Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

When Songs In The Key Of Life was released on September 28, 1976 — 50 years ago next week — Stevie Wonder was only 26 years old. After his time as a child star, teenage prodigy and soul pioneer, he had reached his zenith at an age when most of his peers were still building their careers.

By 1976, Stevie had already completed one of the most extraordinary creative runs in popular music history. Between 1972 and 1974 he had produced Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale, making full use of the artistic freedom he had negotiated into his new Motown contract.

But after all that, he was exhausted by years of relentless recording and touring. Stevie seriously considered retiring from music altogether, at one point speaking publicly about moving to Ghana to work with disabled children, believing he could contribute more to society outside the music industry.

Happily, he reconsidered. After all that, he had another creative spurt, one so huge that even a double album couldn’t contain it. So he added a four-track EP to the set. Those four songs are not essential, but on the double LP there is not a single weak moment. Only the jazz-rock instrumental Contusion interrupts the flow, albeit early on Side 1.

Audaciously, he opens the album with a seven-minute mid-tempo track that might have been written by Burt Bacharach, the lovely Love’s In Need Of Love Today, and follows it with the overtly religious and wonderfully funky Have A Talk With God. The more obvious opener might have been Side 1 closer Sir Duke or Side 2 opener I Wish.

By my reckoning, the strongest side is Side 4, with Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing (Ngiculela is isiZulu for “I am singing”, not Swahili as is often claimed), If It’s Magic, the majestic As and the no less majestic Another Star. Going out on a high note!

Perhaps the most divisive track here is Isn’t She Lovely, a joyful hymn to fatherhood. Some find it mawkish. Unwilling to cut its length, Wonder didn’t released one of his best-known songs as a single in the US or the UK. Instead, a chap called David Parton recorded a cover version and had a big hit with it in the UK.

The album’s title captures Wonder’s ambition. Rather than producing another collection of songs, he wanted to create what he described as a musical portrait of life itself: love, childhood, religious faith, poverty, race, joy, disappointment, celebration, hope and, of course, music. From the exuberant celebration of Sir Duke, his tribute to Duke Ellington and other jazz pioneers, to the social commentary of Village Ghetto Land and Pastime Paradise, Wonder explored almost every facet of the human experience.

Stevie Wonder during the recording of Songs In The Key Of Life.

Critics immediately hailed Songs In The Key Of Life as a masterpiece, rightly so. A few contrarians aside, that admiration has not diminished in the 50 years since.

Some tracks from Songs In The Key Of Life appeared in the first two volumes of the Stevie Wonder Songbooks: covers of As (by Sister Sledge) and Pastime Paradise (Ray Barretto) on Volume 1, and on Volume 2 Isn’t She Lovely (Keb’ Mo’), If It’s Magic (Helen Reddy), Joy Inside My Tears (Thelma Houston & Jerry Butler) and Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder in a live version). More will follow on Volume 3.

Of all the tracks to recover, Sir Duke was the second most difficult. The most difficult to represent from the double album was Black Man. It appears here in a live rendition by Stevie at the 2009 NAACP Image Awards. Sir Duke doesn’t lack cover versions, but none of the vocal renditions I found is particularly good. And, in truth, how do you cover it well? Bob McGrath from Sesame Street gave it a game shot, making it accessible for children. It has charm, but it is hardly the musical high point of his generation. So it seemed wiser to go with Nathan East’s instrumental version. I’ll include the McGrath recording as a bonus.

For such a great album, there was a surprising reluctance to cover many of its songs, at least until the new millennium. And even then, not all the covers were very good. I Wish, a huge hit, has been recorded many times, but not always well. I do like the a cappella version by Cadence (the Canadian vocal group, not the rapper), who preserve the energy of the original.

Isn’t She Lovely might have presented a problem too. It is easy to lapse into mawkishness. As it turned out, I didn’t even have to resort to David Parton’s karaoke-style hit version. There were several contenders, and the rendition by Lee Ritenour with Bill Champlin on vocals won out.

Tulivu-Donna Lynn Cumberbatch, whose first name is Swahili, gives Ngiculela a fine jazz interpretation. The singer died in 2022 at the age of 71. Another jazz vocalist featured here is the Italian Stefania Rava, who delivers an excellent version of Ordinary Pain. She is preceded in the sequence by veteran jazz singer Jackie Paris, who introduces some scat into Summer Soft. The superb piano solo is by Argentinian pianist Carlos Franzetti.

One song that offered many options was As. The George Michael and Mary J. Blige version is by far the finest cover, but I’m holding that back for another mix later this year. Besides, George already features in this collection with his performance of Village Ghetto Land, recorded at the 1988 Nelson Mandela tribute concert. As features here instead in a 1978 version by Elkie Brooks, which starts very slowly before easing into a disco groove.

The mix will fit on two standard CD-Rs (end CD 1 with Ordinary Pain) and includes home-contusioned covers as well as the text above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

Disc 1
1. Joan Osborne – Love’s In Need Of Love Today (2002)
2. Michele Thomas – Have A Talk With God (2012)
3. George Michael – Village Ghetto Land (live) (1988)
4. Najee – Contusion (1995)
5. Nathan East – Sir Duke (2014)
6. Cadence – I Wish (2000)
7. Luther Vandross – Knocks Me Off My Feet (1996)
8. Patti Smith – Pastime Paradise (2007)
9. Jackie Paris – Summer Soft (1981)
10. Stefania Rava – Ordinary Pain (2018)
Disc 2
01. Lee Ritenour feat. Bill Champlin – Isn’t She Lovely (1977)
02. Randy Crawford – Joy Inside My Tears (1995)
03. Stevie Wonder – Black Man (live) (2009)
04. Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch – Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing (1992)
05. Linda Clifford – If It’s Magic (1977)
06. Elkie Brooks – As (1978)
07. Kathy Sledge – Another Star (1995)
A Something’s Extra EP
01. Gene Page – Saturn (1978)
02. Colby Beserra & Dan Lipton – Ebony Eyes (2006)
03. Scott Sharrard – All Day Sucker (2009)
04. Stevie Wonder – Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call) (live) (2015)

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More Recovered albums:
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
Tapestry (Carole King)
Blue (Joni Mitchell)
Blonde On Blonde (Bob Dylan)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
Purple Rain (Prince)
Every Beatles album

Previous Albums Recovered
More Cover Mixes
More CD-R Mixes

Dolly Parton was one of the great singers in popular music, a fact that was long overshadowed by that image and, perhaps, prejudice against country music.

She had a lovely voice and wonderful phrasing, but what I think made her such a great singer was that, in her singing, she revealed herself. By every account, Dolly was the loveliest person, and her voice projects all that goodness, warmth, love and a big heart. And honesty. She was all country, but she had soul.

These qualities are there in the covers Dolly sang. She was a gifted songwriter — if Coat Of Many Colors doesn’t make you choke up, you need a transplant of emotions — but she recorded loads of covers. Many of them told her story, like Merle Haggard’s In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad).

But You Know I Love You was written by Mike Settle and first recorded by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, but it might just as well be about her artistic separation from her mentor, Porter Wagoner. Of course, she wrote I Will Always Love You about Wagoner.

Some covers here could have turned out badly in the wrong hands. It takes guts to cover Stairway To Heaven, a song so tied to Led Zeppelin that an attempt at a cover might well turn out to be bad karaoke or terribly mannered. Dolly’s 2002 version deconstructs the song and becomes Dolly’s own. It is magnificent, even if it closes with that unfortunate cliché, the gospel choir.

Likewise, Dolly’s covers of The Great Pretender and I Get A Kick Out Of You are nothing like one might have expected, or feared.

Dolly Parton and her mentor, Porter Wagoner

Dolly recorded many covers with others; I’ve tried to keep away from them. That ruled out anything from those great Trio records she made with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, and the many duets with Porter Wagoner. I do include her collaboration with Lynyrd Skynyrd because who doesn’t want to hear Dolly do Free Bird? It features the now-late Gary Rossington, and archival vocals by Ronnie van Zandt. Ronnie’s gave special permission to use his original vocal tracks for this version, saying she wouldn’t allow it for the band itself, but “did it for Dolly”.

It comes from her Rockstar double CD in 2023, on which she collaborated with some very big names, including Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr, Debbie Harry and Elton John. I wonder if Prince would have agreed to collaborate on Purple Rain; in the event, it’s one of only two tracks on the set that has no featured artist. Her Purple Rain is overproduced and features the dreaded gospel choir, but the guitar work of session musicians Jerry McPherson and Rob McNelley is impressive, and Dolly’s vocals soar after a shaky start.

The only other credited collaboration here is with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, on Cat Stevens’ Peace Train. But that is not a duet; it incorporates the South African vocal group’s song Isitimela Sokuthula.

So Dolly Parton has had two tributes this year: the Dolly Parton Songbook on her 80^th birthday in January, and this one to mark her passing (a bit delayed; the In Memoriam – August 2026 took precedence) — so one mix of artists singing Dolly sings, and then Dolly singing other people’s songs. Previous Sings Covers mixes are listed below.

Rest in perfect peace, Dolly Parton.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R (that is, everything till the bonus tracks), includes home-manycolourscoated covers, and the text here in PDF. PW in Comments.

1. Here You Come Again (1977 – B.J. Thomas)
2. But You Know I Love You (1980 – The First Edition)
3. In The Ghetto (1969 – Elvis Presley)
4. Elusive Butterfly (1984 – Bob Lind)
5. After The Goldrush (1996 – Neil Young)
6. Stairway To Heaven (2002 – Led Zeppelin)
7. Don’t Think Twice (2014 – Bob Dylan)
8. Something’s Burning (1996 – The First Edition)
9. The Story (2017 – Brandi Carlile)
10. Shine (2001 – Collective Soul)
11. Peace Train (feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (1996 – Cat Stevens)
12. If (2002 – Bread)
13. Boulder To Birmingham (1976 – Emmylou Harris)
14. Dark As A Dungeon (1980 – Merle Travis)
15. Comes And Goes (1972 – Porter Wagoner)
16. In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (1969 – Merle Haggard)
17. As Soon As I Touched Him (1977 – Randy Crawford)
18. The Tracks Of My Tears (2008 – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles)
19. The Great Pretender (1984 – The Platters)
20. I Get A Kick Out Of You (2001 – Frank Sinatra a.o.)
21. When They Ring Those Golden Bells (2015 – The Imperial Quartet)
BONUS TRACKS:
22. Once In A Very Blue Moon (1985 – Nanci Griffith)
23. Just When I Needed You Most (1996 – Randy Vanwarmer)
24. Purple Rain (2023 – Prince)
25. Free Bird (feat. Lynyrd Skynyrd) (2023 – Lynyrd Skynyrd)

GET IT!

Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Bruce Springsteen Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Luther Vandross Sings Covers
Roberta Flack Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers

More Mix CD-Rs
More Covers Mixes
More Sings Covers

The 60th anniversary on June 20 passed me by, but it’s never too late to pay tribute to Bob Dylan’s epochal Blonde On Blonde double album. This Recovered set slides in nicely with the five-part Bob Dylan Songbooks. In my song selection for this Blonde On Blonde Recovered set, I’ve tried not to duplicate any of the Songbook tracks, other than one for which there were no alternatives.

Blonde On Blonde was recorded in Nashville in February and March 1966. By then, Dylan was already one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. Within four years he had evolved from the earnest folk singer of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan into the gone-electric provocateur whose performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival had, charitably put, split opinion.

Highway 61 Revisited had yielded the folk-and-rock fusion of Like A Rolling Stone — “Judas!” — so expectations for what would come next were immense.

Dylan delivered an album quite unlike anything before it. Blonde On Blonde was the first widely recognised double album in rock consisting entirely of new material. At the time, double LPs were generally live recordings or collections of jazz or classical music. Dylan wasn’t the first artist to demonstrate that rock, like jazz, could use the long-playing record as an artistic canvas rather than just a collection of songs, but he nevertheless broke new ground by doing so on a double album — and one on which a single song, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, filled an entire side (after an hour and 13 minutes of music, you wouldn’t quibble that he might have fit another track to Side 4).

It took a lot of self-confidence to omit both artist’s name and album title from the front cover, and even the back, which also features no track-listing, nor did the inside gatefold. If you wanted to know the title playing, you had to be able to read a label at 33 rotations per minute.

Dylan didn’t just go electric, but also eclectic, drawing on folk, rock, blues, country and pop. On Fourth Time Around he openly copies The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood — whether as a droll dig at a band that had been inspired by him or as an affectionate homage is unclear, but it reportedly freaked out John Lennon when he first heard the song, seeing it as a dig.

Dylan’s lyrics became increasingly stream-of-consciousness, making songs such as Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again and Visions Of Johanna difficult to interpret. But when it came to love, Dylan could also be direct, as he was on I Want You, reportedly written for his wife Sara. The eleven-minute Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was a meditation on his relationship with Sara, with the title playing on her maiden name, Lownds.

Bob and Sara in 1965.

Initial reviews of the album reflected both admiration and bafflement. It was not long before it came to be regarded as a masterpiece. Whether it is Dylan’s greatest album is a matter of personal preference (though perhaps less so if you reduce Blonde On Blonde to a single LP!), but it is undeniably one of the defining albums in the history of popular music.

When it comes to covers of Dylan songs, it is usually pointless to argue whether they are better or worse than the originals. Of course, some are really bad (none here, of course), but much depends on how one can bear Dylan’s voice and delivery. Some people can’t abide by it; for others, the voice is an inseparable part of the package. And others still — I hope including the readers of this blog — can delight in both.

The Recovered set kicks off with perhaps the least unexpected cover: bluegrass legends Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs doing Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, with its chant, “Everybody must get stoned”, a double entendre referring both to public stoning and getting high. It must have been quite a thing for the conservative Lester Flatt to be involved in. Yet on the duo’s 1968 album Nashville Airplane, four of the 11 tracks are Dylan songs, alongside the Dylan-inspired protest songs Universal Soldier and Catch The Wind.

Three covers here stand out in particular. Richie Havens, that superb interpreter of songs, gives Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands a lovely 1970s pop sensibility. I’d play this ahead of Dylan’s version any time. Nina Simone brings Just Like A Woman a raw emotional vulnerability, and a quite wonderful arrangement. And Australian singer-songwriter Emma Swift (no relation to the other Swift) turns the rather overlooked One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) into one of the highlights of this set. It comes from her superbly titled 2020 Dylan tribute album Blonde On The Tracks.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-leopardskinned covers as well as the text above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs – Rainy Day Women #12 & #35 (1968)
2. Luther Johnson – Pledging My Time (1995)
3. Marianne Faithfull – Visions Of Johanna (1985)
4. Emma Swift – One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) (2020)
5. Cher – I Want You (1966)
6. Grateful Dead – Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (live) (1988)
7. Beck – Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (2009)
8. Nina Simone – Just Like A Woman (1971)
9. Rita Coolidge – Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) (1971)
10. Deborah Coleman – Temporary Like Achilles (2003)
11. The Flamin’ Groovies – Absolutely Sweet Marie (1979)
12. The Sports – Fourth Time Around (1981)
13. Toni Price – Obviously 5 Believers (1995)
14. Richie Havens – Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands (1974)

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More Recovered albums:
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
Tapestry (Carole King)
Blue (Joni Mitchell)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
Purple Rain (Prince)
Every Beatles album

More Cover Mixes
Previous Albums Recovered
More CD-R Mixes

Following the first Stevie Wonder Songbook, posted for his 75^th birthday last year, here is the second of three volumes, to mark his birthday tomorrow, May 13. It sort of carries on from where we left off with Volume 1: versions of the classics and a few songs Stevie wrote but let others have.

Stevie was so prolific in the 1970s that he could afford the luxury of giving songs away, much as Lennon/McCartney did in their early years and Prince in the 1980s. And it wasn’t potential album fillers and b-sides which Stevie gave away. Those were hits.

One of them, Jermaine Jackson’s Let Get Serious, opened Volume 1. It would have been an even bigger hit for Stevie had he released it. On the present mix, there are:

• The Spinners’ It’s A Shame, co-written with Lee Garrett and wife Syreeta Wright. It’s a pity (or indeed a shame), that Stevie Wonder never recorded this track himself at some point. Garrett was also a co-writer of Let’s Get Serious, and before that, with Syreeta and Lula Mae Hardaway, of Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
• Tell Me Something Good was a hit for Rufus & Chaka Khan, but is covered here by Maceo Parker.
• Third World’s superb Try Jah Love, was written, with lyrics by backing singer and friend Melody McCully, after Stevie performed with Third World at Jamaica’s Sunsplash Festival in 1981. It was held that year in tribute to the recently late Bob Marley, and Stevie performed his song Master Blaster (Jammin’) with the band.
• Betcha’ Wouldn’t Hurt Me, from Quincy Jones’ The Dude album, featured lead vocals by Patti Austin. It was co-written with Stephanie Andrews, who coordinated the technical set-up for Wonder’s recordings. Stevie wrote several other songs with her, including Treat Myself, which appeared on Wonder’s 1995 Conversation Peace album.
• Stevie recorded Until You Come Back To Me, co-written with Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax, in 1967 but mysteriously never released it until a until the superb triple anthology album Looking Back in 1977. In the interim, it became a big hit for Aretha Franklin. Later Luther Vandross incorporated it into a medley with the Carpenters’ Superstar. The song is covered here by the great British soul singer Ruby Turner. Stevie’s long-languishing original recording is still the best.
• I Can See The Sun In Late December wasn’t a single release but at over 12 minutes it dominated Roberta Flack’s 1975 Feel Like Makin’ Love album. It’s included here as one of two bonus tracks.

Volume 3 will include a few more songs Stevie Wonder gave away: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway’s You Are My Heaven (co-written with Canadian soul singer Eric Mercury), and Michael Jackson’s I Can’t Help It, which would have been a hit if it hadn’t appeared on the singles goldmine that was Off The Wall. The latter also credits Susaye Greene, whose other big co-writing credit is Deniece Williams’ Free (which sounds like a Stevie Wonder number, but isn’t. He released his own song with that title in 1987).

Another one that will feature on Volume 3 is the Syreeta classic Harmour Love. Syreeta and Stevie wrote many songs together, some recorded by her, some by him (such as If You Really Love Me, Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer, Do Yourself A Favor, Blame It On The Sun) — but Harmour Love was written by Stevie alone.

Both wrote the wonderfully grooving Smokey Robinson & The Miracle’s We Had A Love So Strong, which in turn was covered to good effect ten years later, in 1982, by Randy Crawford. It will also feature in Volume 3.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracle’s Tears Of A Clown, incidentally, was co-written by Smokey with Stevie. But it won’t feature in this trilogy because it really is Smokey’s song.

All writing credits are noted in the MP3tag.

Finally — because some people will, ahem, wonder — the vocalists on the Sergio Mendes cover of Lookin’ For Another Pure Love are Bonnie Bowden and Sondra Catton, members of Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’77. The former went on to become a Grammy-nominated jazz singer.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-mistraknowitalled covers as well as the text above in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke (live) (1995)
2. Joe Cocker – You Haven’t Done Nothing (2007)
3. Dillard-Hartford-Dillard – Boogie On Reggae Woman (1980)
4. Arrival – He’s Misstra Know-It-All (1973)
5. Three Dog Night – I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer (1971)
6. Sergio Mendes – Lookin’ For Another Pure Love (1975)
7. The Spinners – It’s A Shame (1970)
8. White Heat – I Love Every Little Thing About You (1975)
9. Thelma Houston & Jerry Butler – Joy Inside My Tears (1975)
10. Barbra Streisand – You And I (1977)
11. Helen Reddy – If It’s Magic (1975)
12. Quincy Jones – Betcha’ Wouldn’t Hurt Me (1977)
13. Michael McDonald – Higher Ground (2000)
14. Third World – Try Jah Love (1982)
15. Keb’ Mo’ – Isn’t She Lovely (2001)
17. Ruby Turner – Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I Am Gonna Do) (1988)
18. Macy Gray – Tuesday Heartbreak (2012)
19. Vanessa Williams – Send One Your Love (2005)
BONUS TRACKS:
20. Roberta Flack – I Can See The Sun In Late December (1975)
21. Dave Valentin – Love Light In Flight (1985)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Dolly Parton
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Neil Young Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits
Van Morrison

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

In November I posted the first Neil Young Songbook, to mark the man’s 80^th birthday. To my surprise, there was a need for a second volume. And, well, here it is.

As in Volume 1, this collection pays tribute to Neil Young’s range: folk, country, hard rock, introspective balladry and political protest. The selections span from the late 1960s to the 2020s. Early adopters included the Everly Brothers, who in 1968 covered Mr Soul, written by Young for his former band, Buffalo Springfield.

Former bandmates David Crosby and Stephen Stills feature with solo tracks written or co-written by Young. The former’s Music Is Love was written by Crosby, Graham Nash and Young, almost getting the old gang back together.

It’s often forgotten that Young also wrote Nicolette Larson’s hit A Lotta Love. It features here in Larson’s live version from the 1979 No Nukes concert, backed by The Doobie Brothers.

Young’s hard-rocking ways are covered by Bon Jovi, Rick Derringer, Red Hot Chili Peppers and — rocking surprisingly hard — David Bowie.

On the rocking side, Sassafras’s version of Ohio is a highlight, better than the original. Matthew Sweet and the Indigo Girls likewise improve on Cortez The Killer.

More modern acts like Neko Case, Red June and especially Maria McKee with closer Barstool Blues do well in interpreting the quieter, more reflective side of Young’s writing.

It might be just a bonus track, but Boz Scagg’s 2018 blues jam of On The Beach is quite excellent.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-freeworldrocked covers, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Bon Jovi – Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World (live) (1995)
2. David Bowie – I’ve Been Waiting For You (2002)
3. Ocean Colour Scene – On The Way Home (1997)
4. Paul Weller – Out On The Weekend (1995)
5. Neko Case – Dreamin’ Man (2001)
6. Red June – Comes A Time (2010)
7. Emmylou Harris – Long May You Run (live) (1982)
8. Jessi Colter – Hold Back The Tears (1978)
9. David Crosby – Music Is Love (1971)
10. Matthews Southern Comfort – Tell Me Why (1970)
11. Stephen Stills – New Mama (1975)
12. The Everly Brothers – Mr Soul (1968)
13. David Clayton-Thomas – Don’t Let It Bring You Down (1972)
14. Richie Havens – The Loner (1974)
15. Sassafras – Ohio (1975)
16. Nicolette Larson & The Doobie Brothers – A Lotta Love (live) (1979)
17. Rick Derringer – My My, Hey Hey (Out The Blue) (1980)
18. Matthew Sweet & The Indigo Girls – Cortez The Killer (1992)
19. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (2012)
20. Idlewild – Lookin’ For A Love (2017)
21. Maria McKee – Barstool Blues (2005)
BONUS TRACKS
22. Boz Scaggs – On The Beach (2018)
23. Sufjan Stevens – There’s A World (2023)

GET IT!

Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Dolly Parton
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Neil Young Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits
Van Morrison

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

On Monday, January 19, Dolly Parton turns 80. For some 60 years of that long life Dolly has lived as an instantly recognisable star. Often she has been musically underrated, and served as the butt of jokes that drew on a caricature of the woman — the breasts, the wigs, the rhinestones. But she owned that image, even joked about it herself.

Still, Dolly Parton’s career as a singer and songwriter should transcend the image. As a songwriter she has exceptional clarity and emotional intelligence, compassionate without sentimentality, and often grounded in her own lived experience.

Coming from the Appalachian ballad tradition, Parton is a storyteller and a model of empowerment. One of her masterpieces is Coat Of Many Colors. It is autobiographical but also a meditation on class, love and dignity. Jolene is a masterclass in tension, restraint and psychology. It reverses the usual power dynamics of jealousy by making the rival woman both threat and object of awe.

Parton’s range is astonishing. She can write persuasively about heartbreak (I Will Always Love You), social conditions (The Grass Is Blue, Down From Dover), and humour (Applejack, The Bargain Store). Her genius lies in her clarity and economy. She once said she likes songs that “say a lot with a little”, and that finds expression in her lyrics.

Yet for much of her career, this achievement was underrated, particularly outside country music circles. Parton was too often reduced to her appearance, trivialising a woman of immense talent and independence, in a culture that struggles to take overtly feminine women seriously. The irony, which Parton herself has always understood, is that the persona was a form of control. She leaned into the stereotype to disarm it, always with humour and astute self-deprecation. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” she famously quipped.

She translated that image into her film roles. In 9 To 5 (1980), her character, Doralee Rhodes, is hyper-feminine, underestimated, and routinely objectified — but she is competent, intelligent, morally grounded and ultimately transformative. The film’s feminism is practical, set in workplace realities many women could identify with. Doralee represents a model of womanhood that rejects the false choice between femininity and authority.

In The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas and Steel Magnolias, she again played women whose strength resides in resilience, unconditional kindness and genuine emotion. These roles mirrored her real-life persona: warm, sharp, underestimated and, crucially, quietly but firmly in charge.

Dolly Parton in a scene from the 1980 film 9 To 5

Dolly’s philanthropy has added to a renewal of her image. The Imagination Library, founded in 1995, has distributed over 200 million books to children worldwide, driven by her conviction that literacy is central to empowerment. Her investments in education, disaster relief — notably after the 2016 Tennessee wildfires — and healthcare research are sustained and rarely publicised.

Her greatness resides in the coherence of her life and work. The songs, the image, the humour, the generosity reflect an inherently beautiful soul. Dolly Parton is a global treasure.

Parton’s songwriting genius, and the public perception of her persona, began to change when Whitney Houston’s immense cover version of I Will Always Love You turned out to be a mammoth hit. Soon, Jolene was rediscovered as a work of genius. It features here in the stunning version by the underrated Mindy Smith. Smith had recorded a version of the song for a 2003 tribute album of Parton songs. Clearly Dolly liked that version. When Smith re-recorded it for her fine One Moment More album of 2004, Dolly sang backing vocals.

I Will Always Love You features here in the beautiful 1975 cover by Linda Ronstadt. It’s notable that 13 of the present tracks are from the 1970s (and one from 1968), none from the 1980s or 1990s, and ten from the new millennium.

Parton’s music may be rooted in country, and obviously this mix includes tracks from that genre, but it has proved adaptable. So we have a set of soul singers doing Dolly, including Margie Joseph’s joyous reworking of the ballad Touch Your Woman.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-bluegrassed covers, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Dolly Parton – Star Of The Show (1979)
2. Margie Joseph – Touch Your Woman (1973)
3. Tina Turner – There’ll Always Be Music (1974)
4. Percy Sledge – Here I Am (1974)
5. Bettye LaVette – Little Sparrow (2005)
6. Mindy Smith – Jolene (2004)
7. Teddy Thompson – My Blue Tears (2007)
8. Kishi Bashi – Early Morning Breeze (2021)
9. Norah Jones – The Grass Is Blue (2003)
10. Johnny Cash – I’m A Drifter (Version 1) (rel. 2003)
11. Joan Osborne – Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (2003)
12. Emmylou Harris – Coat Of Many Colors (1975)
13. Linda Ronstadt – I Will Always Love You (1975)
14. George Jones – The Last One To Touch Me (1974)
15. Merle Haggard & The Strangers – In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (1968)
16. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Down From Dover (1971)
17. Skeeter Davis – Just The Way I Am (1972)
18. Maria Muldaur – My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973)
19. Mary Kay Place – All I Can Do (1976)
20. Katy Southern – Two Doors Down (1977)
21. Rhodes Brothers – 9 To 5 (2020)
22. Patty Loveless – The Pain Of Loving You (2008)
23. Dolly Parton – Backwoods Barbie (2008)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Neil Young Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits
Van Morrison

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

As Neil Young turns 80 on November 12, here’s the first of two volumes of a Songbook of covers.

Young’s songwriting is pretty distinctive, in sound and vision. Even as he traverses folk, rock, country and even experimental terrain, he is always unmistakably Neil Young — his unique vocal delivery that mixes vulnerability and grit, the evocative and sometimes combative lyrics, and the guitar work that can be brittle acoustic strumming or explosive electric solos.

To cover a Young song well requires of the artist to leave the behind idiosyncrasies of Young’s delivery and find their own way with the tune and lyrics.

Marsha Hunt does this well on Southern Man. Young’s original, from 1970s After The Gold Rush, confronts racism with fierce anger. Hunt’s version softens some of Young’s edge but retains, perhaps even intensifies, the moral weight.

On their 1983 live version of Like A Hurricane, Roxy Music retain the fury of the original, but add their arty gloss to it, plus a touch of soul with the remarkable backing vocals by Fonzi Thornton, Michelle Cobbs and Tawatha Agee. It’s even more epic than Young’s great version.

You’d expect Duran Duran to do something similar on their 1995 cover of The Needle And The Damage Done. Instead of trying to give Young’s delicate song more verve, they strip back the sound even more, to good effect.

One of Young’s lesser-known songs, the gorgeous Till The Morning Comes, is given beautiful treatment by Françoise Hardy in 1972. Here is a good case to be made that Young songs, at least the slow ones, are conducive to covers by women. The covers here by acts like Rita Coolidge, Elkie Brooks, Norah Jones, Everything But The Girl, Rumer, or kd lang bear this out.

As does the version of After The Gold Rush by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris on their 1999 Trio II album. Harris and Ronstadt had covered several Neil Young songs before that.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-whined covers, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Alabama (live) (2017)
2. Marsha Hunt – Southern Man (1973)
3. Bettye LaVette – Heart Of Gold (1972)
4. Dan McCafferty – Cinammon Girl (1975)
5. Southern Comfort – Harvest (1972)
6. Elkie Brooks – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (1978)
7. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris – After The Gold Rush (1999)
8. Roxy Music – Like A Hurricane (live) (1983)
9. Duran Duran – The Needle And The Damage Done (1995)
10. Del Amitri – Don’t Cry No Tears (1992)
11. kd lang – Helpless (2004)
12. Cowboy Junkies – Love In Mind (2022)
13. Johnny Cash – Pocahontas (rel. 2003)
14. Natalie Cole – Old Man (2006)
15. Norah Jones – Don’t Be Denied (2016)
16. Rumer – A Man Needs A Maid (2012)
17. Everything But The Girl – Birds (1993)
18. Françoise Hardy – Till The Morning Comes (1971)
19. Rita Coolidge – I Believe In You (1971)
20. The Byrds – Cowgirl In The Sand (1973)
21. Cassandra Wilson – Harvest Moon (1996)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits
Van Morrison

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

On August 31, Van Morrison will turn 80, and such landmark birthdays are always a good reason to put together a Songbook.

Morrison is one of those artists who are difficult to classify. The Belfast-born songwriter has dabbled in rock, folk, soul, blues, jazz, gospel, Celtic folk and so on to arrive at a sound that is very much his own. With his warm voice and arrangements, he has created singalong folk-pop numbers (Brown Eyed Girl), intimate love songs (Crazy Love), pastoral excursions (Into The Mystic), improv suites (Cypress Avenue), rambling meditations (Rave On John Donne), even prayers (Have I Told You Lately).

His songs often stay clear of rigid verse-chorus-verse formulas in favour of long, loose, looping progressions that reflect his jazz background. His acoustic folk-rock tends to incorporate horn sections, organs and fluid bass lines borrowed from soul music.

One of Morrison’s lyrical traits, especially on earlier works, was the use repetition to create an incantatory, almost trance-like intensity. A line or a word might be sung again and again, each time with a slightly different emphasis. In 1978, he told Rolling Stone that “every time I’m singing, I’m singing syllables. I’m just singing signs and phrases.”

This, as well as distinctive and versatile vocal characteristics such as his rhythmic off-the-beat phrasing and other idiosyncrasies, can pose a challenge to those who cover Van Morrison songs. Those who imitate his style risk sounding like a parody. It can be done, but it’s not easy to get it right.

So a good cover requires a new interpretation rather than attempting to duplicate Morrison’s unique phrasing and feel. And since Morrison’s melodies and phrasing are so loose, they can lend themselves to interpretation, much like jazz numbers — if the cover artist can find a way in. Doing so is to take a risk, which is why aside from a few obvious ones, few Morrison tracks have been widely covered.

One that has been much-covered is Have I Told You Lately, though I suspect that it is Rod Stewart’s treacly bastardisation of the song that provides the template for most of the covers, rather than Morrison’s original, which was a prayer addressed to God, not laying on the charm for the laydee in Rod’s life. It features here in Laura Fygi’s version, which lacks the smarminess of Stewart’s effort.

Quite a few of my Van Morrison favourites have, to my knowledge, never been covered, or not well enough for inclusion: Higher Than The World, Days Like This, Hungry For Your Love, Everyone, Astral Weeks, Queen Of The Slipstream, Domino, Immaculate Speech Of The Heart…

Still, that leaves us with 27 covers that pay tribute to the songwriting genius of Van Morrison.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-stoned covers, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. The Band with Van Morrison – Caravan (1978)
2. Martha Reeves – Wild Night (1974)
3. Grady Tate – Moondance (1974)
4. El Chicano – Brown-Eyed Girl (1972)
5. Merry Clayton – Glad Tidings (1970)
6. Jackie DeShannon – And It Stoned Me (1971)
7. Ben E. King – Into The Mystic (1971)
8. Dusty Springfield – Tupelo Honey (1973)
9. Kim Carnes – Warm Love (1976)
10. Miriam Makeba – Brand New Day (1970)
11. Aaron Neville with Robbie Robertson – Crazy Love (1996)
12. Rumer – I Wanna Roo You (2011)
13. Shawn Colvin – Someone Like You (1996)
14. Bettye Lavette – Real Gone Gone (2018)
15. Dexys Midnight Runners – Jackie Wilson Said (Live) (1982)
16. Maria McKee – Lonely Sad Eyes (1993)
17. Santa Esmeralda – Gloria (1977)
18. Bo Diddley – I’ve Been Workin’ (1974)
19. Delbert McClinton – Bright Side Of The Road (1980)
20. Toni Brown & Terry Garthwaite – Come Running (1977)
21. Freddie Scott – He Ain’t Give You None (1967)
22. Johnny Rivers – Slim Slo Slider (1970)
BONUS TRACKS:
23. Ruby Turner – Checkin’ It Out (1981)
24. Laura Fygi – Have I Told You Lately That I Love You (1995)
25. The Flying Pickets – The Happiest Place In Town (1990)
26. Phoebe Snow – Madame George (1998)
27. Jeff Buckley – Sweet Thing (rel.2003)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes

On July 1 it will be 20 years since Luther Vandross died, aged only 54. His career had ended two years earlier, halted by a severe stroke soon after his final album, Dance With My Father, was recorded (it was released while Luther was still in hospital).

That final album showed that Luther was still a master of his craft, one who could even save a mediocre song by the power of his vocals.

Luther Vandross was a gifted songwriter in his own right, of course, but what set him truly apart was the artistry he brought to his covers. There were not that many of them; he was not a covers singers. His discography includes only one album of covers, the Grammy-nominated Songs (1994), from which three other tracks were also nominated. Aside from that, each album featured one cover, maybe two. On almost every album, they constituted a highlight, sometimes even the highlight.

That was certainly the case on 1982’s Forever, For Always, For Love, with the astonishing cover of The Temptations’ Since I Lost My Baby, and on 1983’s Busy Body, which closed with the nine-minute version of Superstar.

Both of these instances hint at Luther’s astute discernment in choosing songs to covers. Few of them had been over-covered, and some were quite obscure, such as Brenda Russell’s If Only For One Njght and Stevie Wonder’s deep cut Creepin’ (both on 1985’s The Night I Fell In Love). The latter featured on the Any Major Stevie Wonder Songbook Vol. 1 , which I posted last month, so the version featured here is a live recording from 2003 (just two months before that stroke), with superb backing vocals.

Talking of which, Luther Vandross had been a prolific backing singer before he became a recording artist in his own right (he features on Any Major Backing Singers, supporting David Bowie), so he knew well how to arrange his backing singers to fullest effect, sometimes letting them step into the limelight. The backing on Since I Lost My Baby and, as mentioned, Creepin’ are good examples of that.

I think Since I Lost My Baby is my favourite cover by Vandross, though many others might go for A House Is Not A Home from 1981’s Never Too Much album (and those many others may well be correct). The Bacharach/David song was originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand created a wonderful cover of it as part of a medley with One Less Bell To Answer. Luther eclipses Babs (as he would later with her Evergreen) giving a masterclass in control, phrasing and restrained devastation.

He’d repeat these masterclasses over the next two decades. Shortly before the stroke, he recorded a cover of Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway’s The Closer I Get To You with Beyoncé. I’d not go as far as to say that their version is better than the original, which is pretty much perfect. Luther and Beyoncé honour that perfection by avoiding the pitfall of over-singing. Instead of trying too hard with the fireworks, as one might have feared, they give the song a restrained and even intimate treatment. It won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals; one of eight Grammy Luther won (out of 33 nominations).

So here are 20 Luther Vandross covers, listed with the performers of the song’s best-known versions in parentheses. Tracks 12-14 are timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and the lot includes home-warbled covers and the above text in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Love The One You’re With (1994, Stephen Stills)
2. Since I Lost My Baby (1982, The Temptations)
3. A House Is Not A Home (1981, Dionne Warwick)
4. If This World Were Mine (1982, with Cheryl Lynn) (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
5. If Only For One Night (1985, Brenda Russell)
6. Creepin’ (live) (2003, Stevie Wonder)
7. So Amazing (1986, Dionne Warwick)
8. Knocks Me Off My Feet (1996, Stevie Wonder)
9. Evergreen (1994, Barbra Streisand)
10. Superstar (1983, Carpenters)
11. Going Out Of My Head (1996, Little Anthony and the Imperials)
12. Anyone Who Had A Heart (1986, Dionne Warwick)
13. Always And Forever (1994, Heatwave)
14. The Closer I Get To You (2003, with Beyoncé) (Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway)
BONUS TRACKS
15. Love Won’t Let Me Wait (1988, Major Harris)
16. Going In Circles (1994, Friends of Distinction)
17. I Who Have Nothing (1991, with Martha Wash) (Tom Jones; Sylvester)
18. When I Need You (1998, Leo Sayer)
19. Any Day Now (2001, Chuck Jackson)
20. The Lady Is A Tramp (1993, with Frank Sinatra) (Frank Sinatra a.o.)

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Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Bruce Springsteen Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Roberta Flack Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers

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EDIT: Reposted to mark Brian Wilson’s death on June 11, 2025.

Yesterday, on June 20, 2022, Brian Wilson turned 80, just two days after his fellow songwriting genius Paul McCartney, who was the subject of a Songbook last week, turned 80 himself. How were the stars aligned (if you subscribe to that kind of thing) that June 1942 to create two such man within two days of one another?

Wilson and McCartney (and his fellow Beatles) ran a pop music innovations race in the mid-1960s, a serious but friendly competition that spurred each other to greater heights. If a winner must be declared, then it is McCartney, who kept going with some great work while Wilson collapsed under the weight of his own ambitions, and fragile mental health. Crucially, where McCartney had the support, even if often troubled, of his fellow Beatles, who shared in the processes of artistic growth, Wilson had to contend with those, in the band and commercial departments, who still wanted fun fun fun songs about hot cars ‘n’ tanned gals.

The Beach Boys and their striped shirts. Brian Wilson is front right.

When Wilson heard The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album in 1965, he immediately wrote God Only Knows (with Tony Asher), the first track for what would become the Pet Sounds albums. That album, in turn, motivated The Beatles to up their game — from the already astonishing Revolver album — to create Sgt Pepper’s.

Four months before that album was released in June 1967, The Beatles had released Lennon’s Strawberry Fields Forever. Reportedly, when Wilson heard that song, he broke down and cried, saying: “They got there first!” That was quite a concession from the man who by then had already produced the stroke of eternal genius that is Good Vibrations.

Wilson’s attempt to top Sgt Pepper’s — and let’s cut a sad story short — ended in artistic and personal decline following the stressful production of the aborted Smile project, and the disastrous reception of what turned out to be the compromise album, Smiley Smile. Wilson completed that project in 2005 with the release of his Smile album.

In the studio during that productive mid-‘60s period, Wilson didn’t even have the Beach Boys with him. His “band” comprised various members of the Wrecking Crew, the collective of highly professional session musicians. One of them, guitarist Glenn Campbell, actually became a member of The Beach Boys in their touring formation. Carl and Dennis, Jardine and Love would come in to lay down vocal tracks — and, of course, their harmonies were integral to the Beach Boys sound. Mike Love would co-write some songs, though in many cases, the extent of his contributions is a matter of diverging memories.

Actors like De Niro and Pacino have their ways of getting into character; Wilson was a method musician, once even filling his home studio with sand to recreate a beach (as if a feature of beaches is grand pianos just standing there). By then he had already experimented with LSD — a year before that drug reached The Beatles — and other drugs. The riff for California Girls came to him after his acid trip.

The progress in Wilson’s songwriting was as spectacular as that of The Beatles. Between the plagiarised Surfin’ USA in 1963 (for which Chuck Berry rightly got a co-writing credit) and the intricate but appealing Wouldn’t It Be Nice were only three years.

So here we have the Brian Wilson Songbook. Nancy Sinatra’s version of California Girls from a 2003 album, features the backing vocals of Brian Wilson and ex-Beach Boy Jeffrey Foskett. Nancy’s version opens this set, so suitably the first voice we hear is Brian Wilson’s. And Wilson closes this collection with a cover of his own song from 2005’s Smile album, Surf’s Up. The Nancy Sinatra track was co-produced by the legendary Billy Strange, who arranged These Boots Are Made For Walking, as well as Duane Eddy and The Ventures, who in turn had influenced the Beach Boys.

Wilson originally offered Don’t Worry Baby to The Ronettes, and was profoundly inspired by their hit Be My Baby. They didn’t record it because Phil Spector declined it. Instead The Beach Boys recorded in 1964. Wilson once said he thought it was their finest moment. It later was a hit for BJ Thomas. Thirty-odd years after Spector vetoed Don’t Worry Baby, Ronnie Spector finally recorded it, co-produced by Joey Ramone, a fan of both The Ronettes and The Beach Boys. The Ramones themselves feature later in the mix with Surfin’ Safari.

Spector might have rejected Wilson’s composition, but fellow Capitol signing Sharon Marie recorded Wilson and Mike Love’s Thinkin’ ’Bout You Baby, which Wilson also produced and arranged, with another Wilson/Love composition, The Story Of My Life, on the flip-side. It was not a success, nor was the previous year’s Wilson job Run-Around Lover. The Beach Boys rejigged Thinkin’ ’Bout You Baby and recorded it as Darlin’ in 1967.

If we have ever wondered what ABBA might have sounded like if they had been The Beach Boys, Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s Swedish cover of Wouldn’t It Be Nice gives us a hint. She recorded it for her 1975 Swedish language LP Frida Ensam, which was produced by Benny Anderson, another genius of arrangement, with Björn Ulvaeus on guitar. The album also included the original version of ABBA’s Fernando (featured on Any Major Originals: 1970s).

There are some Beach Boys songs that are impossible to cover well, unless you change the whole structure of it. Good Vibrations is a good example of that. The original is one of pop music’s towering achievements; covering it straight is to punch upwards, even if you do it competent, as Todd Rundgren did in 1976. So I’ve opted for the 1975 cover by The Troggs, which deconstructs the original’s entire arrangement, and does to it what William Shatner had done a few years earlier with other hits, though The Troggs do it with greater discipline and restraint than old Cap’n Kirk. I doubt I’ll ever love what The Troggs did with it, but it’s good fun fun fun.

The same applies to I Get Around; the psychedelic version by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra — whose version of the Rolling Stone’s The Last Time (featured on the Copy Borrow Steal mix) gave the Verve’s Bitter-Sweet Symphony its hook — is joyfully mad.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-good-vibrationed covers, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Nancy Sinatra – California Girls (2003)
2. The Carpenters – Fun, Fun, Fun (1973)
3. Anni-Frid Lyngstad – Skulle de’ va’ skönt (Wouldn’t It Be Nice, 1975)
4. Johnny Rivers – Help Me Rhonda (1975)
5. Ronnie Spector – Don’t Worry Baby (1999)
6. Bruce Springsteen – When I Grow Up To Be A Man (live, 1985)
7. Dave Alvin – Surfer Girl (2006)
8. Rumer – The Warmth Of The Sun (2015)
9. Linda Ronstadt – In My Room (1996)
10. Andrew Oldham Orchestra – I Get Around (1965)
11. The Troggs – Good Vibrations (1975)
12. Bobby Vee – Here Today (1966)
13. P.P. Arnold – God Only Knows (1968)
14. Carmen McRae – Don’t Talk (1967)
15. Sharon Marie – Thinkin’ ‘Bout You Baby (1964)
16. Jan & Dean – Surf City (1963)
17. The Surfaris – Be True To Your School (1964)
18. Nick DeCaro – Caroline, No (1969)
19. Nazareth – Wild Honey (1976)
20. David Garland – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (1993)
21. Kirsty MacColl – You Still Believe In Me (1981)
22. Wall Of Voodoo – Do It Again (1987)
23. The Rubinoos – Heroes And Villains (2002)
24. The Smithereens – Girl Don’t Tell Me (1995)
25. Ramones – Surfin’ Safari (1993)
26. Frank Black – Hang On To Your Ego (1993)
27. Brian Wilson – Surf’s Up (2005)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Pete Townshend
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder Vol. 1
Tom Waits

More Songbooks
More Cover Mixes