best beatles covers. ever.

today i'd like to remember michael jackson's absolutely wicked cover of "come together". being a punk rock highschooler i wasn't really much into michael back then, but hearing this in shop class made me stop and ask someone who in the hell doing this cool-ass beatles cover. learning it was mj totally made me stop and reconsider my previously held views on the dude...

i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed, and maybe today just ponder why, out of all the beatles tracks he coulda used FOR FREE - yesterday, hey jude, a day in the life etc (and probably made a gazillion dollars offa, almost guaranteed) he decided to just record this one fairly obscure, strange, and edgy beatles tune, and do it in this cool, but not very radio-friendly, glamrockfunk style?

Do get ahold of yourself. "Come Together" is hardly "fairly obscure." And he took a giant dump on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.

it's pretty straight, but the five stairsteps doing dear prudence is great

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

This song is kind of a template for non-ballad post-Bad MJ.

Come Together = obscure??

I like Elliott Smith's very faithful rendering of "Because," myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6L05WHTgUQ

Joe Cocker's "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is still the best for me, and I don't even really like Joe Cocker all that much.

Do get ahold of yourself. "Come Together" is hardly "fairly obscure." And he took a giant dump on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, June 26, 2009 9:52 AM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I agree with this. That version is paint-peelingly awful. I realize the guy croaked yesterday, but that doesnt mean you can sugar-coat how bad this thing is.

"i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed"

Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3J_chod0eM

""i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed"

Why?"

probably cause then i'll have to shit talk michael a bit and i don't really want to today, i guess. you guys really don't like his version of come together? i think it's great, horses for courses i guess. and i sort of meant "obscure" as in compared to covers he might have done, like something anthemic like "with a little help from my friends" or "she loves you" or something. and "obscure" as a michael jackson song possibly could be in 198whatever - i mean, i didn't own the album myself, and i managed to avoid hearing it for maybe a year, they just didn't play it on the radio like they did billie jean or thriller or say say say...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emW4m63GeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHuIQn-eJM

best one yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIOdvXE7kbI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

La Lupe - Yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnIjoBGB1q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBuz3ezWjA

Wouldn't know where to begin here. I've been collecting Beatles cover versions for five-plus years; I had to move them all to the external hard drive, so I can't use the media library to get an exact count, but I estimate I've got somewhere between 3,500-4,000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAUf8m4fMiw

Thanks! Just tracked it down, also his cover of "Day Tripper."

What, no votes for Elton John - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?

― Trevor Wood, Thursday, May 4, 2006 8:19 AM Bookmark

Have been getting into this lately and might just give it the nod over the Beatles version - - the verses are kind of weedy in the Elton but I loooooove the extended, multitracked repetition of the chorus - it seems much more psychedelic and frankly more joyous than the Beatles version, like you really do go on this sonic journey with Lucy and it's really great, which actually never happens in the original.

Cilla Black - love of the loved
Lili Ivanova - kakto onzi den (the night before)

Always had a soft spot for this, the best Beatles cover that sounded like Husker Du:

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

Funny how The Beatles' "What goes on" and the Velvets' are two different songs, but they share a couple of lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE33l8JrFlQ

Nilsson's cover of "You Can't Do That" is awesome

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/richhunt35/exoticbeatles.jpg?t=1306330475

Also have to give it up for Desmond Dekker & Come Together. Get heavy!

Hi, I noticed no one mentioned "Eleanor Rigby" by the First Moog Quartet (led by Gershon Kingsley). Kind of a high-speed moog-rock cover with baroque elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2zDpPMi1ik

Really like George Harrison's '74 version of 'In My Life' from his US tour:

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

this is awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLo5nzK0ayU

There's an amazing David Axelrod-helmed cover of 'Good Day Sunshine' on this album but I can't find it streaming anywhere. I'll upload it when I get home. It's pretty trippy, and plenty rad.

Chilling with this today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLBeWa70ww

nice!

I’ve never liked obladi oblada so the only way I can actually stand it is repurposed as an instrumental mariachi song:

https://youtu.be/S_zDyhzo1yY

haha that's hilarious

it's not terribly surprising but ob-la-di ob-la-da sounds better when played by an actual reggae group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdW7Enwdd_s

more surprising to me is that nobody knows ray charles' version of "the long and winding road", considering it's essentially a ray charles song

still haven't heard covers of "you won't see me", "what goes on", or "yellow submarine" i like.

Cecilia - Dear Prudence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--pTc_yvWgg

Love Cecilia, never heard that one! Must be an album-only track. She died at 27, sadly.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVMuYfa0EA

wee willie walker - ticket to ride

Seconding Danielle Dax’s “Tomorrow Never Know” and Sparks’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Going back a bit, some other favourites have been Bryan Ferry’s “You Won’t See Me,” Boxer’s “Hey Buldog,” Blue Ash’s “Anytime at All,” and The Residents’ “Hey Jude” which transforms into “Sympathy for the Devil.”

And serious consideration should be given to comedy records. There have been many noteworthy novelties such as the Peter Sellers one already mentioned, Paul Frees singing “Hey Jude” in a Peter Lorre voice, The Roadrunner’s “Long and Winding Road” with cartoon sound effects, the Bob Rivers’ parody “Free as a Turd,” and Mae West singing “Day Tripper,” which has been Golden Throats fodder but which is actually pretty funny and a creditable piece of 1966 garage band rock.

Can't stop wondering why Cecilia is singing it "Ha, Prudence"

Charlotte Dada's "Don't Let Me Down" is mentioned upthread, but it bears repeating because it's so sublime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-JrLuAaFY

Love Cecilia, never heard that one! Must be an album-only track. She died at 27, sadly.

― Josefa, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 10:39 PM (yesterday)

yeah, it's the closing track of her debut album. I love the uncharacteristic pop-psych production; the only other song I've heard of hers that sounds like it is Reuníos, a b-side from 1971 in which she urges the Beatles (unsuccessfully afaict) to reunite. sad that she died so young.

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

Marcia Griffiths - Don't Let Me Down

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

Jessica Mitford - Maxwell's Silver Hammer

here's a bulgarian ye-ye cover of "the night before"

https://youtu.be/CNbgnq9VkNw

And Lowell Fulson does "Why Don't We Do It in the Road."

he sure does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP9RNPx2_oA

trying to make a mix w/ covers of tracks from "with the beatles"

mostly i've found versions i really enjoy. here are the tracks i'm having trouble with:

all i've got to do - the moon martin and louise goffin versions are okay, but i just think they're okay.

all my loving - kinda like prince buster and rita lee versions but again, i don't think they're fine but not great. surely there's some amazing soul cover of this song i've yet to hear ?

don't bother me - i've tracked down an apparently obscure 1967 australian single by somebody named diane horder, and it's actually pretty good. but this is an odd and largely overlooked tune so was wondering if anybody had versions they liked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfJppiN0P_A

little child - i could live with this version by sandro y los de fuego, actually i think it's very good, but wonder if there isn't something more appealing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2vYCXUlKRA

well, my thoughts might not be trustworthy because i went with moon martin and prince buster

having said that i went with gregory phillips' joe meek-style cover of "don't bother me" and jackie lynton's take on "little child"

thanks Kate.

incidentally i've taken upon myself to join you in the search for a suitable "what goes on" cover, and if i ever find one i like (or think is interesting) i'll be sure to post it here.