The art of the cover version as stripped down reconstruction. In which stiff upper lip English public school takes on Atlanta GA’s funkiest and comes home with a surprising away point. 

In fact, the Flying Lizards were most famous for their 1979 chart hit cover of ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, dismantled and then reassembled in similar robotic fashion to ‘Sex Machine’. But it’s the much less famous and far more difficult to find, James Brown cover that demonstrates the art of the Flying Lizards cover version at its best. 

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Possibly the most raucous and best couple of minutes the Clash ever produced except…when in the hands of Songdog it becomes three and half of the most beautiful and pathos-rich music of the last ten years.

For anyone too young to know – Janie Jones was involved in a sex for radio airplay scandal for which she was jailed. But she must have also been involved in a very beautiful if tragic love story. At least in the world according to Songdog.

Great covers can sometimes completely change the feel of a song. Songdog turn raucous energy into profound beauty and sadness without actually changing one word.                 

Released 2003.

Available on the CD single ‘Janie Jones’: Amazon

About time we discussed the fine art of the cover version.

Cover versions are everywhere these days. Singing someone else’s song while mimicking their performance seems to be the modern day music equivalent of the TV talent or reality show.

Cover versions that reveal a new insight, turn things upside down and make you reassess a song, or use the original as an inspirational springboard to a new level of creativity are however, very rare. But they are worth trawling through endless terrible compilations for (and believe me I have been through what feels like them all). Because when you find one that really works, it’s likely to possess a special mixture of excitement, surprise and wonderment that makes you smile more than even the most brilliant new original release.

They possess such a special mixture of excitement, surprise and wonderment in fact that ‘The Art Of The Cover Version’ will now be an ongoing series in ABON. Even meriting its own place inside the Vault on the right hand side of the site.

So let’s start with the cover-mistress herself, Cat Power. Cover-mistress because, as we shall see as The Art Of The Cover Version Vault fills up, Cat Power has a knack for this kind of thing. And that might be because she always seems to start with an idea. For her cover of ’Satisfaction’ that idea was the radical and potentially foolish one of singing the world’s most famous chorus-led rock song…without the chorus. And she pulls it off brilliantly.

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