Last night I said these words

Three brothers covering "Please Please Me" on Aussie TV in 1963.

I've got something to say that might cause you pain

Y is for "You Can't Do That". I tried to find Nilsson's version (which is a total meta-Beatles bonanza) on youtube, and also found this clip of him performing the song (as in singing live in front of an audience, which he rarely did) at Beatlefest 1984.



There aren't any Z songs, so this is the final installment of my month of Beatles covers.

Nada en lo que pensar

X is for XTC, a band I covered a few months back. Here's Andy's version of "Strawberry Fields Forever".



A comment in the last "Stawberry Fields" post points to this version of "Strawberry Fields" (en Español) by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.



éjame llevarte hacia donde voy, Strawberry Fields
Nada es real, y nada en lo que pensar
Fresas colocas por siempre

Try to see it my way

W is for "We Can Work It Out" and Wonder (as in Little Stevie). Here's the latter covering the former.

Just like Sister Larry said (VU)

There aren't any Beatles' tracks for U or V, so as a place holder, here's the VU as rendered on the Lawrence Welk show.

Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream

T is for "Tomorrow Never Knows". I thought it would be interesting to put Phil Collins after Peter Gabriel (as I've done on Beatles covers through the years), but Phil's cover of "TMK" isn't on youtube.

Here's a version by Oasis (with Johnny Marr).



One of the youtube comments: "I hope the sheets in front of Noel aren't to remind him the.. two chords."

Let me take you down

S is for "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Here's Peter Gabriel's cover from the 1976 soundtrack to All This And World War II -- his first solo recording ever.

When the rain comes

R* is for "Rain", the B-side to "Paperback Writer".
Here's Game Theory with a video I've posted before.



* - there are no Beatles' songs for Q, or even songs that contain the letter Q, but this track has Michael Quercio on drums.

Dear Sir or Madam

P is for "Paperback Writer", which has been my favorite Beatles song for the last 33 years. Here's "Paperback Believer" a Beatles/Monkees mashup by Go Home Productions with its own mashup video.



It's hard to improve on perfection, but this comes pretty close.

Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace

O is for "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". Here's the hit version recorded by Marmalade just a few months after the original came out



"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" was voted the worst song of all time in a BBC online poll, but I've always liked it. There's a famous Malay folk song called "Rasa Sayang" that has a similar melody, and I always wonder if Paul had heard "Rasa Sayang" before he wrote "Ob-La-Di.."

He's a real nowhere man

N is for "Nowhere Man".
Here's the original, as performed live in Japan in July 1966.

Born a poor young country boy

M is for "Mother Nature's Son". Here's Harry!

Lovely Rita meter maid

L is for "Lovely Rita". As covered by Travis.

Lincecum hijinks

L is for Lincecum, who won #14 yesterday?



L is also for lugnuts, which along with tires and rims are missing from my car today, because someone stole took them from my car while it was parked at the BART garage in Hayward and I was watching the Giants game.



Back to the Beatles tomorrow.

O komm doch, komm zu mir

The only Beatles song that begins with K is
"Komm, Gib mir Deine Hand".

Half of what I say is meaningless

There's only one original Beatles' song that begins with the letter J: "Julia". Here's Sean, covering the song that his dad wrote for his mom, his grandma, and his half-brother. How's that for pressure?

When I wake up early in the morning

I is for "I'm Only Sleeping". Here are the Vines.

Short of a chorus or two

Back to the alphabet. H is for "Her Majesty", the shortest song in the Beatles' catalog. Chumbawumba covered it in 2002 (with new verses) for Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee.

Her majesty's a throwaway song just short of a chorus or two
Oh yeah, short of a chorus or two

Number nine..number nine..number nine..

Happy 09.09.09! Breaking from the alphabet to show the Shazam.

I was alone, I took a ride

G is for "Got to Get You into My Life". EWF's cover was one of the few redeemable moments from the 1978 "Sgt. Pepper's" movie.

Your day breaks, your mind aches

F is "For No One", which Elliott Smith used to cover live.

Come on come on

E is for "Eleanor Rigby", which I've already done.

E is also for "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey". Youtube doesn't have the Feelies version, but here's another great one by an American singer/songwriter who performs solo acoustic concerts.

Got a good reason for taking the easy way out

D is for "Day Tripper". As performed by Cheap Trick.



Last night I saw the CT-related supergroup Tinted Windows at the Great American. I was kind of 50/50 about attending this show, because I found the Tinted Windows album a little reductive and repetitive, but they bring the rock live. They're like a 21st century Cheap Trick, with Tyler Hansen as Robin Zander, James Iha as Rick Neilsen, Adam Schlesinger as Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos as Bun E. Carlos (accept no substitute!). They played every song from their album (bonus tracks and all) and ended with a cover of the Buzzcocks "I Don't Mind".

The opening act, Bay Area pop supergroup the Magic Christian, also brought their rock boots. They're led by former Flamin' Groovies legend Cyril Jordan with vocalist Paul Kopf (the young Roy Loney) and the current Plimsouls rhythm section (Eddie Muñoz and Clem Burke of Blondie fame).

The Magic Christian are like a 21st century Flamin' Groovies featuring Cyril Jordan as Cyril Jordan (accept no substitute!). Last night was the release of their long-awaited (as in a decade in the making) album Evolver, so they mostly played songs from the record, wrapping up with energetic romps through "Teenage Head" and "Shake Some Action". The last time I saw the Magic Christian, they didn't play any Groovies songs, which is like John Fogerty not playing any CCR songs.

The best thing about this show was seeing two of my all time favorite drummers, Bun E. Carlos and Clem Burke, in action. The next best thing was that both bands have just one album's worth of material, so a 9pm show with two bands wrapped up by 11pm. It's always nice to be home before midnight.

Here come old flat top

C is for "Come Together". Ike & Tina beat Aerosmith for the slot.

Standing on the dock at Southampton

B is for "Ballad of John and Yoko", which the Fannies covered in 1990.

You say you've seen seven wonders

A is for "And Your Bird Can Sing". I like this cover by the Jam.

Wicked, bad, naughty Zoot!

There is an Australian band for the letter Z!

The Zoot, mostly remembered now because their lead guitarist went on to bigger and better things. Here's their cover of "Eleanor Rigby".



This provides a good transition to my September blogging theme, which is.. The Beatles. Or Beatles covers to be more exact. Their entire catalog is getting reissued next week (09.09.09), so I'll probably write about the originals too.