When I posted Thoughts On Thursday some weeks ago, one of the things I mentioned was that I would be bringing back some of my occasional series. One of these was the one in which I played cover versions of songs under variations of the Under The Covers banner. Most of these were covers that I thought you might not know, as they were by artists who weren’t exactly household names, but for today’s return I’m doing it a little differently: I’m playing three songs, both the original and a cover, but these may well be familiar to you. Well, the first two, anyway.

As I often do, I’m playing something by the best band ever. This isn’t one of their best known songs, but Paul McCartney still plays it in his shows, so it is clearly a favourite There are several videos of him doing that, but I wanted to go back to the original:

As the video shows, that was a track on the album called simply The Beatles, though most of us know it now as The White Album. Macca has said that he was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird one morning when the Beatles were partaking of lessons in Transcendental Meditation in India, and also writing it in Scotland as a response to racial tensions escalating in the United States during the spring of 1968. Whichever, it is a lovely, delicate song, which lends itself well to good singers, and this is where my chosen cover comes in. You probably know these guys, but did you know that this is one they have often played in concerts? Take a listen:

Crosby Stills & Nash didn’t record that in the studio, but did include a version on their (mostly) live album Allies, which was released in June 1983. I’ve always thought that their harmonies were a great fit for the song, and I like the way David Crosby says that the Fab Four were their favourite group.

My second song for today is a cover with benefits. You’ll see what I mean, though you may well guess from seeing this performance by the band that first played it:

As I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you, Pinball Wizard was a track on The Who’s double album, Tommy, a rock opera that was released in May 1969, reaching #2 in the UK and #4 in the US and going on to sell more than 20m copies worldwide. The song had already been released as a single, in March of that year, and peaked at #4 in the UK and #19 in the US. In 1975 Tommy was turned into a movie directed by Ken Russell. This starred Roger Daltrey as Tommy, the ‘deaf dumb and blind kid,” and featured the other members of The Who, plus a supporting cast that included Ann-Margret as Tommy’s mother, Oliver Reed as “the Lover”, and appearances by many other big names from that time. Apparently Pete Townshend was particularly disappointed at not being allowed to cast Stevie Wonder as the Pinball Wizard! This is the version of that from the movie, performed by Elton John, in some amazing shoes, with a backing band you’ll recognise:

If you know anything of Ken Russell’s movies you will know that this is typical of his style, though possibly a little understated for him. That look on Ann-Margret’s face at the end of the clip is incredibly seductive – probably why she got the part, I guess. I have the movie and it is great fun: a little dated, perhaps, but totally OTT! This sequence was shot at the Kings Theatre in Southsea, Portsmouth: the audience were mostly students from Portsmouth Polytechnic, who were paid for their efforts by being given tickets to a Who concert. I’d have taken that! Elton’s version of the song was released as a single in March 1976, and got to #7 in the UK, though it didn’t make the US charts. I like both versions, which is why I’m playing them!

Today’s final song is the one which I think will be less familiar to most as, perish the thought, it comes from English folk music! The song was written by Richard Thompson, who started out in Fairport Convention and has had a long career of making wonderful music. For a time in the Seventies he played as a duet with Linda Peters, who later became his wife, and this song was the title track of an album they released in April 1974, the first of six they made together. I saw them several times in concert while I was at uni, and this was always a favourite in the show. I couldn’t find a video of them together from that time, but this is from a 1981 show in which Linda joined a reformed version of the Fairports, and it has the advantage of including the brass band who played so well on the album:  

The sound on that isn’t all that great, but it suffices! There are other videos of them playing the song but, as I said, I think it needs to have the brass band to be true to their recorded version. From memory, when I saw them live they had a trumpeter join the band for several songs, of which this was one. The album was largely ignored by critics at the time but has since come to be regarded as a classic of English folk-rock – I agree! The quality of Richard Thompson’s songwriting is recognised by his peers, and many covers of his songs exist. I have a couple of other versions of this song in my collection, one of which is by my favourite live band, Bellowhead. But I’m not playing that today – I thought I’d go for a more widely known name instead:

Since the demise of The Bangles Susanna Hoffs has continued making records. She seems to have hit a rich seam of cover versions, having made three albums (Vols. 1,2, and 3) with Matthew Sweet under the title of Under The Covers (where did they get that from?) and now a couple as a solo artist. This is the kind of title track from the first of those, Bright Lights, which was released in November 2021. She followed that with The Deep End, which came out in April this year. She describes these as being collections of songs that she has always loved but has never sung before, and her range of choices is incredibly eclectic: as well as this one, that album incudes tracks originally performed by Nick Drake, The Velvet Underground, Badfinger, Prince, and The Monkees. Quite a mix, but all given her trademark.

Time for a bonus track before I go? Oh alright then. I said I wouldn’t, but here is Bellowhead’s take on the song:

As you can see, that was a track on their album Revival which, a little ironically perhaps, was released in June 2014 but was the final one they made before disbanding. They have since returned, however, bringing us more joy and mayhem. Their albums had gradually been improving in sales terms and this one was their best placed, reaching #12 on the UK Albums chart – not bad for a folk act!

Three different takes on the same song, and all stamping their mark on it. That feels like a good place to end this first revitalised Under The Covers post. I hope you’ve enjoyed them, and if there are others you know and would like me to play please tell me in the comments: I’m always open to suggestions, as long as they aren’t illegal or immoral 😉

See you again for Song Lyric Sunday, I trust? Enjoy the rest of your week 😊