BEATLES songs done by others...

it also features one of the best screams in music history

 

The swingingest Beatles cover I have is Buddy Rich's big band doing Norwegian Wood.

 

I've have not heard these ever yet. My understanding there's an entire bootleg out there of Seller's doing a lot of the earlier hits.

 

These would be 2 of my favorite also. Instrumental Jazzed up versions. The Wes LP was titled that on A&M records and it is clearly essential to listen to this great Wes LP or CD. If it's still availble.??

Rassan Roland Kirk - This man came down off the stage (the stage was only about 4 inches high from the ground) at my favorite club on Boylston St in Boston called The Jazz Workshop and as he had all 3 of his horns still around his neck while his group (trio - piano,bass, drums) continued to play on stage he came up the aisle and at my table was an extra chair he then sat down. He then shook my hand gave me a hug and asked me to listen to this.

As he got himself situated he began listening to the band then suddenly started to play all 3 horns continuously at my table blowing the notes back towards the stage. As he played using his amazing circular breathing technique as well as playing the horn he called the "Stritch" which was the one he kept in the middle usually.

At this time he'd played a good 5 minute solo and stopped in the midst of a bar and turned his head to me with his big black sunglasses and yells out to me "How do I sound so far", I grabbed him by his arm and said "Man your killin em man, OUT OF SIGHT", I said, he laughed and said back "Well good then, I'm gonna play some more right from here".

What can I say, I must have been only 19 years old at the time still in my 1st semester at Berklee College of Music, what a total treat, the killer thing is the man was BLIND. What a tremendous talent. After the song was over and the crowd gave him a great round of applause, he thank me for letting him sit next to me, He had said one more thing before going back to the stage and was "Hey my man, I'll never forget you my man".

He didn't either he was at the Sheraton at the Prudential Center about a year or so later just sitting down either waiting to check in as my friends and I would often go through the Pru, as it was like a shortcut to get further down Boylston St where there were or still are outside escalators that would take us up or down. However as I said we were passing by still in the Sheraton when I spotted Rassan and as I was speaking to my friend Chris suddenly Roland Kirk yelled out, "Hey my man, come sit down and keep me company, I remember you"!!!

WOW~!!!!! Pure Freakin Genius and ears remembered the sound or timbre of my voice from over a year before. What a beautiful man. I was saddened of hearing of his untimely death as I recall. I was quite down and in a bad funk for quite few days after.

I was glad I had some good friends and fellow musicians who were aware of my good fortune to have met and talked to this kind man. As at that meeting at the Sheraton where we talked for a good 20 minutes I did give him my name. He said he'd remember my name the next time we met, unfortunately that never happened again, and I can only remember seeing him again playing on a Downbeat Awards Show and I loved the tune he played but for the life of me I was never able to find a recording of it. I will say it had to be the Downbeat Awards Show in early 74 or 75.

I thought I'd share a bit of Beatle Terr (the jazz years) with all my friends and Gorts here

 

You can hear him "singing" A Hard Day's Night, Can't Buy Me Love, She Loves You, Yes It Is and Help! on his box set, "A Celebration of Sellers". The single disc, "The Peter Sellers Collection" contains A Hard Day's Night and She Loves You.

 

Beattle Terr, I shall be forever jealous. That is a great story.

 

I really liked two songs Paul McCartney turned loose in 1969.

Goodbye from Mary Hopkin and Come And Get It from Badfinger.

Maybe they weren't true Beatles songs, but they could have fit in.

 

I'm glad you could dig it. I've got tons of those. It was really an everyday event to brush up against the monsters of jazz at that time period which for me was 1972-76.

I went back to that post an made a few edits for it to read better. Sorry it was really late or early in the morning when I was typing that out and I thought it would read ok before I saved it.

I must say at the time Roland was waiting to get checked in at the Sheraton and waiting, my friend Chris did a lot of talking to him also. I should say that although we talked that day he was playing again at the Jazz Workshop. So my friend Chris and I had gone to see him later in the week when we had our school work done and of course were able to scrape up the 3 dollars it cost for to get in as well as the 2 drink minimum.
This was what I'd call his "BLACKNUSS" tour for which there should be an LP of the same name. If you ever see it buy it. It's a must have I'm sure.

I would have owned it, but I was one of the poorer students in the bucks department. It seemed I always had to have money for Strings, picks, guitar polish and cloths, books,music paper, pencils and pens. All things to keep me in my daily school supplies and that extra couple of bucks for my coffee's to go, and enough for a SLICE of Pizza! Hey, I was Livin Large at the time to me I thought.

 

I didn't see Candy Flip's cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" yet... that was a big hit in the UK sometime around 1990. I think I still have the 12" somewhere.

Another odd one: Gina X's cover of "Drive My Car".

Finally, John Ferrara released an entire album of disco Beatles covers under the moniker of "The Average Disco Band". Quite dreadful, and the arrangements stray so far from the original songs that you can barely recognize them.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned The Pair Extraordinaire's version of Run For Your Life. I like it a lot. The original was never my favorite song on Rubber Soul. (Oh, there's an insult!)

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Day Tripper on the BBC Sessions disc.

Chris

 

Gov't Mule does a very good version of She Said, She Said on their release "Dose".

Godhead performs a very different and well done version of Eleanor Rigby on their release "2000 Years of Human Error". It's on the metal side but very interesting nonetheless.

And jeez, Tomorrow Never Knows has been covered by a zillion artists most notedly, Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead.

 

Another 2 to add to the list:

Don't Let Me Down - Dillard & Clark
Cry Baby Cry - Throwing Muses