a bit too caffeinated. not sure about the rest.

we need an ilx covers project of the great pop songbook of like 1965-1972

xp the anita kerr singers' "god bless the child" is far and away my favorite.

There's got to be a few dozen versions of "Sally Go Round The Roses" recorded back then.

but the jaynetts' is the only one you need.

songs from 'Hair' - Aquarius, Let the Sunshine In, Good Morning Starshine.

or Broadway in general

An interesting subsection of this is songs that were seemingly only popular during this period. I mean, singers still drag out "Suzanne" and "Wichita Lineman", but how about "Come Sunday Morning (Theme From The Sterile Cuckoo)", a modest hit for the Sandpipers and a staple on Easy Listening LPs of the era, or "With Pen In Hand", a Bobby Goldsboro song the Vicki Carr scored with which had similar traction?

as has been expressed, this happened all the time in the late 60s-early 70s. i love this example: bobby womack: sweet caroline

Bobby Womack's version of "California Dreaming" is so great.

in addition to all the Bacharach lounge and pop people, "The Look of Love" was done by Isaac Hayes, The Meters, The Delfonics, El Chicano, Four Tops ...

Neil Diamond album, "Stones", has the following covers: "The Last Thing on My Mind", "Husbands and Wives", "Chelsea Morning", "If You Go Away", "Suzanne" AND "I Think It's Going to Rain Today".

ha, that sounds incredible actually.

Glen Campbell covered, "Without Her", "Until It's Time for You to Go", "Both Sides Now", "Reason to Believe", "If You Go Away", "The Last Thing on My Mind"... no doubt more. Songs by 'folk' singer songwriters seem to have been esp. popular choices for covers.

but how about "Come Sunday Morning (Theme From The Sterile Cuckoo)"

Saturday...I get the Sandpipers and Velvet Underground mixed up all the time.

I always used to group this song with "Never My Love," the Mary Tyler Moore theme, the Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile for Me," Mercy's "Love (Can Make You Happy)," and a few others. I had a genre, I just didn't have a name for it at the time: Sunshine Pop.

Stating the obvious, but everyone was doing Dylan. "Tomorrow is a long time", for instance, done by Dion and Rod, on top of my head.

Long Black Limousine

Gentle On My Mind

I always used to group this song with "Never My Love," the Mary Tyler Moore theme, the Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile for Me," Mercy's "Love (Can Make You Happy)," and a few others. I had a genre, I just didn't have a name for it at the time: Sunshine Pop. - clemenza

I LOVE "Smile a Little Smile for Me". That's one of those songs I remember not only from the hit but from the elevator music versions (and it was easy to hear elevator music versions of most of these songs --- a big part of their getting into the psyches of anybody born in the 60s).

For the British division of Sunshine Pop I'd also add "Toast and Marmalade" by Tin Tin (although this gets a little Bee Gees so might not qualify) and "On A Saturday" by Keith West (definitely qualifies).

One more from The Sandpipers: "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". Extra points for the twisted movie connection.

how have we gotten this far without a mention of "Yesterday"

astrud gilberto and claudine longet albums are full of these - songs written by nilsson, leonard cohen, margo guryan, bee gees, newman etc

Another Tim Hardin tune that was recorded a lot was "Misty Roses."

my favorite thing claudine longet did was her version of "golden slumbers."

Traffic/Dave Mason: "Feelin' Alright?" (RIP Joe Cocker)

Stating the obvious, but everyone was doing Dylan. "Tomorrow is a long time", for instance, done by Dion and Rod, on top of my head.

― Mule, Tuesday, December 23, 2014 8:21 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Even Elvis! The only Dylan cover he released in his lifetime iirc: http://youtu.be/wipPRxEXAPY

Basement Tapes A-Go-Go: "I Shall Be Released", "This Wheel's On Fire", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"

People Get Ready

The Weight

MacArthur Park

One Hand One Heart, Somewhere (West Side Story)

Feelin' Alright (xpost)

Mr. Bojangles

You've Got a Friend

To Love Somebody

Call Me (Chris Montez, Petula Clark)

Silver Threads and Golden Needles

If You Go Away

I Don't Know How to Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar)

If, Make It With You (Bread)

The Windmills of Your Mind

Yesterday When I Was Young

there was a handful of dylan songs -- like "i'll be your baby tonight" -- that were just generic enough to be highly coverable by a variety of mainstream artists.

Mary in the Morning

"Delta Dawn"

All compiled here:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cHkRG623L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

ctrl+f "make the world go away"

"For Once In My Life"

No "Blowin' in the Wind"?? Or is that too early for this thread?

cosign this: we need an ilx covers project of the great pop songbook of like 1965-1972. I'd break out my dusty keyboards for that one, so many great compositions already in this thread. "Husbands and Wives" is a good one - also picked up by the Everlys and Ringo, among others. The strong overlap between country and other forms of pop/rock in this period probably helped things in some way that I can only be hand-wavey about: good songs could come out of relatively out-there but major-label rock bands, and out of pure country acts, and in both cases make their way to being the third or seventh song on Nixonian pop, easy listening, and fine-singin' albums.

And yeah, big fat books of guitar tab would be a key resource here.

Looking up Merrilee Rush's big album also suggests "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)" and possibly "Hush." Wonder how Hoyt Axton stacks up here - "Never Been To Spain" maybe?

"Windmills of Your Mind" is a great one. Muppets version rulez.

John Denver songbook maybe? Wiki says of "Take Me Home, Country Roads": Eddy Arnold, Lynn Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Ray Charles, Olivia Newton-John, etc. etc. Not sure how much folk crossover it had though.

"Galveston"

"The Lady Came from Baltimore" by Tim Hardin. Baez, Johnny Cash, Scott Walker, even Dylan used to cover it live.

Lol, hideous lump otm

Lol, hideous lump otm

I happened to have just gotten a bunch of old Dionne Warwick and Lulu records, so it was easy!

Was just looking over the On The Beach thread, and found this...

http://images.hhv.de/catalog/detail_big/00093/93344.jpg

"Use Me", "You Are The Sunshine of My Life", "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" all qualify.

Ruby Tuesday
(I heard Melanie's version of this the other day on Psychedelicized and I think it was the worst cover version I'd ever heard in my life.)

stoney end as representative of this type of thing as any

"I Don't Know Where I Stand" (Joni Mitchell)
"Hands Off the Man (Flim Flam Man)" (Laura Nyro)
"If You Could Read My Mind" (Gordon Lightfoot)
"Just a Little Lovin' (Early In The Mornin')" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil)
"Let Me Go" (Randy Newman)
"Stoney End" (Laura Nyro)
"No Easy Way Down" (Carole King, Gerry Goffin)
"Time and Love" (Laura Nyro)
"Maybe" (Harry Nilsson)
"Free the People" (Barbara Keith)
"I'll Be Home" (Randy Newman)

"I Can't Stand The Rain" (Ann Peebles)

I immediately thought of "Catch The Wind" when I saw this thread.

Wilson Pickett -- Sugar Sugar
http://youtu.be/OrZluYnMJUY

"Goin' Down Slow" (James Oden)

timely: seasons in the sun

"The Air That I Breathe" maybe?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61GQzvAZlPL.jpg

This album made a big impression on kiddo me: first of all the cover, where she's kicking back on Desolation Row, so matter of fact, at a tyme when Original Material was getting to be such a big deal, and prophetically implying the fatal flaw in that, from then 'til now: what if writing turns out, in the long run, not to be your strength (amazing how many people I'd given up on rise to the occasion, occasionally, on tribute albums). Then the variety and unity of her singing and song selection, with chamber-pop arrangements, all shifting from pretty to something else: "On the firefly platform of sunny Goodge Street/A violent hash-eater shook a chocolate machine," noted while gliding by, which is a set-up on the brutal "Dress Rehearsal Rag," for instance (introducing Cohen as songwriter; crucially including *this* along with "Suzanne," which Greil Marcus compared to high-class porn prints, a portfolio for the love childe invited up to your space age bachelor pad).
Also, for instance, "Pirate Jenny" (released before the Doors' version of "Alabama Song [Whiskey Bar]," right?). Which Dylan cites in Chronicles as a gateway influence. And lots of others:

Track listing

"Tom Thumb's Blues" (Bob Dylan) – 5:03
"Hard Lovin' Loser" (Richard Fariña) – 2:37
"Pirate Jenny" (Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 4:02
"Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen) – 4:21
"La Colombe" (Jacques Brel, Alasdair Clayre) – 5:03
"Marat/Sade" (Richard Peaslee) – 5:33
"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (Randy Newman) – 2:46
"Sunny Goodge Street" (Donovan) – 2:55
"Liverpool Lullaby" (Stan Kelly, aka Stan Kelly-Bootle) – 2:57
"Dress Rehearsal Rag" (Leonard Cohen) – 5:19
"In My Life" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:53

Then Wildflowers, with the big hit version of "Both Sides Now," great exposure for Joni, but not so hot compared to her original. I don't remember that album very well, but liked Who Knows Where The Time Goes, which started with another song by Sandy Denny (me: "Oh wow, who is she?!"), "Hello Hooray," also done well by Alice Cooper, and a killer version of "Pretty Polly," a successful gender-reassignment on Robin Willamson's "First Girl->Boy I Loved," hit with Ian Tyson's "Someday Soon." (and yeah I hope the title track led people to Fairport's debut, which incl. Mitchell's "Eastern Rain," which she may never have released, and Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine," with later FC LPs providing BD rarities like "Percy's Song" and "Dusty Old Fairgrounds").
Living is a real good early 70s Collins live album: cool "Tom Thumb's Blues," showstopping "Famous Blue Raincoat"("Did you ever go clear...?") After that, I lost track (ballin' on a budget).

Traffic/Dave Mason: "Feelin' Alright?" (RIP Joe Cocker)

― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, December 23, 2014 11:07 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was just looking this one up and came to the thread - wow! wiki gives us a nice range of acts, i'd really associated it only with rougher/woolier treatments by Cocker and Three Dog Night:

1969 - Three Dog Night (as the B-side to "Celebrate"), Rare Earth, David Ruffin, and Rustix
1970 - Lulu, Lou Rawls, Chairmen of the Board, Hubert Laws, The 5th Dimension
1970 - Little Milton (recording), released on the 1985 album The Checker Days 1961-1970,[7]
1971 - Gladys Knight & the Pips
1971 - The Jackson 5 alone with lead vocals by Jermaine, Marlon, Michael and Jackie Jackson. Later on they recorded the song again with Diana Ross.[8] Wade Marcus, Maceo Parker
1973 - Isaac Hayes, The Undisputed Truth, and Mother's Finest
1978 - The Bar-Kays, Money Talks

i've now skimmed all of them and they're all enjoyable. tho in general everybody seems pretty indebted to cocker's version. that piano riff, having found its home as the opening hook, becomes a pretty key part of the song, at least for a while. and in general the sonic range isn't as great as you might think with that list of acts - people seem to grasp that the big shout-along group vibe of cocker's is the other real reason to do the track so i think it's a let-our-hair-down moment no matter whose album it's on, with the exception of instrumental takes (laws, marcus). lulu's is the main template-breaker of the early round of covers - from the jackson 5 on though, they start going different places. the undisputed truth's is wild, and barely the same song. i was a little disappointed that afaict no lilting folkie judy collins type attempted to tame the thing down to a soothing flower-child tribute to the feeling of being all right. even the unlikely pairing of isaac hayes and the osmonds toes a pretty familiar line:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiFuvqDrU6I

(the bar-kays, unencumbered by the osmonds' squeaky-clean geniality, make much more of an hayesian slow jam out of it, fwiw).

IIRC, Grand Funk did it in 70-71, and it sounds exactly how you'd think a Grand Funk version would.

we need an ilx covers project of the great pop songbook of like 1965-1972

xp the anita kerr singers' "god bless the child" is far and away my favorite.

― Bill Nighy the Science Gighy (get bent), Tuesday, December 23, 2014 12:08 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and the closing number to this three-disc set should be a big group rendition of "feelin' alright" with everybody's takes all piled up

"Drift Away" has been covered by many bands and vocalists around the world. Versions include those of Allan Clarke, Roy Orbison, Ike & Tina Turner, Humble Pie, Mud, Rod Stewart, James Hollis, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, The Doobie Brothers, the Neville Brothers, Jon Bon Jovi[8], Michael Bolton, Copperhead, Christian Kane, the Rolling Stones, the Nylons, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, BoDeans, Judson Spence, Billy Joe Royal, Steve Young and John Kay.[9] Folk singer Tom Rush recorded the song on his album What I Know, released in 2009. There is an unreleased 1974 recording of this song by the Rolling Stones. This version features all of the members of the then-current lineup of the Stones. The Heptones recorded a reggae version which is included on many compilation CDs. Street Corner Symphony also sang a version of this song as their swan song on the season 2 finale of the NBC series The Sing-Off; that version is arranged by Deke Sharon.[10] Bon Jovi usually played the song live in 1987: a version was recorded as part of a Westwood One radio live series concert. Dolly Parton and Anne Murray performed the song together in 1976 on Parton's variety show Dolly!, though they sang the lyrics of the Felts version ("I want to get lost in your country song").

obviously now listening to all of these, i am a well-documented stan of Dobie Gray's hit cover but the song is sort of hard to fuck up (uncle kracker notwithstanding). the stones were complete idiots to not release theirs.

Oh man, I'm not a huge fan of "drift away" but a Stones cover sounds tasty.

it's on youtube but not on spotify. ditto Mud's version which is... kinda odd and dinky but also kinda charming. tina turner tears it up but the rhythm track is oddly lugubrious and stoned.

roy orbison seems out of place rocking even this hard

rod stewart is really not able to convince me that anybody is soothed or drifting, despite the, i guess, "island" vibes.

This is somewhat related to the thread topic: I'm listening to Buddy Miles rn and realizing he recorded "Them Changes" on his own, with Hendrix (on Band of Gypsies), and with Santana (on their duo live album). It seems like if you made a record w/him in the '70s, you had to let him do "Them Changes".

the stones were complete idiots to not release theirs

It was meant for the original version of It's Only Rock'n'Roll, which was gonna be one side live and another of studio R&B covers, and was scrapped (save for the version of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg") when they started writing songs in the studio.

big fan of jackie deshannon's drift away
break my mind was covered a lot at least going by my music collection

big fan of jackie deshannon's drift away
break my mind was covered a lot at least going by my music collection
never heard this one but Byrds backing Linda R, kinda cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BjbnNzWLM

Several "morning" songs mentioned already, but not "Morning Dew"

"Take Me To The River": One of the Talking Heads said they were amazed that they had the (Pop) hit w/the song, as they were directly competing with versions by Foghat, Bryan Ferry, and Levon Helm. Furthermore, even though Al Green originated the song, labelmate Syl Johnson had the initial (R&B) hit recording.

John Denver: "Leaving On A Jet Plane"

Some Country songs:

Merle Haggard: "Today I Started Loving You Again"
Jim Reeves: "He'll Have To Go"
Waylon Jennings: "Love of The Common People" & "We Had It All"
David Houston: "Almost Persuaded"
Steve Goodman: "The City of New Orleans"

Rusty & Doug Kershaw: "Louisiana Man"

Sunday Morning Coming Down - written by Kris Kristofferson, sung by Johnny Cash and many others

Noticing "El condor pasa"(Simon & Garfunkel) and ""Put Your Hand In The Hand" (Ocean) popping up a alot when checking out '70s Easy Listening albums on Spotify.

Hoyt Axton, "Greenback Dollar"

XP On that tip, practically ever Johnny Mathis album from the late '60s and early '70s is named for someone else's big contemporary hit: "Those Were The Days"; "Song Sung Blue"; "Me & Mrs. Jones"; "Close To You" etc.

Of course:

Johnny Mathis's late 60s/early 70s albums are a good place to look for these sorts of songs: Bacharach, Beatles, bossa nova.

― jaymc, Monday, December 22, 2014 10:49 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Ventures always throw one or two of these on their albums too.

"Feeling Good" from the musical The Roar of The Greasepaint - The Smell of The Crowd

I am currently obsessed with "By the Time it Gets Dark." Lotsa great versions out there but as far as I can tell the sole writer is Sandy Denny herself, right?

Astonishing that she did that alongside everything else, and also collaborated on the best version of "When Will I Be Loved," and her whole career lasted barely ten years before she died tragically.

Lawrence Reynolds: "Jesus Is A Soul Man"

Paul Siebels' "Louise" was a fairly familiar, dependable folkie staple---here's Bonnie Raitt's studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wut4Tn7GcBY

later live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTxunDKrAM8