Favorite Rolling Stones Covers

Back in 1988 I painted houses for a notorious Ypsilanti "property owner" who rented to students. One time I was painting an apartment where someone was living and they let me use their boombox while I worked. Their musical taste did not gel with mine, but I saw a Rolling Stones CD and figured I'd give it a spin. After all, "Satisfaction" was a cool song. After a few hours of listening to the CD over and over I came to appreciate the Stones.

What I really dig are weird covers of songs by the Rolling Stones. Here are a few of my favorites:

I don't remember where I heard Polyphonic Size performing "Mother's Little Helper", but somehow I ended up with the 12" from a used record store. I love the stripped down techno music and French accent.

Another favorite cover is a live recording of Tuxedomoon doing "19th Nervous Breakdown" in German.

And finally, there's the French version of "Paint it Black" by Marie Laforet. You may have heard it in the movie "Talladega Nights".

  

"Riders on the Storm" by Señor Coconut

In high school I hung out with a guy named Gerald. When we met he was classified as a "burnout" while I was a "squid". Basically that meant that he liked rock & roll and I was new wave. Somehow we became friends on the bus and soon we were going to poetry readings and recording together as the "Liberated Corpses". Neither of us could play any instruments, but we made a few recordings of our rantings and improvisations.

I introduced him to the Dead Kennedys while he got me to listen to the Doors and Creedence. Thanks to Gerald  I listened to music I might otherwise have avoided. What a shame if I never knew anything by the Doors other than "Light My Fire".

Señor Coconut is actually Uwe Schmidt, the man of a thousand aliases. You may also know him for his electronic music as Atom Heart, or Atom™ and the invention of "acitón" (acid-reggaeton). I love his Latin flavored versions of Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and rock classics. Here he is taking on the Doors:

   

"Clocks" (Coldplay) by Rhythms del Mundo

21st century Britain gave us Coldplay. Cuba gave us the Latin Jazz sounds of Buena Vista Social Club. Mix them together and you have Rhythms del Mundo and a mambo version of a great pop song.

Though this is "our song", my wife and I decided to use Nat King Cole's "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" for our wedding dance. Whenever we hear the opening piano we remember falling in love.



All of these albums feature fun versions of pop songs that sound great afro-cuban style.