Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

In my day, never was longer.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

“woke” is the new caravan.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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Non-politics thread

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Let’s do something fun in this thread. Top five cover songs of all time. Top five 70s movies of all time.

I’ll do

1. For The Good Times (Al Green)
2. Cracklin’ Rosie (Shane Macgowan and the Popes)
3. Got To Get A Message to You (Percy Sledge)
4. Love In Vain (Rolling Stones)
5. Top Of The World (Shonen Knife)

and

1. Chinatown
2. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
3. Annie Hall
4. The Converation
5. The Godfather

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  3. 3.

    burnspbesq

    Cover songs:

    5. Oops! I Did It Again (Richard Thompson)
    4. Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)
    3. Because the Night (Patti Smith)
    2. Mr Tambourine Man (The Byrds)
    1. Respect (Aretha Franklin)

  4. 4.

    Jim C

    “Top 5 70s films of all time”?
    Is that top five films made in the 70s, or top 5 films set in the 70s, made at any time?

  5. 5.

    Karen in GA

    A couple of good covers:

    1. Heart’s Lincoln Center Honors performance of Stairway to Heaven, and I’m not even a led Zeppelin fan

    2. REM’s cover of Toys in the Attic

    3. Wild Horses, The Sundays

    And a couple of 70s movies I love:

    1. Dog Day Afternoon

    2. Network

  6. 6.

    burnspbesq

    70s films:

    5. Annie Hall
    4. The Conversation
    3. The Godfather
    2. Chinatown
    1. The Godfather, Part II

  9. 9.

    Foggy F Follansbye

    Beaches ain’t Sheet (Ben Folds) (yes i’m a dudebro)

    A Fistful of Dynamite (but Chinatown is so awesome)

  10. 10.

    Lord Baldrick

    Throw out your hands!!
    Stick out your tush!!
    Hands on your hips
    Give them a push!!
    You’ll be surprised
    You’re doing the French Mistake!!
    VOILA!!

  11. 11.

    LookingForACanadian

    1. Red, Red Wine (UB40)

    1. Ordinary People (yeah, it’s ’80… but I was only 6 at the time so I’m going with it)

  13. 13.

    Jim C

    Top 5 Covers of All Time…

    1. Rock and Roll All Nite – Toad The Wet Sprocket
    2. Sugar, Sugar – Tom Jones
    3. Bizarre Love Triangle – Poi Dog Pondering (narrowly over Frente)
    4. Vida La Vida – Rivers Cuomo
    5. Superman – R. E. M.

  16. 16.

    Johannes

    well, let’s see:

    1. Hallelujah by John Cale;
    2.. Anthem by Julie Christensen & Perla Battalia
    3. A Little Help from my Friends, Joe Cocker
    4. Hazy Shade of Winter, the Bangles II know, I know…)
    5. Behind Blue Eyes, Sheryl Crow.

    Movies:

    Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 is the most archetypical 70s movie for my money. The best? Either Young Frankenstein or the Four Musketeers, depending on my mood…

  17. 17.

    Schlemazel

    cover songs?
    Lite My Fire – Jose Feliciano
    A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Bryan Ferry
    Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) – The Byrds (or any of the Byrds covers of any Dylan tune!)
    Respect – Aretha Franklin
    Heard It THrough the Grapevine – Creedence Clearwater Revival
    All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix

    But how about the top covers done by The Beatles?
    Twist & Shout, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally, The Hippy Hippy Shake, Please Mr. Postman – several others too

  18. 18.

    Manyakitty

    Top covers: (in no particular order and without much consideration)
    Superstition- Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
    Season of the Witch- Supersession
    Stand By Your Man- Lyle Lovett
    America- Yes
    Stop Your Sobbing- Pretenders

    Top 70s movies: (same disclaimer as above)
    All That Jazz
    The Godfather
    Paper Moon
    Star Wars
    Close Encounters of the Third Kind

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    All Along the Watchtower- ‘Drix
    Bring It On Home to Me- Van Morrison live. Not that the Sam Cooke original is chopped liver.
    Cruella DeVille- Replacements
    Gumbo- Dr. John. Whole album

    Star Wars
    Manhattan

  23. 23.

    Ben

    How can you mend a broken heart – Al Green

    Lucy in the skies with diamonds – Elton John

    Summer Breeze – Isley Brothers

    On and On – Kenny Rankin

    Spanish Harlem – Aretha Franklin

  24. 24.

    JPL

    Actually this Lawrence Welk type of song was ahead of its times.
    link A friend and I were talking about sixties lyrics and how wrong they were. Truth be known the repubs would love this song cuz you stay a year and take what you can.

  26. 26.

    Brian R.

    Mariachi El Bronx, “I Would Die 4 U” (Prince)
    Cee-Lo Green, “No One’s Going to Love You” (Band of Horses)
    Vampire Weekend, “I’m Going Down” (Springsteen)
    Carolina Chocolate Drops, “Hit ‘Em Up Style” (Blu Cantrell)
    Feist and Constantine, “Islands in the Stream” (Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers)
    Superchunk, “100,000 Fireflies” (Magnetic Fields)
    Slits, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye)
    Florence + The Machine, “Halo” (Beyonce)
    Chris Isaak, “Solitary Man” (Neil Diamond)
    Jose Gonzalez, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Joy Division)
    Willie Nelson, “Graceland” (Paul Simon)
    Lennings, “You’re The One That I Want” (Grease soundtrack)
    2CELLOS, “Smooth Criminal” (Michael Jackson)
    Yuna, “Here Comes the Sun” (Beatles)
    Haim, “Hold Me” (Fleetwood Mac)
    Johnny Cash, “One” (U2)
    Lorde, “Swinging Party” (Replacements)
    Lemonheads, “Mrs. Robinson” (Simon and Garfunkel)
    Chet Faker, “No Diggity” (Blackstreet)
    Cleverlys, “Walk Like an Egyptian” (Bangles)
    James Vincent McMorrow, “Higher Love” (Steve Winwood)
    The Be Good Tanyas, “When Doves Cry” (Prince)

    That might be more than 5….

  27. 27.

    Rob

    These are the only ones I can think of right now and are not in order.

    1. Helter Skelter — Siouxie and the Banshees
    2. Respect — Aretha Franklin (I didn’t realize it was a cover)
    3. Because the Night — Patti Smith
    4. Red Red Wine — UB40
    5. Police and Thieves — The Clash

  28. 28.

    MattF

    Nobody mentions Raging lBull? Taxi Driver? Well, Wikipedia says Raging Bull is 1980, so I guess it just misses– but thematically it belongs with the others.

    I agree about The Conversation, though..

  30. 30.

    Suffern ACE

    Cover Songs

    Aretha Franklin – RESPECT
    Etta James – St. Louis Blues
    Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
    Ray Charles – Lucky Ol’ Sun

    O.K. I’m spending way too much time thinking about this. I’ll stick with 4.

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel

    Forgot the movies!
    A Clockwork Orange
    BLAZING SADDLES
    The Godfather I & II
    Network
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    Apocalypse Now
    The Goodbye Girl
    Alien
    M*A*S*H
    Dog Day Afternoon
    The Producers
    Marathon Man

    Yeah, I know that is more than 5 but I don’t have any favorite children

  33. 33.

    Sourmash

    The Man who would be King
    The Wind and the Lion
    Let it Be
    Star Wars (I know, in a category all its own, but in case people forget)
    James Bond – pick ’em

  35. 35.

    Brian R.

    As for movies from the ’70s:

    Wild Bunch
    Network
    Blazing Saddles
    Young Frankenstein
    Annie Hall

  37. 37.

    delk

    Don’t Leave Me This Way — Communards
    What’s Going On? — Los Lobos
    Ain’t That a Shame — Cheap Trick
    Take me to the River — Talking Heads
    Satisfaction — DEVO

    Young Frankenstein
    Clockwork Orange
    The Omen
    Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    Kelly’s Heroes

  38. 38.

    Linnaeus

    Looks like most of my choices have already been made, so I’ll continue on to finishing the Chardonnay left over from last night and then I might finish off the rosemary vodka.

  41. 41.

    ralphdibny

    covers:

    Aretha’s Respect, Devo’s Satisfaction, Run DMC’s Walk This Way, Jimi’s Watchtower, Janis’s Bobby McGee

  42. 42.

    Mont D. Law

    Covers

    Give me Some Truth – Generation X
    Fever – The Cramps
    The Banana Splits Theme – The Dickies
    Ballroom Blitz – The Damned
    Children of the Revolution – Violent Femmes

    Movies

    Soldier Blue (1970)
    Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
    Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
    The Wicker Man (1973)
    Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

  45. 45.

    Schlemazel

    @Sourmash:
    Oh man I want to change my list – I had forgotten Lion and The Man Who Would Be King – 2 great movies At least 4 award worthy performances between them & maybe even – Hopkins & Dalton deserve notice also. I thought it was older but like Life Of Brian if it isn’t from the 70’s the judges rule it can be included anyway!

  46. 46.

    Dolly Llama

    Cover songs:

    1. Sweet Jane (Cowboy Junkies)
    2. Bad Time (The Jayhawks)
    3. Wild Horses (Faultline w/ Joseph Arthur)
    4. You Got Me Floatin’ (PM Dawn)
    5. Pale Blue Eyes (REM)

    Movies (no particular order)
    Dog Day Afternoon
    Little Big Man
    Cool Hand Luke
    The Exorcist
    Network

  49. 49.

    mjj

    Jump – Aztec Camera (Van Halen)
    What’s so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding – Elvis Costello (Nick Lowe)
    Poor Poor Pitiful Me – Linda Ronstadt (Warren Zevon)

    Blazing Saddles
    Silver Streak
    The Godfather
    Star Wars
    Taking of Pelham 123

  50. 50.

    Haydnseek

    @Burnspbesq: I do like them quite a lot. I’ll see your Mehldau and raise you a Smells Like Teen Spirit or Heart of Glass by The Bad Plus.
    They also do a killer version of Iron Man

  52. 52.

    RSA

    I wouldn’t call these the best covers (some aren’t as good as the originals), but the other day I was thinking about cross-genre covers that I like. Just for curiosity value:

    My Favorite Things, John Coltrane
    Guns of Brixton, Nouvelle Vague
    Word up, Willis
    Satisfaction, Devo

  54. 54.

    Heliopause

    Um, Doug, Kubrick did in fact release a couple of films in the 70s of all time. You never talk to us anymore unless to troll.

  55. 55.

    maeve

    70s movies (personal list which I remember as having impact in the 70s)

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
    Star Wars
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    The French Connection
    Dog Day Afternoon
    Blazing Saddles
    The Outlaw Josie Wells
    Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
    Little Big Man

  58. 58.

    srv

    WTF is wrong with you people? How can Star Wars not be in the top 5?

    French Connection? Jaws? Apocolypse Now? Anyone? Bueller?

    Also, too, who the fuck did covers in the 70’s? Y’all bunch of Tubular Bells Manheim Steamroller freaks?

    @maeve: Finally some sanity!

    Also, also, too, The Long Goodbye – Noir before Chinatown was Noir.

  59. 59.

    Rob

    How could I forget Manfred Mann’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn”?! That is a long-time favorite of mine.

  61. 61.

    Burnspbesq

    Five more great covers.

    “First We Take Manhattan,” Jennifer Warnes
    “April Joy,” Alex Hargreaves
    “Soulful Shade of Blue,” Neko Case
    “Cocaine,” Eric Clapton
    “Louisiana 1927,” Aaron Neville

  63. 63.

    JCT

    Soul Kitchen – X
    I will Survive – Cake
    The Man Who Sold the World – Cobain
    Satisfaction – Devo
    Take me to the River – Talking Heads

  65. 65.

    hilts

    Doug,

    Many, many thanks to you for posting this thread.

    My top 5 cover songs

    1 Rock and Roll Music – The Beatles
    2. It’s All Over Now – The Rolling Stones
    3. Louie, Louie – The Kingsmen
    4. Police on My Back – The Clash
    5. All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix

    My top 5 films from the 1970’s

    1. The Godfather Part II
    2. The Godfather
    3. Nashville
    4. Chinatown
    5. Mean Streets

    For anyone who loves films from the 1970’s, check out these 2 great documentaries

    A Decade Under the Influence and Easy Riders Raging Bulls

  66. 66.

    Sourmash

    @Schlemazel: I still watch both of those at least once a year. I remember seeing TMWWBK at a HUGE old theater in Chicago and reading a review that said “They just don’t make them like that anymore.” Truly the greatest “Buddy Movie” of all time. Shocking to think it was one of only a handful of movies Connery and Caine ever made together.

  69. 69.

    hilts

    @RSA:

    Thanks for mentioning My Favorite Things by John Coltrane. While the studio version is amazing, there’s also an incredible live version that runs for about 23 minutes.

  71. 71.

    Tehanu

    Covers:
    1. It’s My Life, Bruce Springsteen
    2. Soul Kitchen, X
    3. Stormy Monday, The Allman Bros.
    4. All Along the Watchtower, Hendrix
    5. Any Day Now, Joan Baez

    Movies:
    1. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
    2. The Producers
    3. The Sting
    4. The Godfather Part II
    5. Get to Know Your Rabbit

  72. 72.

    mai naem

    McCarthurs Park – Donna Summer(yeah, I know it’s disco but she just had a great set of pipes)
    Tears of a Clown – The English Beat
    Wuthering Heights – Pat Benatar

    Movies – The Good, Bad and Ugly, Reds, The Godfather, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I don’t remember many movies from the 70s –

  74. 74.

    Burnspbesq

    And yet five more

    “Ooh, Baby Baby,” Linda Ronstadt
    “Tell Me Why,” Wynnona Judd (the Karla Bonoff song, not Lennon – McCartney)
    “Black Crow,” Diana Krall
    “Nowhere Man,” Bill Frisell
    “Soul Kitchen,” X

  75. 75.

    ASV

    Winterlong (Pixies)
    Common People (William Shatner)
    Dead Souls (Nine Inch Nails)
    Crush (The Dismemberment Plan)
    Cornflake Girl (Jawbox)

  76. 76.

    Rob

    A couple more:

    And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda — June Tabor
    The Man Who Sold the World — Lulu

  77. 77.

    Schlemazel

    @Sourmash: I don’t understand why that movie does not get more love. Seems like TLIW shows up on TV about this time every year & we often watch it even knowing it so well, its just a very good time. If TMWWBK was on I’d watch it too.

  78. 78.

    Schlemazel

    @srv:
    Forgot Star Wars, it should be on the list. Apocalypse now is a goodie also. I hated French Connection. I was working part-time as a projectionist & had to watch it twice a night for a 6 nights. Didn’t enjoy it the first time & it didn’t get better. I discovered I could skip on reel because the previous one ended during a car chase under the railroad & the following one started in the middle of a different one. Took 15 minutes out of the movie & nobody noticed because it didn’t affect the story.
    A couple of movies from that job that stick with me are BuckAnd the Preacher, which was a pretty good cowboy yarn with Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, not great but a good time. And Dirty Harry, saw that 12 times & counted the shots in the final chase – 7 – he fires 7 times before killing the bad guy with his 8th, that must be why the .44 magnum is the most powerful handgun on earth!

  81. 81.

    jibeaux

    Lots of good covers there. Just to mention ones I haven’t seen, U2 does a nice vresin of Unchained Melody, and Dwight Yoakum does a good Train in Vain.

  82. 82.

    Chickamin Slam

    The Smashing Pumpkins – Landslide
    Pearl Jam – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
    Killdozer – Take the Money and run
    Killdozer – Disco Inferno

    and naturally Killdozer – Nasty, although some maintain Janet Jackson covered them instead.

  84. 84.

    Marcelo

    My favorite 70’s movies:

    All That Jazz
    Taxi Driver
    Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    Monty Python & The Holy Grail
    Chinatown

    Honorable mention goes to Rosemary’s Baby.

  85. 85.

    srv

    @Schlemazel:

    Took 15 minutes out of the movie & nobody noticed because it didn’t affect the story.

    I suppose you cut out the Star Wars trench battle too! Heathen!

    But I had forgotten the Frankenheimer did FC 2, not FC 1.

    Also, also, also too, Catch-22.

  87. 87.

    angelfoot

    Ooh..this is hard. How about albums of cover songs (no particular order)?

    1, In A Metal Mood – Pat Boone
    2. Kicking Against The Pricks – Nick Cave
    3. Let It Be – LaiBach
    4. Pin-Ups – Bowie
    5. Self Portrait – Bob Dylan

    Also, it’s a stretch to consider “Because The Night” a cover song, “cover song” suggests a version was previously in general circulation.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    Hmm. Not necessarily ‘best,’ but ‘top.’

    Star Wars
    Alien
    Young Frankenstein
    Network
    Dog Day Afternoon

    Honorable mention:

    The Three Musketeers
    Slaughterhouse-Five
    La Cage aux Folles
    Annie Hall
    The Sting
    Papillon
    The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
    Superman
    Saturday Night Fever
    Star Trek: The Motion Picture
    Cabaret
    Pink Flamingos
    The Shootist
    The China Syndrome
    The Paper Chase
    1900
    Aguirre, the Wrath of God
    Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
    Breaking Away
    A Clockwork Orange
    Little Big Man
    The Boys From Brazil
    Harry and Tonto
    Silent Running
    Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
    Sunday Bloody Sunday

    Already gone on too long, so shall cut it off there.

  90. 90.

    angelfoot

    @napoleon:

    Yeah, the Beatles owned “Twist & Shout.” “Money” too.

    Hendrix’ “Watchtower” is definitive. Cale’s “Hallelujah” too.

  91. 91.

    hilts

    My honorable mentions for 70’s films

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
    Patton
    MASH
    The French Connection
    Annie Hall
    Manhattan
    Network
    The Last Detail
    Day for Night
    Five Easy Pieces
    Mikey and Nicky
    Next Stop Greenwich Village
    Slaughterhouse-Five

  92. 92.

    Ridnik Chrome

    Cover Songs:
    I Fought the Law (the Clash)
    It’s All Over Now Baby Blue (Van Morrison)
    Mr. Tambourine Man (the Byrds)
    Black Is Black (Los Bravos)
    Needles and Pins (the Ramones)

    70s Movies:
    The Abominable Dr. Phibes
    The Phantom of the Paradise
    Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
    The Warriors
    Car Wash

  95. 95.

    angelfoot

    Five 70’s movies I have good memories of going to see, for whatever reason:

    Star Wars
    Jaws
    King Kong (De Laurentiis version) !
    Logan’s Run
    High Anxiety

  96. 96.

    Cpl Cam

    I Hung my Head – Johnny Cash
    Superstar – Sonic Youth
    Let Down – Easy Star All Stars
    All of My Love – Ween
    All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix

  99. 99.

    Deecarda

    Just want to list one of each and they are related. Cover song The Weight. 70’s movie The Last Waltz (best concert movie ever filmed). The Band

    I’ve been browsing Levon Helm videos all night.

  102. 102.

    Eric

    Covers:

    All Along the Watchtower – Hendrix
    To Love Somebody – Nina Simone
    Hurt – Johnny Cash
    Always on My Mind – Willie Nelson
    Because the Night – Patti Smith

  111. 111.

    BGinCHI

    Oh for fuck’s sake:

    No one mentions The Friends of Eddie Coyle?

    Really?

    Get off your asses and watch it. Thank you.

    Yes, I am in a shitty mood.

  112. 112.

    Bill Murray

    Nushu “My Best Friend’s Girl”
    Otis Redding “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
    Patsy Cline “Crazy”
    The Reivers “Blue Eyes (Crying in the Rain”
    Elvis Costello & the Attractions “I Stand Accused”

    eta: Susanna and the Magical Orchestra “Love Will Tear Us Apart”

  114. 114.

    angelfoot

    @Deecarda:

    I’ve been browsing Levon Helm videos all night.

    Levon Helm, American treasure. Who makes me think of another American treasure, Harry Dean Stanton. In keeping with the thread, sort of.

  118. 118.

    Deecarda

    @angelfoot:

    I was lucky to consider Levon a friend, he would put me on his guest list, I took concert photos & partied backstage. Really sweet guy.
    One night in Poughkeepsie he told me how lucky he considered himself to be able to make a living doing what he loved.

  121. 121.

    angelfoot

    @Steeplejack:

    I remember distressing my mother and impressing my older brother by making it all the way through side two of “live Peace In Toronto”. In the 70’s, well after it was released. Yoko’s last few releases have been pretty enjoyable.

  123. 123.

    RandomMonster

    Redshirt hits it out of the park in the first comment with Cake’s ‘I Will Survive’. Although I’m going to add their version of ‘War Pigs’, too — it fucking rules.

    Nick Cave’s version of ‘Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart’.

    The Stranglers version of ‘Walk On By’ is pretty righteous.

    Johnny Cash’s versions of ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘When the Man Comes Around’.

  124. 124.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: I held off calling everyone a motherfucker and challenging everyone to a fight, but I thought better of it.

    I’m just so despondent about this country that has so much and asks so little of itself.

    sigh

  125. 125.

    angelfoot

    @Deecarda: He always came across as a really sweet guy who loved what he was doing, it really shone through his performances. So lucky you got to know him!

  126. 126.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BGinCHI:

    this country that has so much and asks so little of itself.

    My dream job from history: Being one of the New Dealers. One of the lawyers, economists, etc., trying to come up with solutions and just giving the fuckers a shot.

  127. 127.

    hilts

    After a quick perusal of this thread, it looks like no one has mentioned these films (all worth checking out):

    Three Days of the Condor
    The Candidate
    Husbands
    Save the Tiger
    The King of Marvin Gardens
    Two-Lane Blacktop

    The 70’s was a damn good decade for films

  128. 128.

    angelfoot

    @hilts:

    Worst cover of a Beatles tune, major artist category: Across the Universe – David Bowie.

    Maybe Imagine by Madonna.

    Sugababes did a nice job with Come Together.

  129. 129.

    Steeplejack

    Well, I’m glad DougJ posted this, because if I had stayed with the election threads—or, Ceiling Cat forbid, the TV coverage—I might have slashed my wrists by now. So I have been music-trawling on YouTube and putting a dent in my hogshead of Mount Gay rum.

    Top 5/Top 10/Top Whatever lists always paralyze me, because my tastes are so slutty eclectic that I can’t do that kind of fine-tuned ranking. On any given day I might have five favorite covers that are different from the five favorites last week.

    The last few days I’ve had an earworm of Urge Overkill’s remake of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.” Pre-sequins/Streisand/Vegas, Diamond was a bona fide heavy hitter in ’60s pop/rock, and “Girl” is an excellent ballad with a tough edge. Urge Overkill does it justice.

    I think the all-time Hall of Fame cover artist/group is the Byrds doing Dylan. I think Dylan will be remembered more as a writer/composer than as a performer, and the Byrds consistently delivered benchmark versions of his songs. A personal favorite: “My Back Pages.”

    Finally, I have to say that jazz almost has to be excluded from the “best cover” discussion, because so much of the genre consists specifically of artists doing their own take on the “standards.” Is there a “best” version of “Satin Doll”? The same might apply to the blues classics.

    On the jazz/blues border: Lou Rawls, “Stormy Monday.”

  130. 130.

    Deecarda

    @angelfoot:
    An example of how sweet: I brought mounted 8 by 10’s of a previous performance & he signed them for me, then asked me to autograph the ones I have him. Blew me away!

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    @RSA:

    Cross-genre cover: Sugar Black does a reggae version of “Fly Like an Eagle.”

    ETA: One of the funniest/best cross-genre covers I ever heard was a bluegrass version of “I Shot the Sheriff” at a festival in Atlanta.

  132. 132.

    hilts

    @angelfoot:

    I’ll give Bowie a pass because he’s produced a great body of work.

    @Steeplejack:

    Back when record stores still existed, I remember seeing an album containing about 8 different covers of Round Midnight.

  134. 134.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    [. . .] although Pat DiNizio is kind of a douchebag.

    I am so far from the white-hot center of things that I don’t have to worry about personalities.

  135. 135.

    Steeplejack

    @Schlemazel:

    Good to see some Feliciano love! I was thinking of “Light My Fire” or maybe “In My Life.”

    His album Feliciano! could be considered a covers album. I think all but one or two songs are covers. (Dagnab it, sucky videos on YouTube.)

  136. 136.

    Steeplejack

    @hilts:

    Good ones.

    The Beatles are almost unique in that it’s hard to do a cover that’s better than their original.

  138. 138.

    Steeplejack

    And I’m not even getting into movies. The ’70s were a golden age of American cinema.

  142. 142.

    Steeplejack

    Holy shnikeys, I just took a peek at the election posts upstairs. Eek! So it turned out even worse than we feared? Maybe I should leave it until the morning light. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I hear you. I was spiraling downward in the negativity leading up to the election, got a brief boost from the act of going and voting, and now it appears that the worst has come to pass. Ugh. It’s going to take a while to assimilate it all. Music is a solace.

  146. 146.

    hilts

    Music is a solace.

    @Steeplejack:

    Agreed, to which I’d add feature films, documentary films, some tv shows, fiction, and poetry.

    My favorite jazz songs are

    1. So What – Miles Davis
    2. My Favorite Things – John Coltrane
    3. All Blues – Miles Davis
    4. In a Sentimental Mood – Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
    5. Stolen Moments – Oliver Nelson

  147. 147.

    hilts

    @Steeplejack:

    “Music is a solace.”

    Agreed, to which I’d add feature films, documentary films, some tv shows, fiction, and poetry.

    My favorite jazz songs are

    1. So What – Miles Davis
    2. My Favorite Things – John Coltrane
    3. All Blues – Miles Davis
    4. In a Sentimental Mood – Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
    5. Stolen Moments – Oliver Nelson

    I’d like to see a thread of this type posted every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

    It’s nice to get a great list of recommended songs, films, etc. and it does help a little bit to chase the blues away.

  148. 148.

    burnspbesq

    @hilts:

    “Kind of Blue” is still, after all these years, hard to top as an album. But I actually think my favorite Miles Davis tune (and a lot easier to cover) is “Seven Steps to Heaven.”

    As far as Trane is concerned, there are so many, but I listen to “Giant Steps” and “Moment’s Notice” more often than “My Favorite Things.

    There are so many great Monk tunes that it’s hard to pick only one or two favorites, but I think I love “In Walked Bud” above all the rest.

    Almost everybody mentions “Stolen Moments,” but I think “Butch and Butch” is my favorite track from “Blues and the Abstract Truth.”

  149. 149.

    Chris

    @Southern Beale:

    Glad someone said it – favorite heist movie ever! (Well, Ocean’s Eleven remake gives it a run for its money).

    So, yeah;

    The Sting
    Star Wars
    Alien
    Blazing Saddles
    Star Trek: The Motion Picture (yes, I know most people hated it. I didn’t. It actually was my introduction to Star Trek).

    Any other decade, I’d have put a Bond movie up there. But this decade started with DAF and ended with Moonraker, so… I actually manage to like LALD, but not that much. MWTGG had some good ideas, not necessarily the execution. TSWLM is usually considered the highlight of the decade, but it just doesn’t do that much for me. (Point of interest; the original plot had SPECTRE as the bad guys, but it involved Blofeld being overthrown by a younger generation of terrorists – the Baader-Meinhoff/Red Brigades type – and their plot wasn’t about some utopia under the seas, it was about smashing the existing world just so they could start anew. The studio decided they should lighten up and make it less political in order not to alienate younger viewers – and also, they couldn’t get the rights to SPECTRE. Which is still a thing today).

  151. 151.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    Top 5 movies from the 70s? Not easy for me to do (too many from that decade that I love). But here goes:

    1. Robin and Marian (maybe my favorite movie of all time. Wonderful performances by Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw and the great Nicol Williamson, and based on the latter — and little known — part of the Robin Hood legend after they return from the Crusade)
    2. The Godfather
    3. Monty Python’s The Holy Grail
    4. The Man Who Would Be King
    5. Alien

    Likely a different list (other than 1 and 2) if I did this another time.

    What all of you said for cover songs, I guess. Not really into covers, myself, including the cover of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” that Johnny Cash received so many accolades for (Trent Reznor himself said that “Hurt” now belonged to Cash). I still prefer NIN’s original version of “Hurt”.

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