Traffic....not the band!

So I'm driving down Pape Ave. the other day, heading back to the postal station after a long day's work and I get behind an 18-wheeler.  This was at Pape and Gerrard.  If you're familiar with this area you know that south of Gerrard there are cars always parked in the right lane, forcing everybody to drive in the left lane, until you get to the next traffic light.  This truck was heading south at a speed of, I kid you not, 15 km/h!!  FIFTEEN!!  I know this because I was stuck behind him with absolutely no place to go.  We get to Dundas and I think, ok, I'll head over to the right lane now and pass him....but no!  Someone was turning right and had to wait for pedestrians to cross, so I'm still stuck behind this 90 year old semi driver!!  I travel at this rate of speed until I get to Eastern where I'm finally able to pass him.  Not only me, but the twenty or so other vehicles that this moron had held hostage behind his truck.  Glaciers move at a faster rate of speed than this guy!!  All of this time I had behind him got me thinking about traffic and driving in this wonderful town of Toronto.

There are 75-million vehicles in Toronto.  Well, probably not that many, but it sometimes feels like it.  Most of the drivers on the road have been schooled in the ways of the road.  Drive at a safe speed, be courteous but not overly so, realize there are other drivers around you and act and react accordingly.  I truly believe most of the driving population know what they're doing.  But it's the bad drivers we all remember, and it's the bad drivers that make us all want to scream!  Here are some of the ridiculous things I see on a daily basis...see if you can relate:

The Un-Courteous Driver
The truck driver in my little story above is a prime example of this beast.  I'm not talking about the guy that won't let you merge, because being one car ahead is going to save him time and money, but instead, the people that think they are the only ones out on the road that day.  Without any consideration for the drivers around him, this jerk seemed completely content to watch grass grow driving down a busy street during Rush Hour.  What makes this guy think he's so special??  Is it total ignorance?  Is it just stupidity?  I personally feel its a deadly combination of both!  Someone could get so frustrated with this guy (someone like me) that they may do something even more stupid to get around him, possibly causing an accident, possibly smacking into a pedestrian that they just couldn't see.  And we see this all the time when someone is looking for a specific place that they've never been to before.  We watch them slow down to a crawl, peering out all their windows in a state of confusion, while they tie up traffic for miles behind them.  Here's what you do if you're confused as to where you're supposed to go: KEEP GOING, find a safe place to pull into or pull over, and figure it out!  Realize that you are NOT the only car on the road this day!!  Asshole!

The Long-Turner
This one makes me so crazy.  I actually drew a rudimentary diagram to help explain what I mean by this title:

So I'm the lovely yellow car, waiting patiently to make a left turn.  I see that the green car has their right signal on, telling me he's about to make a right turn...he's slowing down and everything.  With all the traffic cleared, I start to make my turn into the proper lane, only to have to stop short because idiot green car makes a long turn into my lane.  It's MY LANE!!  Turning into proper lanes was taught on, what, Day One of your drivers training class?!?!  Turn into your own damn lane and then come over to the other lane when it's clear.  The Long-Turner is either not paying attention to what's happening around him, or he's just an asshole!

The Late-Merger
I've mentioned this guy to many people in the past, and it continues to be the one driving practice that always baffles me and makes me rant like I was Donald Trump talking about Syrians.  This is the dude that comes onto a highway, takes the ramp at a good speed, sees that there is traffic and, even though others have given him space to merge, continues at the same rate of speed until he gets to the end of the merge lane.  He then, and only then, puts on his left signal, completely stops, bringing everybody that's near him to a stop, and slowly eases into traffic.  Well congratulations.  You're now four cars further ahead and have stopped everybody's progress.  I believe, and I don't know if it can be proven, that if people learned how to merge properly there would be less traffic, at least less stop-and-go.  Keep with the flow and stop making everybody else stop because of your inadequacy and stupidity, asshole!

The Giant-Truck-Turner
I've fashioned another wonderful diagram to help explain this one:

Again, I'm the yellow car, traveling down the left lane, bopping to Ozzy's Boneyard on Sirius.  Green car comes up beside me, wanting to make a right turn at the intersection, and drifts left before making the turn.  Green car is a Camry, or a Civic, or any other vehicle that is NOT a giant truck.  There is no need, ABSOLUTELY NO NEED, to drift left in order to turn right!!!  I can't even calculate how many times I've had to swerve or hit the brakes because I don't know what the hell this dude is going to do.  Is he making a lane change and just can't see me?  Is he having an aneurysm??  Nope, he just thinks he's a giant truck.  If you do this, just stop, 'cause you're an asshole!!

High-Beamers
I've also noticed something else a lot recently, and I'm not sure if its only me or not, so let me know if you encounter it.  At night I've noticed a great influx of drivers with their high beams on.  I was beginning to think my eyes were just too sensitive, but no, these people have their brights on driving on our city streets.  Do they not notice they're on, or, more disturbingly, do they put them on thinking they'll be able to see better??  I really hope it's total ignorance.  But if you're putting them on on purpose....you're an asshole!


Ok, I feel I've ranted enough about this.  If you have any other things that make you homicidal on our roads, I'd love to hear about them.  But, really, most of our traffic problems can be solved if people just stopped...being...ASSHOLES!!

Making A Murderer...SPOILERS!!!!

So it's been a couple of weeks since I've watched the ten-part documentary on Netflix, "Making A Murderer".  I watched it all in two days and I'm still thinking about it.  I have watched news shows, Dr. Phil, even Ellen talk about it and give their opinions.  I've talked to nearly nobody about it, except my wife.  What follows will be my opinions on one of the most controversial, talked about and debated shows in a very long time.  If you have not seen this documentary I have two things to say:  1) WATCH IT, IMMEDIATELY...it is super gripping, up until the last two episodes, and 2) STOP READING NOW, because I will be talking about stuff that will make your experience much less pleasurable.

Now, my feelings of the doc as a whole: I enjoyed it immensely, although I found the last two episodes to drag a little, especially as compared to the phenomenal editing and step-by-step explanation of the facts that preceded.  And when I say "facts", I fully realize that this series was made to help exonerate Steven Avery.  It is very one-sided, although I feel that the evidence shown and discussed speak for itself.  In saying this, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that there was an incredible failing of the justice system and that Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are completely innocent of the crimes for which they are currently imprisoned.

Why do I feel this way?  Well, three words, words that I have heard others say but have not fully been explained by the prosecution of this case, nor the jury that convicted Avery or Dassey....."WHERE'S THE BLOOD???????".  It seems so obvious to me, yet the reasoning in the documentary, or the interviews or stories released since, are never fully talked about, and I have no idea why!  So let's dissect this a bit.  Brendan Dassey, a scared, mentally challenged young boy, was manipulated....yes, MANIPULATED...into describing a terrible rape scene inside Avery's trailer house.  He was, as was Avery, convicted on the description of this poor woman, Teresa Halbach, being tied up, raped and having her throat cut on Avery's bed.  She was then taken to the garage and shot in the head before, apparently, being burned behind the garage in the fire pit.  Let's just assume that this happened as described by an easily manipulated child, being fed the details by the investigators.  WHERE'S THE BLOOD????  Is it possible, even for the most brilliant minds, never mind the minds of two people with a combined IQ of 140, to get rid of every molecule, every freaking atom, of blood evidence??  The sheets and mattress would be soaked in blood.  OK, let's assume that they got rid of the sheets and mattress.  Would there not be any trace of blood anywhere else?  The walls?  The carpet?  Their own clothes?  None, NONE, was found in that trailer home.  And when the victim was supposedly taken to the garage where she was shot in the head, would there not be blood on the thousands of junk items in that garage at the time of the murder.  Once again, not one molecule of Teresa's blood was found in that garage.  There was not even any evidence of bleach, something that no doubt would have been used to clean the blood.  According to the prosecutors, this is the way Teresa Halbach died.  The lack of physical evidence in both of those places should have been enough to, at the very least, hang this jury.  These facts are the very definition of "reasonable doubt"!

But let's go a bit further.  Let's assume that Avery and Dassey actually had some way of getting rid of every bit of blood evidence for the two rooms.  Maybe they covered everything with plastic drop clothes, just like Dexter did.  Maybe they have some way that the best investigators in the city, state, country don't know about to get rid of the blood.  If the two of them were that brilliant, why wouldn't they get rid of Teresa Halbach's truck?  Let's run this scenario...Avery calls to specifically have Halbach come to his place to take pictures of a truck he wants to sell.  He, at some point, without anybody hearing or seeing, gets Halbach to go into his trailer where he overwhelms her and eventually ties her to his bed.  The rape and murder occur, and then he uses her own truck to move her to his backyard???  Which was steps away??  And then he decided to park her truck in his own salvage yard and hastily cover it with a few sticks??  Without getting rid of any other blood evidence???  He was able to get rid of, what, gallons of blood from his trailer, but left five or six little blood specks in the truck of the woman he just killed???  And why park the truck when he had access to a machine that could completely crush the damn thing?!?!?  If we are asked to believe he was savvy enough to get rid of all the blood evidence, why are we asked to believe he was dumb enough to not get rid of her truck when he had all the capabilities to do so?

All of this just doesn't make sense to me.  Never mind the call Officer Colborne made about Halbach's missing truck BEFORE she was ever reported missing.  Never mind the finding of her truck's keys in Avery's bedroom by a member of the Sheriff's department that Avery was in the process of suing for a wrongful conviction, and missed by all other investigators on at least two other occasions.  Never mind the obviously tampered blood vile that, in my mind, was used to plant Avery's blood in that truck.  There are so many holes in the prosecution's story, and yet two people continue to sit in jail for a murder that, I'm convinced, they couldn't have committed.  Still, there are people that say that we don't know the whole story, that the makers of the documentary manipulated the facts to serve their, and Avery's, purposes.  OK, fine.  Grab a camera, get your "facts" together and present them to the world.  I'm tired of hearing how Avery killed a cat.  Yes, that is disturbing and has been linked to the beginnings of evil minds, serial killers in the making.  That does not PROVE that Steven Avery killed Teresa Halbach.  Not in the least.

Listen, I'm sure there is more to this story that we, the general public, haven't heard.  Avery, for instance, did not take the stand during the trial.  It's probably because he has something to hide that may have been revealed during cross-examination.  Maybe, who knows.  But what seems to be clear is that these two men, Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, were deemed guilty before this trial ever started.  They were not granted a fair trial, and whether the Manitowoc County's Sheriffs Department planted evidence and tried to railroad Avery and Dassey is not really the issue here.  The issue is everybody, EVERYBODY, is entitled to a fair, impartial trial...and that is definitely not what Avery and Dassey got.

Ziggy Played Guitar

So I was driving to work on Monday, January 11, 2016, listening to Q107 as I normally do.  Andy Frost was on the John Derringer morning show.  He normally comes on Monday mornings to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs, since he's the voice of the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre where they play their home games.  He was going on about the sad loss the Leafs took on Saturday, 7-0 to the San Jose Sharks.  I kind of tuned out as I was eating my apple fritter that I just picked up from Tim Hortons.  The next thing I remember hearing is something to the effect of "There will be many tributes in the days to come".  I started to think "Who died?  An old-time Leaf?  Did Johnny Bower finally die???".  Then I heard "Bowie".  I almost drove off the road.  I thought "No, I heard that wrong".  But sure enough, Frost and Derringer started talking about the passing of The Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie.

I was dumbfounded, perhaps a little bit in shock, for some time afterwards.  When I got into work, I turned to the letter carrier across from my sorting case and heard myself saying "David Bowie died".  It sounded so strange.  I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, but it was almost as if I whispered it.  He said "Yeah, weird.  I heard it this morning".  He said nothing else.  What more needed to be said?  Somehow, I felt alone in my confusion.  I wasn't really grieving the loss of this legend, but I also didn't really know what to do.  I wanted to start playing his songs from my iPod, loudly so that everyone could hear.  I wanted to talk to more people about it, discussing what his life meant to them.  But I didn't.  I just stood at my case, sorting my mail, as if it was a normal day.

But it wasn't a normal day.  It was far from a "normal" day.  An icon left us, rather suddenly.  A true Rock God.  A man that changed the face of music, fashion, sexuality, dramatics, and so much more.  An innovator.  Perhaps, a genius.  When it comes to legendary musicians passing away, he is the first, for me, in which I lived almost my whole life knowing of him, reading about him, listening to his music.  Elvis died in 1977...I was five years old.  I don't remember that day at all.  John Lennon died in 1980...I was eight.  I knew he was popular, but I didn't really know why at the time.  Bob Marley died in 1981...I was nine.  I had no idea of Marley's importance to people at the time.  Freddie Mercury died in 1991...I was a little older and wiser, but not a huge fan of Queen at the time.  I knew it was a great loss but we all knew he was sick for a long time before his passing.  There have been others to pass away in my life; Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra.  Although some of these deaths were shocking at the time (especially Lennon, Elvis and Gaye), their deaths never seemed important to me.  Bowie's death is different.

I remember, very vividly in fact, the first time I really sat and listened to a David Bowie album.  It was 1984, I was 12 years old.  I was at my Big Brother's house (I had a Big Brother because my parents were divorced and my father was not around...that's a whole other post!).  We were going through his albums and I found Let's Dance.  My Big Brother, Bob, said he loved that album, that it just came out not that long ago.  He took it out of my hands and put it on.  I sat and listened to all of it, straight through.  From the opening song, Modern Love, which turned out to be one of my favourite of his songs, all the way through.  I loved it all.  It turned out to be a great starting point for me, since Much Music, Canada's version of MTV, was to launch that same year, and Bowie was all over it.  The videos to Modern Love, China Girl and Let's Dance were all on heavy rotation.  I couldn't turn on the TV and not see David Bowie all over it.  From there, I worked backwards, discovering the sounds, styles and words of someone that people had loved for many years already.

 - Space Oddity, a song released way back in 1969, talked of Major Tom leaving Earth, possibly getting stuck in space, never to return to his wife and kids.  I'm now hooked!
 - Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes and Life On Mars from 1971's Hunky Dory.  Forever in my head.
 - Starman, Suffragette City and "Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly, and The Spiders From Mars" form The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
 - Panic In Detroit and The Jean Genie from 1973's Aladdin Sane.
 - Rebel Rebel, you tore your dress, from 1974's Diamond Dogs.
 - Young Americans, Fame and his wonderful version of Lennon and McCartney's Across The Universe from 1975's Young Americans.
 - Station To Station and Golden Years from 1976's Station To Station.
 - We could be Heroes just for one day!
 - Fashion and Ashes To Ashes where Major Tom becomes a junky, from 1980's Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).

Just a few of the highlights for me.  Songs I grew up on, after discovering the sound of Let's Dance in 1984.  Bowie became a staple of my music-listening life.  For more than 30 years I have listened to and enjoyed, not only these popular tunes, but most of his entire catalog of music.  I have mentioned before how hard I took the death of MCA of The Beastie Boys.  MCA, AdRock and Mike D really had a huge impact on shaping who I am to this day.  Bowie didn't have that impact for me...but I know he did for a great many people.  All of or heroes will die one day; Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and (maybe) Keith Richards, Paul McCartney.  For me, when Eddie Van Halen goes it'll be a hard day.  David Bowie was on that list.  He's now gone, suddenly, from all of our lives.  And it's not like we knew him.  He didn't call every weekend or come over for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  But he was always there...and now that he's not, things seem very different.  He will live on in song, and movies, forever, but, for now, I feel a little emptier inside.  Perhaps I am grieving, not just for myself, but for all the people who Bowie meant so much to.  The millions of people he touched.  The people who's live literally changed because of his attitude or music.  It's a huge loss to the world and David Bowie will greatly missed.

R.I.P. Mr. Jones.

Guns, Guns, Guns

So I'm watching the news earlier this week and the big story seems to be the new measures that Barak Obama took to try and curb gun violence in the States.  He used his executive powers to pass a bill that would potentially make it harder for people to obtain guns.  In the States, if you wanted to buy a gun from a gun shop, you had to fill out a form so that the government could do a background check on you.  They wanted to make sure you weren't a convicted criminal with a history of gun violence.  Makes sense to me.  But, if you were such a head-case, you could always go to a gun show or by a gun from a private seller, because there were no background checks needed for such transactions.  Makes no sense to me.  President Obama agreed with me (we talk on a regular basis), so now background checks are required for any gun sale in the U.S. of A.  Holy shit, did this cause some controversy.  Some people said this is an unnecessary step, as responsible gun owners and gun show reps would only sell weapons of destruction to whom they thought were responsible enough to own them.  Right.  Some said this was an abuse of power by Obama, claiming that the Senate would never pass such a bill and Obama was simply trying to make a big name for himself before he leaves office.  Uh huh, sure.  Some say his tears during his press conference were faked or at the very least manipulated out of him when he was talking about children being killed by some gun-toting maniac.  These people (Fox "News", I'm looking at you) are the exact reason I hate most of the breathing population of the U.S.

     And then there is the NRA, the National Rifle Association of America, a group founded way back in 1871 as a way to train the Union Army to, basically, shoot straight during the Civil War.  Somewhere along the line, the NRA became more about what they felt were the right to own guns, no matter what anybody said, than anything else.  They bastardized the meaning of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to suit their needs and gather a following of millions.  They have a five-point mission:

     1. To protect and defend the Constitution Of The United States
     2. To promote public safety, law and order, and the national defense.
     3. To train members of law enforcement agencies, the armed forces, the militia and people of good repute in marksmanship and in the safe handling and efficient use of small arms.
     4. To foster and promote the shooting sports.
     5. To promote hunter safety.

Now, to the first point.  The only part of the Constitution the NRA is trying to protect and defend is the Second Amendment.  But the part they focus on, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall no be infringed", does not mean you have the right to stockpile weapons in your Main Street duplex.  If all things went to shit in the States, and the majority of population felt they needed to take control of the government, the Second Amendment says they can do so with weaponry.  Now, this fallacy of it meaning anyone can "protect" themselves with guns for their own private purposes has been disputed in the United States Supreme Court a number of times, sometimes resulting in a broader meaning and sometimes resulting in a narrower meaning.  What nobody ever seems to do is use common fucking sense.  The Second Amendment was written in 1791, a time when law enforcement was near non-existent.  You needed to keep shotguns near you because buddy over the hill wanted to steal your cows or horses.  The only people right now that have taken the literal meaning of the Second Amendment to heart are those nutty folks in Oregon that have taken control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Beyond all this, because there is no way a gun-loving 'Merican would ever admit to being wrong, the NRA should support the measures that Obama is taking.  He's trying to keep guns out of the hands of crazy fuckers that may want to walk into a school and shoot a bunch of kids.  Of course this type of insanity won't completely stop, but what if it stops two people this year?  What if it stops ten people next year?  Obama doesn't want to come into your homes and take your guns away, like the NRA would like you to believe.  If you want to keep your loaded .45 on your kitchen table for your five year-old to blow his or your head off, great, fine, go ahead and keep it.  But maybe you won't feel like you need it as much when you realize it's getting harder for those that want to commit violent crimes to get a gun.

The United States has the most ass-backward way of thinking when it comes to owning guns, and it's something I just can't wrap my head around.  What I can wrap my head around are stats:

Gun Ownership per 100 residents (as reported by The Washington Post in December of 2012)
The USA - 88.8
Switzerland - 45.7
Finland - 45.3
Saudi Arabia - 35
Iraq - 34.2
Sweden - 31.6
France - 31.2
Canada - 30.8
Germany - 30.3
Greece - 22.5
Australia - 15
Mexico - 15
Italy - 11.9

% of Homicides By Guns
Switzerland - 72.2
The USA - 67.5
Italy - 66.7
Mexico - 54.9
Greece - 34.9
Canada - 32
Germany - 26.3
Finland - 19.8
Australia - 11.5
France - 9.6

Yup, Switzerland has more of a percentage of homicides by guns than the US.  Switzerland's population is 3.4 million, with only 57 homicides by guns in 2012.  The USA's population is 270 million, with 9,960 homicides by guns in 2012.  Some would argue that if more people owned guns, the homicide rate would go down, stating the criminals would think twice about robbing you if they knew you had a gun.  I just can't comprehend that logic.

I realize the craziness of the gun-loving nation to the south of us will never subside.  I also realize that everything I've written here can and will be turned around for the gun-lovers' own needs.  But the measures that Obama has taken is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction.  It's a small step, granted.  There are many other avenues to help keep those insane clowns from shooting up schools or movie theatres.  Better mental health education and treatment.  Keeping a record of every gun sold in the nation.  Any ideas take money, and the States is one of the poorest rich nations in the world.  What Obama is saying is, let's start...let's do something.  And anybody that can't see that, that can't see he's trying to save people's lives, like a great leader should, is clearly fucked!

Gone But Not Forgotten

So I've decided to make a small New Year's resolution for 2016.  I will try, maybe, if I feel like it, to post something to this blog at least once a week, all year long.  I don't know why...I guess it's just something to do on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon.  As some of you know, those that have taken the time to go through this mess of thoughts, I really enjoy talking about stuff that bugs me, stuff I've seen, stuff I've heard and making lists out of most of that stuff.  There is no other reason for doing any of that stuff other than for my own entertainment (it's kinda amusing going back and reading what was on my mind many months ago), but I hope some of the stuff that flows from my tangled web of a brain amuses some of you.  My first entry of 2016 will talk about some of the entertainers that have gone from this mortal coil this past year.  I started to think about this as I learned of Wayne Rogers' and Natalie Cole's deaths on the last day of the old year.  It made me think, will any of us remember their passing come December 2016?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I'd like to take some time to honour and recognize some of the talented folk that we may miss...the Class Of 2015:

Rod Taylor
B. January 11, 1930  New South Wales, Australia
D. January 7, 2015 (aged 84)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Heart Attack

I was mostly unfamiliar with Taylor's career, but I knew I knew him from somewhere.  When I looked it up that day, it turned out he was Mitch in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".  He will also be remembered for his lead role in "The Time Machine" from 1960, a movie I have sadly not seen.  The last major film he appeared in was Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" from 2009.

Taylor Negron
B. August 1, 1957  Glendale, California
D. January 10, 2015 (aged 57)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Liver Cancer

Not many people know who Taylor Negron was, but if you've seen "Fast Times At Ridgmont High" as many times as I have you immediately know he was the pizza dude.  He had roles in "Easy Money", "Better Off Dead..." and "The Last Boy Scout", along with many TV appearances as well, but will always and forever be the pizza dude to me.

Anita Ekberg
B. September 29, 1931  Malmo, Sweden
D. January 11, 2015 (aged 83)  Rocca Di Papa, Italy
Cause: Complications from enduring illnesses

Anita Ekberg started out as a beauty queen, winning Miss Sweden in 1951 and appearing at the Miss Universe Pageant that year.  (She placed sixth). She went to Hollywood to become a star, and ended up becoming romantically involved with some of the most famous leading men of the time, including Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, and the above-mentioned Rod Taylor.  Her most famous role came in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" from 1960.  The scene of her prancing around in Rome's Trevi Fountain has become an iconic piece of filmdom.  In 1956 she received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female for her role in "Blood Alley".

Lesley Gore
B. May 2, 1946  Brooklyn, New York
D. February 16, 2015 (aged 68)  Manhattan, New York
Cause: Lung Cancer

Lesley Gore became internationally famous at the tender age of 16 when she recorded "It's My Party", a song that would become a certified Gold record and a number one hit in 1963.  A few other hits followed, including "She's A Fool", "You Don't Own Me" and "Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows".  She appeared in a few films and a load of TV appearances, including the character of Pussycat in two episodes of the original "Batman" series.  Gore went on to host a PBS show called "In The Life" that dealt with LGBT issues.

Leonard Nimoy
B. March 26, 1931  Boston, Massachusetts
D. February 27, 2015 (aged 83)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Complications from COPD

Nimoy will always be remembered for his role as Mr. Spock on the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies.  He was loved so much as this character that it was often difficult for him to be taken as a serious actor in any other regard.  He turned to directing later in life, starting with the third instalment of the Star Trek series "The Search For Spock".  Before "Star Trek" he appeared in all kinds of TV shows from the 1950's and 1960's including "Dragnet", "Sea Hunt", "Bonanza", "Rawhide", "Perry Mason" and "Gunsmoke".  In June of 2015, as a move to honour Nimoy, an asteroid that had been discovered in 1988 was named 4864 Nimoy.

Percy Sledge
B. November 25, 1940  Leighton, Alabama
D. April 14, 2015 (aged 74)  Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Cause: Liver Cancer

Sledge was a singer for more than 40 years, but he'll always be remembered as the voice behind "When A Man Loves A Woman".  (If you think Michael Bolton was the first to sing that song you need so...much...help!!).  That song made Sledge a legend and he continued to sing it at every performance thereafter.  He was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2005.

Ben E. King
B. September 28, 1938  Henderson, North Carolina
D. April 30, 2015 (aged 76)  Hackensack, New Jersey
Cause: Coronary Disease

Just like Percy Sledge above, Ben E. King made himself a legend for life because of one song, "Stand By Me", which became a Top 10 hit in the US in 1961.  Unlike Sledge, King was fairly famous for another thing, that being the lead singer of the group The Drifters in the late 1950's and early 1960's.  The Drifters had a couple of big hits with King's voice at the helm; "There Goes My Baby" in 1959 and "This Magic Moment" and "Save The Last Dance For Me" in 1960.

B.B. King
B. September 16, 1925  Berclair, Mississippi
D. May 14, 2015 (aged 89)  Las Vegas, Nevada
Cause: Multi-Infarct Dementia, brought on by stroke

One of the most famous and beloved Blues guitarist of all-time, Riley B. King got the nickname B.B. when he worked as a DJ and singer at a Memphis radio station.  He was known as the "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "Blues Boy", becoming B.B..  He began recording way back in the 1940's and didn't stop until the mid-2000's, almost 60 years of music.  He was the winner of 15 Grammy Awards, the first being for his classic song "The Thrill Is Gone" in 1971.  He was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987, the same year he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recognized by The Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, and received the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2006.  Rolling Stone magazine ranked King  number 6 on the list of it's 100 greatest guitarists of all time.  I personally got into my love of Blues later in life, but B.B. was instrumental in building that love, and I still listen to as many of his hundreds of songs as I can on a regular basis.

Christopher Lee
B. May 27, 1922  London, England
D. June 7, 2015 (aged 93)  London, England
Cause: Complications from Respiratory Problems and Heart Failure

Lee spent his early days fighting in World War II, first with the Finnish Forces and later, retiring as a flight lieutenant with the RAF.  He got into acting soon after the war appearing in his first TV show in 1947.  From then on, IMDB lists him as appearing in more than 270 shows and movies.  He worked steadily for over 60 years, becoming famous for his roles in horror films from the late 1950's, especially for his portrayal of Dracula in 1958.  He went on to play Dracula a number of times, his name becoming synonymous with The Prince Of Darkness.  Lee was offered the role of Dr. No in the first James Bond film by Ian Fleming himself, but the producers had already given the role to Joseph Wiseman.  Lee got his chance to play the villain in a Bond movie in 1974's "The Man With The Golden Gun".  Later in life, Lee was able to be part of some major films, including the Star Wars prequels and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Dick Van Patten
B. December 9, 1928  Queens, New York
D. June 23, 2015 (aged 86)  Santa Monica, California
Cause: Complications from Diabetes

I grew up watching Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford on TV's "Eight Is Enough".  That series ran from 1977 to 1981, and I thought everybody needed to have a dad like him!  He appeared in a number of famous TV shows before and after "Eight Is Enough" including "I Remember Mama", "Sanford And Son", "Happy Days", "The Streets Of San Francisco", "Emergency" and even "Arrested Development".  His friendship with Mel Brooks got him cast in many of the director's films including "High Anxiety", "Spaceballs" and "Robin Hood: Men In Tights".  But he'll always be remembered as on of the best TV dads of all time.

Chris Squire
B. March 4, 1948  London, England
D. June 27, 2015 (aged 67)  Phoenix, Arizona
Cause: Leukemia

Chris Squire was the original and everlasting bassist for the progressive rock group Yes.  He had the distinction of playing on every one of Yes' 21 studio albums, a feat you just don't see too much anymore.  He stayed in the band for 47 years.  Many rock bassists regard Squire as a major influence, including Geddy Lee from Rush.

Omar Sharif
B. April 10, 1932  Alexandria, Egypt
D. July 10, 2015 (aged 83)  Cairo, Egypt
Cause: Heart Attack

Omar Sharif appeared in more than 100 movies and TV shows in his illustrious career.  He started acting in Egypt in 1954, but soon came to Hollywood, and became a huge star.  His first English-language role was in David Lean's "Lawrence Of Arabia" in 1962 in the role of Sherif Ali.  He was promptly nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for that role.  He would appear in other huge movies including "The Fall Of The Roman Empire", "Dr. Zhivago" and "Funny Girl".

Alex Rocco
B. February 29, 1936  Cambridge, Massachusetts
D. July 18, 2015 (aged 79)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Cancer

"I'm Moe Greene!!".  Alex Rocco appeared in just about every TV show of the 1970's.  I remember seeing him in all my faves; "Kojak", "Mary Tyler Moore", "The Rockford Files" and "Baretta" just to name a few.  It wasn't until I was much older that I realized he played Moe Greene in "The Godfather"...and got shot right in the eye!  He was the consummate character actor.  The last thing I remember seeing him in was the show "Episodes" from a couple of years ago and even then I thought, "Hey, that's Moe Greene!".

Roddy Piper
B. April 17, 1954  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
D. July 31, 2015 (aged 61)  Hollywood, California
Cause: Cardiac Arrest

This one took me aback.  When I was in my early teens I started to really get into the World Wrestling Federation.  I loved watching all the stars, and I never thought it was real, but man did I love the entertainment value.  I had a few favourites; Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Andre The Giant.  But the best villain, and the funniest of them all was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.  He made every week for me.  When he wasn't on, it was a huge disappointment.  I even remember going to the theatre to see his leading-man, action movie debut "They Live" when I was 16.  Just as I felt when MCA of The Beastie Boys passed away a couple years earlier, part of me died when I heard of Piper's passing.  "Hulk is such a yo-yo!".

Wes Craven
B. August 2, 1939  Cleveland, Ohio
D. August 30, 2015 (aged 76)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Brain Cancer

Craven became world famous when a little movie called "A Nightmare On Elm Street" was released in 1984.  Although he directed a few horror flicks before that ("The Last House On The Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes" to name a couple), his Elm Street movie became a monster hit.  The character of Freddy Kruger, which he created, went on to star in at least seven films.  Then, in the mid-1990's, another horror film was being shopped around that was scary but also made fun of previous hour films.  It was "Scream" and the only director who could have made it was Wes Craven.  He went on to direct the next three "Scream" films as well, solidifying himself as one of the Kings Of Horror in Hollywood.

Jackie Collins
B. October 4, 1937  London, England
D. September 19, 2015 (aged 77)  Beverly Hills, California
Cause: Breast Cancer

Jackie Collins may well have been known as the sister of TV and movie star Joan Collins, but she started writing stories instead.  I can honestly say I never read a Jackie Collins' novel (really, it's true), but there is no denying how she helped to shape the romance genre in the US and around the world.  Her first novel, "The World Is Full Of Married Men", was published in 1968.  Some thirty novels and 40+ years later she was a multi-millionaire.  She has written 30 New York Times Bestsellers and sold more than 500 million copies of her books.  Maybe Joan Collins should have been known as Jackie's sister.

Yogi Berra
B. May 12, 1925  St. Louis, Missouri
D. September 22, 2015 (aged 90)  West Caldwell, New Jersey
Cause: Natural Causes

Yogi Berra was known for a couple of things.  One, for being one of the best catchers to ever play the game of baseball.  Two, for his eloquent use of the English language, creating phrases now known as Yogi-isms.  During his playing career, Yogi appeared in 18 All-Star games, 13 World Series', was a 3-time MVP and was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1972.  His famous witticisms include gems like "90 percent (of life) is half mental", "Nobody goes there anymore.  It's too crowded", "It ain't over till it's over", and "It's deja vu all over again".

Maureen O'Hara
B. August 17, 1920  Dublin, Ireland
D. October 24, 2015 (aged 95)  Boise, Idaho
Cause: Natural Causes

Maureen O'Hara made a name for herself in Hollywood as being a no-nonsense leading lady, many times in John Ford movies and westerns of the 1940's and 1950's.  Her first big role came at the tender age of 19 when she played Esmerelda in "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" in 1939.  From there she starred in many big films of the next few decades including "How Green Was My Valley", "Miracle On 34th Street", "Rio Grande" and "The Quiet Man".  In 1971 she retired from the film industry, but made a return 20 years later in John Candy's film "Only The Lonely".  She was never nominated for an Academy Award but was presented with an Honorary Award in 2014.

Scott Weiland
B. October 27, 1967  San Jose, California
D. December 3, 2015 (aged 48)  Bloomington, Minnesota
Cause: Accidental Overdose of Cocaine and other drugs

Weiland first came to notoriety as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots.  His gravely voice and unmistakable intensity became a staple of rock radio in the 1990's.  Through their success, it was soon found out that Weiland had a pretty substantial drug problem.  He had been arrested a few times, once for buying crack-cocaine, and spent a few stints in rehab.  In 2002, STP broke up and Weiland became the lead singer of "supergroup" Velvet Revolver.  They garnered some success, but Weiland's drug problems kept bubbling to the surface.  Finally, while on tour with his new band The Wildabouts, Weiland's drug habit got the best of him, as he died of an overdose on the band's tour bus.

Robert Loggia
B. January 3, 1930  Staten Island, New York
D. December 4, 2015 (aged 85)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Alzheimer's Disease

Robert Loggia was one of those great character actors in Hollywood that seemingly appeared in everything over the years.  I think my first clear memory of him was in "Scarface" from 1983, where he displayed almost as bad an accent as Al Pacino!  Checking him out on IMDB shows he appeared in over 200 TV shows and movies over his career.  He studied acting at The Actor's Studio under famed teacher Stella Adler.  This got him many roles on 1950's and 1960's television.  In the 1970's he showed up in just about every big show including "The Rockford Files", "Kojak", "Columbo", "SWAT", "Wonder Woman" and "The Six-Million Dollar Man".  Film roles followed in the 1980's; "An Officer And A Gentleman", "Scarface", "Prizzi's Honor", and his famous dancing scene with Tom Hanks in "Big".  Loggia was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 for his role in "The Jagged Edge".

Lemmy Kilmister
B. December 24, 1945  Staffordshire, England
D. December 28, 2015 (aged 70)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Cancer

So, is this a big deal?  Well, I guess it depends on who you are.  For me, the death of Lemmy was a shock and it touched me harder than I thought it would.  I'm not sure why exactly.  I only became a fan of Motorhead in the last decade or so.  I was never a huge fan of Lemmy's vocal stylings (although I know of no-one else that could growl so hard for so long).  What got me about him and his band was the nonstop aggression that they conveyed whenever they played - from 1975 to 2015.  This band kicked ass!  Whenever you need to pound your fist and scream a little, you couldn't do much better than listening to Motorhead!  Beyond that, Lemmy himself was one of the most interesting characters ever.  He has said he drank a bottle of Jack Daniels a day for 40 years.  He has tried every drug known to man, but has said he never gets addicted.  He claims to have slept with over 2500 women.  He had a massive collection of Nazi memorabilia, although had said he never agreed with their ideals.  He was a true rock star in every sense of the word and will be sorely missed.


Ok, that's it.  I would have liked to have done a separate entry about the famous births of 2015, but I haven't been able to perfect my prognosticating...not yet anyway.

Cover Me

So I have been downloading music for many months now to try and complete my catalogue, some legally, some not so much.  (Hey, if it's on the Internet it must be legal, right???).  Anyway, as I was researching and downloading (over 7300 songs now!) I got to thinking about songs that had been covered by a multitude of artists.  Songs like "Yesterday" by The Beatles, which holds some kind of record of being covered and re-recorded over 2200 times!  (I'm sure "Happy Birthday" and "White Christmas" are up there, too).  Other songs that were originally recorded by great Blues artists and turned into Rock classics, like "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin or "Hoochie Coochie Man" by, everybody, or "You Shook Me" by Led Zeppelin...all songs written by Willie Dixon, started to scratch my itch.  There are bands and artists that very rarely do covers, like Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Yes, Genesis, The Tragically Hip, and on and on.  But even the biggest acts of our time got their start covering older, mostly Blues, songs.  The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Doors...some of these bands would never have become popular without their cover versions of past songs.  Then there are bands like Vanilla Fudge that were known almost exclusively for covering, and slowing down and drawing out, older tunes.  As you all may know, I love lists, but to list all the covers done over the last 50 or 60 years would have been a gargantuan effort.  So I decided to list some of the covers that I thought may be equal to or better than the original versions.  Everybody has their own tastes, so, once again, the following opinions are mine, although I hope you, the reader, will agree with most of them.  Let's get to it: (click on the links for the tune)



THIS FLIGHT TONIGHT
Joni Mitchell - Original
Nazareth - Cover

Nazareth is a hard rock group formed in Scotland in 1968.  They released their first album in 1971, but it really wasn't until 1973's album Loud N' Proud that people really started to take notice, based on their rockin' cover of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight".  They went on to have another huge hit with "Hair Of The Dog" ("Now you're messin' with a..a son of a bitch"), but this cover, to me, is the epitome of taking someone else's song and making it their own.

WOODSTOCK
Joni Mitchell - Original
CSNY - Cover

Now it sounds like I'm picking on Joni Mitchell, but it's just the opposite.  She wrote some fabulous songs, but I just like them sung by other people is all.  Joni wrote this song for the big ol' festival in 1969 after hearing what all the fuss was about from then-boyfriend Graham Nash.  She recorded it as a song on her album Ladies Of The Canyon.  Very soon after, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded their version as a single.  CSNY's version was much more upbeat and rock-oriented than Mitchell's folksy tune, and it's the only version I think of when talking about this song.

PROUD MARY
CCR - Original
Ike & Tina Turner - Cover

I will admit, I always thought Ike Turner wrote "Proud Mary".  It fit so well with how Tina Turner performed it.  She threw, and still throws, everything into that song and has really made it hers over the years.  But, in actual fact, Mr. John Fogerty wrote the song in 1968 for his band Credence Clearwater Revival.  (The Turner's version was released on their 1970 album Workin' Together).  I like that version, quite a lot actually.  But Ike and Tina's version just blows it out of the water (the Clearwater??) and makes me want to dance like a drunken fool every single time I hear it.  "Rivah, do, do, do, do, do, do, do..."!!!!

SUSIE Q
Dale Hawkins - Original
CCR - Cover

Staying with CCR for the moment, their cover of Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q" takes the song from Rockabilly classic to psychedelic Southern Rock that seems to last for days, and happily so!  A two  and a half minute song stretched to nearly eight and a half minutes!!  This song has been covered by tons of people including The Rolling Stones, Jose Feliciano, Suzi Quatro (how couldn't she?), Bobby McFarrin, Gene Vincent and The Everly Brothers just to name a few.  CCR's version, though, will always be what I think of when someone mentions the title.

MacARTHUR PARK
Richard Harris - Original
Donna Summer - Cover

For some reason, in 1968, actor Richard Harris released this song, written by Jimmy Webb.  My opinion, it was awful.  I have no idea why this great English thespian thought he could sing.  But it was he that brought the song to the public consciousness, and, 10 years later, the fabulous Donna Summer turned it into a huge disco hit.  It's such an odd song, about a cake in the rain (?!), but it sounds so good coming out of Summer's mouth.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
Bruce Springsteen - Original
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Cover

Springsteen can write the Hell out of a song, no doubt.  His version of "Blinded By The Light" is good, released in 1973.  But Manfred Mann's Earth Band's version is far superior.  Released just three years later, they changed a few words, upped the tempo and really rocked it out.  The song became a number one hit and many people still don't realize it's a cover.  It's also one of the most mis-quoted songs in the history of music; "wrapped up like a douche"?????

BLACK MAGIC WOMAN
Fleetwood Mac - Original
Santana - Cover

What??  "Black Magic Woman" isn't a Carlos Santana original?  I know!  I was shocked, too.  Peter Green, the lead guitarist and lyricist in Fleetwood Mac before they became FLEETWOOD MAC wrote this song back in 1968.  It did ok, but wasn't a huge hit.  Not until Mr. Santana and his gang got hold of it.  Santana's version is definitely the most recognizable, taking the song to number one on the charts, and making people believe, like me, that it was his song all along.

ME AND BOBBY McGEE
Roger Miller - Original
Janis Joplin - Cover

Actor/singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson wrote the song back in 1969 for Roger Miller to record as a Country tune.  (Kristofferson recorded his own version a few years later).  Miller's version is good, as far as Country songs go, which, for me, ain't that far.  Once Janis Joplin got hold of it, she turned it into a soulful number one hit.  The song was released on her album Pearl, which came out after her death, in 1971.  It became only the second posthumous number one single on the Billboard charts, after "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
The Beatles - Original
Joe Cocker - Cover

The Beatles began their rise to stardom covering old Blues and Soul songs from years earlier, turning them into pop gold.  The reverse happened with "With A Little Help From My Friends".  Their version, written by Lennon and McCartney, was pop, bouncy fluff.  It took Soul-master Joe Cocker to sing it the way it should have been sung all along!  He brings the tune right back to the soulful roots it should always be associated with.  His classic version of the song, sung at Woodstock in 1969, is some of the best live music you will ever hear!!  Oh, and he also did a pretty fantastic version of another Beatles tune, "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window".

MR. TAMBOURINE MAN
Bob Dylan - Original
The Byrds - Cover

I love Bob Dylan songs...but only if they're sung by other people!  I can't listen to him sing for long before I feel like ripping the heads off of small animals.  (I may have a problem...).  Anyway, when The Byrds covered this song they electrified it, made it more melodic, and just so much easier to listen to over and over again.  Dylan has written some of the most enduring and even important songs in the last 50 years, but why wouldn't anybody tell him to stop singing remains a mystery to me.

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
Bob Dylan - Original
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Cover

Jimi recorded Dylan's song a mere six months after the original was released.  Nobody can ever make an argument, to me anyway, that Hendrix' version isn't far superior to the original.  From that beginning guitar riff with the pulsing drums, the song grabs you right away like only Dylan could dream about.  I actually don't mind Dylan's version of this song (one of the very few I can stand listening to him sing), but Hendrix just beat the crap out of it and made it a huge hit and a true classic.

NOTHING COMPARES 2 U
The Family - Original
Sinead O'Connor - Cover

In 1985, Prince recruited a band called The Family to record some of his songs.  They released one album, of which contained the song "Nothing Compare 2 U".  It was kind of an electronic mess, with some weird background vocals and noises.  Sinead O'Connor decided to recorded a version of the song for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.  The song, and as a result the album, became a monster hit, coupled with an unforgettable video of a close-up of O'Connor belting her heart out, even managing to force a tear to roll down her face.  This song could have stayed in the Halls Of Obscurity, but Sinead made it her own and absolutely killed it!

SUMMERTIME BLUES
Eddie Cochran - Original
Blue Cheer - Cover
The Who - Cover #2

This one is difficult for me, I like all three versions!  "Summertime Blues" has been covered a ton of times by the likes of The Beach Boys, T-Rex, Joan Jett, Janis Joplin, Rush even Olivia Newton-John, but, for me, the original and the two covers above are the best.  Eddie Cochran recorded the song first in 1958.  Blue Cheer, a band that helped pave the way for Heavy Metal, released their version in 1968. It was slowed down just a bit, heavy on bass and really great!  The Who then performed their version at Woodstock in 1969.  This is about the time that The Who became known as the loudest band ever, and their rockin' version of the song became an instant hit.  If I had to choose, I guess I'd take Blue Cheer's version over everyone else's, the sound being so much lower and heavier and laid back.  Great tune though, Eddie!

SMOOTH CRIMINAL
Michael Jackson - Original
Alien Ant Farm - Cover

Who's Annie, and why are we so concerned about her?  I never liked the Michael Jackson version of this song.  The video was pretty awesome, but the song got pretty boring for me pretty quickly.  It was released as a single off of his Bad album in 1988.  Then, in 2001, I heard a version of the song in the film "American Pie 2".  It was faster, harder, and really awesome.  I totally fell in love with the song!  The band was Alien Ant Farm, some dudes from California that used to play the first few bars of the song while warming up before concerts.  Their fans encouraged them to play the entire song, and it became a number one hit for the band in Australia and on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.  Thirteen years later and I'm still selecting Alien Ant Farm's version on my iPod quite often.

FIRE
Robert Gordon - Original
The Pointer Sisters - Cover

Bruce Springsteen wrote the song "Fire" back in 1977.  When he wrote it, he envisioned Elvis Presley singing it, and apparently sent Elvis a demo of the song.  The story goes Elvis died before he could ever hear it.  So the next year, Bruce recruited Robert Gordon, a Rockabilly artist, to record the song.  That was the first official release of "Fire".  Springsteen had recorded a version of it himself for his album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but it didn't make the cut.  In 1979, The Pointer Sisters made the song a monster hit.  It went to number two on Billboard's Hot 100 list, the highest charting for any Springsteen song to that time.  Bruce eventually released his own version of the song on his box set The Promise, released in 2010.  Here's his version: Bruce

I WILL SURVIVE
Gloria Gaynor - Original
Cake - Cover

Ok, so I don't necessarily think the band Cake does a better version of this song than Gloria Gaynor.  Gaynor's original was a huge disco anthem, still is in many respects.  You can dance to it and it's got a good beat, as they used to say.  I just Cake made it a tongue-in-cheek rock song that makes me happy every time I hear it.  The song has been covered hundreds of times, but I really enjoy the Cake cover best.  Better than the original?  Probably not.

(I KNOW) I'M LOSING YOU
The Temptations - Original
Rare Earth - Cover
Rod Stewart - Cover #2

Here's another song where I can't decide which version I like best.  The Temptations released the song in 1966 and it became a number one hit.  Rare Earth decided to take the song that runs about two and a half minutes and stretch it out to almost eleven minutes!!  Seems long, but I never want it to end...getting funkier and funkier as the minutes roll by.  Their version was released in 1970.  In 1971, Faces released their version, although the band now had to be referred to as just Rod Stewart for contractual reasons.  It's still Ronnie Wood providing that great guitar intro and Rod just aches his way through the song to that great conclusion "I'm loooosing youuuuuuuuuuu."  All three versions are great, but I probably listen to Rare Earth's most often.


Next are a few songs that I had no idea were covers, much like "Black Magic Woman":

YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A LADY
Hot Chocolate - Original
April Wine - Cover

"Could have been here tonight, could have been sweet as wine...".  That line alone made me believe April Wine wrote this song.  April Wine/"sweet as wine".  Get it??  I was shocked to learn that Hot Chocolate, the band that gave us "You Sexy Thing", wrote and released the song in 1971.  Not only this song, but...

BROTHER LOUIE
Hot Chocolate - Original
Stories - Cover

...as well!  I always thought this was a one hit wonder from the band Stories, and I guess it was, but I just assumed they wrote it.  They released their version of the song in 1973, just six months after the original by Hot Chocolate.  It made it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 list, something Hot Chocolate's version never accomplished.

GOOD LOVIN'
Limmie Snell - Original
The Young Rascals - Cover

The original version of this song was actually titled "Lemme B. Good", sung by R&B singer Limmie Snell, released in 1965.  The words were changed a bit and recorded by a band called The Olympics, but it wasn't very successful.  The Young Rascals picked up on that version, released it in 1966, and it became an enduring hit song, ranked amongst Rolling Stone's top 500 songs of all-time.  I thought it was their song all along.  By the way, The Grateful Dead do a really great, mellow cover of the song as well: The Dead

IT'S ALL OVER NOW
The Valentinos - Original
The Rolling Stones - Cover

The Rolling Stones covering older songs is not news to me.  They've done it literally dozens of times on their albums.  But I didn't know this song was one of them.  Co-written by Soul-man Bobby Womack, The Valentinos, Womack's band at the time, released the song in 1964.  It entered the Billboard Hot 100 charts in June of that year.  Just one month later, The Rolling Stones released their version of the song, and it shot right to the top of the charts, becoming the Stones' first number one hit.

HUSH
Billy Joe Royal - Original
Deep Purple - Cover

I love Deep Purple!  Machine Head, from 1972, is probably one of my favourite albums ever, with songs like "Smoke On The Water", "Lazy" and "Space Truckin'".  But it was on their debut album, Shades Of Deep Purple, from 1968, where you'd first hear "Hush" and that fabulous organ!  I was astounded to learn this was a cover of a song recorded just a year earlier by some dude named Billy Joe Royal.  This is actually the guy that sang "Down In The Boondocks" in 1965, so he wasn't just some flash in the pan...but I had never heard of him until I started to research this song.

JESUS IS JUST ALRIGHT
The Art Reynolds Singers - Original
The Doobie Brothers - Cover

This sounded like it could have been a gospel song when I first heard it.  Turns out I was right.  It was written by Arthur Reynolds who released the song on his choir's album Tellin' It Like It Is in 1966.  It was first covered by The Byrds in 1969, but the definitive version, the one we all love and rock out to, came out in 1972, released as a single and included on The Doobie Brothers' album Toulouse Street.  There was some concern when the Doobie's version came out, thinking that they were saying Jesus was just all right, he's ok, I guess.  But the lyrics actually refer to the vernacular of the day, that Jesus was just all right, he was cool, man.

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
Soul Brothers Six - Original
Grand Funk Railroad - Cover

Grand Funk Railroad had a number 3 hit with "Some Kind Of Wonderful" in 1974 and easily became one of the band's most recognizable songs.  It seemed to me that it was a cover of an older song, and this time I was right.  Soul Brothers Six, formerly known as Soul Brothers Five until, you guessed it, a sixth member was hired, released the song in 1967 to moderate success.  After hearing the original for the first time not so long ago, I must say it's hard for me to decide which version I like better.  The Soul Brothers Six got soul, baby.


Here now are some songs that are easily recognizable by their cover versions but were originally recorded by some of the RandB and Blues pioneers from the early part of the 20th Century:


TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN'
Tiny Bradshaw - Original
The Yardbirds - Cover
Aerosmith - Cover #2

Tiny Bradshaw released his Swing version of this song back in 1951, and it freakin' rocks!  I love it, never heard before I started researching these songs.  The Yardbirds, in my opinion, recorded the best version of this song in 1965 thanks to Jeff Beck's solid work on guitar.  Aerosmith used to play the song live early in their career, and recorded it for their second album, Get Your Wings, in 1974.  It seems every band that has a Blues/Rock base has played this song at one time or another.  This was the very first song Led Zeppelin played together when they first rehearsed to see how they sounded.  Some other bands that have been known to play it: Metallica, Bon Jovi, Motorhead, Foghat, Skid Row, Stray Cats, Twisted Sister and The Tragically Hip.  If you're gonna be a Rock N' Roll star, learn this song!

ICE CREAM MAN
John Brim - Original
Van Halen - Cover

John Brim recorded his version of "Ice Cream Man" for Chess Records back in 1953, but it wasn't released publicly until 1969.  A young David Lee Roth heard the song, eventually got together with the Van Halen brothers, and was determined to record the song on their first album, as a tribute to the Blues.  He got his way, and the song became a huge hit at all of their concerts.

I JUST WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO YOU
Muddy Waters - Original
Foghat - Cover

Willie Dixon, the Godfather of the Blues, wrote "I Just Want To Make Love To You" in 1954 for his buddy, Muddy Waters.  Waters recorded it that year with Dixon playing bass.  Hundreds of artists have covered the song since, along with many other Willie Dixon songs.  Some artists include Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Etta James, The Kinks, Lee Aaron, Bo Diddley, April Wine, Van Morrison, Lou Rawls and Adele.  The most famous cover, though, has to be Foghat's rockin' version from their first album in 1972.  A live version was recorded in 1977 and became even a bigger hit for the band.

AFTER MIDNIGHT
J.J. Cale - Original
Eric Clapton - Cover...sort of

"Sort of" you ask??  Here's the story:  J.J. Cale recorded a demo version of this song, which he wrote, back in 1966 but never released it.  Clapton, while researching for his first solo album, heard the demo and decided to record it.  His version was released in 1970, and J.J. Cale didn't even know until he heard it on the radio!  Clapton went on to cover a bunch of Cale songs, including "Cocaine", which helped convince Cale to record his very first album in 1972.  On his debut album, titled Naturally, was his version of "After Midnight".  So Cale ended up doing a cover of a cover of his original song.  Got it?  Good!

HOUND DOG
Big Mama Thornton - Original
Elvis Presley - Cover

Elvis made a pretty good living covering older songs, bringing that Rock N' Roll sound to some great Blues tunes.  The original recording by "Big Mama" Thornton is pretty damn cool, though.  Released as a single in 1953 it stayed on the R&B charts for 14 weeks, staying at number one for 7 of them.  Thornton's version has been inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame as one of the songs that helped shape Rock N' Roll.  Presley took it even further, releasing his version in 1956.  It became one of the best selling singles of all time, selling more than 10 million copies.  His version topped the pop chart for 11 straight weeks, a record that stood for 36 years!!

CROSSROADS
Robert Johnson - Original
Eric Clapton - Cover

Robert Johnson, an enigma wrapped in a riddle.  There has been so much written about this Blues innovator that nobody knows how much is true anymore.  What is known is that the Blues would be a lot different if he never sold his sole to the Devil!  He recorded his "Cross Road Blues" back in 1936.  Another Grammy Hall Of Fame honouree, the song has been played by just about every Blues/Rock guitarist ever!  Eric Clapton started his interpretation back in 1966, before Cream was officially formed.  Eventually, he got together with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce and recorded their version for the album Wheels Of Fire, released in 1969.

ONE BOURBON, ONE SCOTCH, ONE BEER
Amos Milburn - Original
John Lee Hooker - Cover
George Thorogood - Cover #2

I had no idea that John Lee Hooker didn't write this song!  It was originally recorded by Amos Milburn in 1953, written by Rudy Toombs as "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer".  Lots of artists took on the song, changing the lyrics along the way, but it became very popular again when John Lee Hooker released his version in 1966.  Hooker slowed down the tempo, making a more bluesy tune.  When George Thorogood decided to record it he mixed it with "House Rent Boogie", another John Lee Hooker song, stretching it out to eight and a half minutes of total bliss!!

MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME
Eric Burdon And The Animals - Original
Three Dog Night - Cover

Randy Newman, he of "Short People" and "I Love L.A.", wrote this song for Eric Burdon back in 1966.  Burdon recorded it as a single in 1966, but it was never released.  So Burdon took the recording and put it on his next album Eric Is Here in 1967.  Three Dog Night got a hold of the tune and released it in 1970.  The single went straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  Their version sounded more melodic, as Burdon's was more of a talking than a singing, and still kept the comedic elements that made the song popular in the first place.

HARD TO HANDLE
Otis Redding - Original
The Black Crowes - Cover

Otis Redding co-wrote the song with Al Bell and Allen Jones, recording it in 1967, but it wasn't released until 1968, after Redding's untimely death.  The song was a moderate hit at the time.  Tons of people covered the tune after that including The Grateful Dead, Etta James, Tom Jones and even Mae West for the movie Myra Breckinridge.  The Black Crowes brought the song back into popularity when they released it as their second single from their debut album Shake Your Moneymaker in 1990.  Lead singer Chris Robinson attacks the song head on and the great upped tempo worked perfectly, making The Black Crowes hugely popular at the time.  Even though I love the original, The Black Crowes' cover is one of the best covers of any song I can think of!!

BLACK BETTY
Lead Belly - Original
Ram Jam - Cover

So Lead Belly didn't write this song, nor was he the one who first sang it.  "Black Betty"'s origins are actually unknown and there is some debate as to who wrote it and for what reasons.  It might refer to an 18th Century marching song about a musket that had a black stock.  It may refer to a liquor bottle, as Benjamin Franklin referred to kissing the "black betty" as a phrase for being drunk in his 1736 publishing of his Drinker's Dictionary.  Wherever it started, Lead Belly made it famous way back in 1939.  It wasn't until 1977, when a little known band named Ram Jam turned it into a monster, rockin' hit.  Since then the song has been covered a number of times, but what follows are three of my favourites, if you're game to listen:
The Melvins
Spiderbait
Tom Jones


So those are some of the songs I thought of.  I know there are millions more, so let me know what some of your favourite covers are, and maybe I'll have a listen to them!