Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes

Click on the title to hear my cover.


This song is the Citizen Kane of bubblegum. Written for a studio group, when it hit big the band, Edison Lighthouse, had to be created.

It was covered with no commercial success at all by the Reels who did achieve commercial success with their cover of Bad Moon Rising. Perhaps Dave Mason's melancholic voice, which suited their despondent cover of the CCR song, just was not convincing on their poppier than pop version of Love Grows.





The original version is just great.





My version shows off the real instruments on BIAB when I let a solo saxophone noodle along for ages at the end. It seemed to be having such a good time I couldn't bring myself to lop it off. Note the key change was left in - wow.

Good Lovin'

Click on the above title to hear my cover of Good Lovin'.


Since this song has Latin forebears I've turned things back with latin percussion albeit with ukelele and nylon string acoustic guitar. Oh and the alien chipmunks sing along.


I'm told the Young Rascals didn't do this first but theirs is the version I know.




The record's count in was all over the stereo spectrum and the song just rocketed along - another classic.

California Dreaming

Click on the title to hear my cover of California Dreaming.



Lets's see.

The Beach Boys covered this. Jose Feliciano covered this. Even Queen Latifa covered the damn thing so why not me?

My version has lots of 12 string electric and some ropey harmony singing. The original only has the 12 string.

Nowhere Man

Click on the title above to hear my cover of "Nowhere Man".


Don't cover the Beatles they say - because - everyone else does and it is never as good as the Beatles version.


...but that means my version will be seen as just another half baked attempt and will therefore carry no expectations. Brilliant no...

I'm making up the guitar riff as I go along in several different ways and I undoubtedly and perhaps unintentionally capture a certain pathetic quality that suits the song. They say John was writing this about himself. I'd rather apply it to Jeremy in "Yellow Submarine".

Venus

Click the title above to hear my cover of "Venus" by Shocking Blue.



OK, everybody does this. Even Bananarama. And the last thing the world needs in another version.

BUT...

It's so much fun - even if yours truly struggles with the worlds simplest riff.

Best ever version. The Riptides. In 1983 INXS played Luna Park in Sydney but I went to see their support band "The Riptides" from Brisbane who did, amongst other things, a blistering version of Venus. It is available on their live double album, "Resurface" in a much later version.




That's the original in all its sixties glory.

Groovy.

Waterloo Sunset

Click on the title above to hear my cover.




There are some songs that should never be covered.

So I'm going to do them.


Waterloo Sunset is a damn near perfect popsong. It is achingly sad but somehow uplifting at the same time. Mid 60s Kinks captured such a delightfully light take on pop music which is remarkable considering the grungy guitars before and heavy handed hits afterwards.




My version is meant to sound like a mildly psychotic musicbox. Even if you find my version on the nose, it's a great excuse to enjoy the original.


More sacrilege upon the classics soon...

New Slang

As feared I have attacked a newish song.





What a remarkable band the Shins are. I mean they're just kids and they write an oblique sad song as good as this and sing it as if they were from New Zealand in the late 1980s. How is this possible?

If anything I've made my version more obviously sad on several levels. It is still a good song.