Friday Playlist: Beatles Covers

THEY REALLY ARE FAB

There’s just something about a Beatles song. Swathed in nostalgia but brilliant even without all the added heft of history and reputation, and we couldn’t think of a nicer way to usher in the weekend than a baker’s dozen of choice renditions.

We tried to sniff out a few things you might not be familiar with – the fractured wackiness of Eugene Chadbourne and Shockabilly‘s “Day Tripper” or Nina Simone‘s use of Lennon-McCartney’s “Revolution” as a springboard for a real civil rights sermon – but also dipped into interesting covers by The Black Crowes (“Strawberry Fields Forever”), The Secret Machines (“Blue Jay Way”) and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (“I’m Looking Through You”). But, you’d be hard pressed to find two artists having more fun with The Beatles’ catalog than our kickoff pairing of Al Green (“I Want To Hold Your Hand”) and Black Oak Arkansas (“Taxman”).

And yes, we know we could have picked a bunch of different Beatles covers. Really, what band has been covered more? Feel free to chime in on your favorites in our comments section, and in the meantime, press play and wing your way to Pepperland…

And check out last week’s Playlist, which was our second installment of the “Cream of ’09” with standout tracks from some of this year’s best new albums. Playlist assembled by JamBase Associate Editor Dennis Cook, who plans to do more of these Beatles cover things in the future…