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The Friday Mixtape: Beatles Covers Edition!

Popdose Staff September 11, 2009 35

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Well, it’s (almost) the end of Beatles Week, and by now, it’s clear that many of you were just as excited about the remasters and video game as we were — Popdose has broken its own single-day traffic records twice this week — and as sad as we are to see the celebration end, we knew we had to finish our Fab Four tribute in style. And what better way, we ask you, than with a Friday Mixtape of Beatles songs — not the originals, mind you, and not the remasters, but covers done by other artists?

What we didn’t realize when we started assembling our little treat was just how many Beatles covers there are. In the course of a single afternoon, the Popdose staff put its hard drives together and came up with an even 100, and that’s just scratching the surface — but it does make for a pretty damn cool Friday afternoon playlist, doesn’t it?

Because none of us was willing to sit in front of a screen for several hours and build 100 links, we’ve done a couple of things to ease the burden: One, we’ve bundled up the whole compilation into a giant zip file; two, we’ve laid out the whole list here, and randomly selected 18 “singles” that you can grab a la carte.

Take a look, folks. More Beatles covers than you can shake a stick at, and some rather unexpected ones to boot. Enjoy — but be forewarned: in the interest of preserving our servers’ sanity, that big ol’ zip file won’t stay up for long. Get it while you can!

Bruce Springsteen – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Black Keys – She Said, She Said
Aerosmith – Come Together
Al Green – I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Alison Krauss with Tony Furtado – I Will
Alvin & the Chipmunks – She Loves You
Annie Lennox – Don’t Let Me Down Live Unplugged
Aretha Franklin – Let It Be
Bar-Kays – A Hard Day’s Night
Barry Manilow – The Long And Winding Road
Bee Gees – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Bee Gees – You Won’t See Me
Big Daddy – A Day in the Life
Billy Bragg – She’s Leaving Home
Billy Joel – I’ll Cry Instead (live)
Billy Preston – Blackbird
Bobby Mcferrin – Blackbird
Bono and Secret Machines – I Am the Walrus
Brady Bunch – Love Me Do
Bryan Ferry – Shes Leaving Home
Chet Atkins – Can’t Buy Me Love
Cornershop – Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flo
Cowboy Mouth – Tomorrow Never Knows
Cristina – Drive My Car Long Version
Dave Matthews – In My Life (live)
David Bowie – Across the Universe
Del McCoury Band – When I’m Sixty Four
Diana Krall For No One
Dionne Farris – Blackbird
Dolly Parton – Help
Dwight Yoakam – Things We Said Today
Elvis Costello – Step Inside Love
Elvis Costello – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
Elvis Presley – Hey Jude
Frankie Valli – A Day In The Life
George Martin with Celine Dion – Here There and Everywhere
Georgia Satellites – Don’t Pass Me By
Goldie Hawn – A Hard Day’s Night
Gomez – Getting Better
Gomez – Sun King
Gregg Allman – Rain (demo)
Guadalcanal Diary – And Your Bird Can Sing
Harry Nilsson – You Can’t Do That
Helloween – All My Loving
Invisible – Come Together
Jeff Beck – She’s A Woman
Jerry Garcia Band – Dear Prudence
Jimi Hendrix – Day Tripper
Joan Baez – Eleanor Rigby
Joe Jackson – Eleanor Rigby
Johnny Cash – In My Life
Keith Moon – When I’m Sixty-Four
Kim Weston – Eleanor Rigby
Low – Nowhere Man
Luca Columbo – Hey Jude
Lulu – Day Tripper
Lynden David Hall – All You Need Is Love
Marianne Faithfull – Yesterday
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs – Beware Of Darkness
Motley Crue – Helter Skelter
Otis Redding – Day Tripper (live)
Overwhelming Colorfast – She Said, She Said
Ozzy Osbourne – In My Life
Paul Weller – Sexy Sadie
Pearl Jam – I’ve Got A Feeling
Peter Gabriel – Strawberry Fields Forever
Phil Collins – Tomorrow Never Knows
PM Dawn – Norwegian Wood (The Bird Has Flown)
Ramsey Lewis – A Hard Day’s Night
Ramsey Lewis – Day Tripper
Ramsey Lewis – Dear Prudence
Rickie Lee Jones – For No One
Rod Stewart – Get Back
Rolling Stones – I Wanna Be Your Man
Rosanne Cash – I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party
Roy Wood – Lovely Rita
Roy Wood – Polythene Pam
Sacred Rite – Eleanor Rigby
Sam Phillips – I Wanna Be Your Man
Santo & Johnny – And I Love Her
Sheryl Crow – Mother Nature’s Son
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Helter Skelter
Sufjan Stevens – What Goes On
Temptations – Hey Jude
The Breeders – Happiness Is A Warm Gun
The Brothers Johnson – Hey Jude
The Feelies – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide
The Flying Lizards – Money That’s What I Want
The Pink Fairies – Tomorrow Never Knows
The Supremes – Come Together
The Swingle Singers – Strawberry Fields Forever
Tim Curry – I Will
Tom Jones – Hey Jude
Tommy Emmanuel – Beatles Medley
Type O Negative – Day Tripper Medley
U2 – Helter Skelter (Live)
William Shatner – Spleen Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Wilson Pickett – Hey Jude
XTC – Strawberry Fields Forever
Yo-Yo Ma and James Taylor – Here Comes The Sun

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POSTED IN » Music, The Weekly Mixtape
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Some days won't end ever, and some days pass on by. We'll be working here forever, at least until we die. Working for a living, living and working, taking what they're giving 'cause we're working for a living.

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  • mojo

    yeah I think I could add 100 more of my own…just goes to show how strong the songs were that so many artists desire to play them, let alone how good the covers sound a lot of the time

  • mojo

    also, I'd jus tlike to say that the ricky lee jones cover is my favorite among the ones I didn't contribute, with honorable mention to the Satellites, who make a better version of that particular Beatles song than the Beatles did. Fantastic! Rock on…

  • flandmines

    that is unreal. almost too much, unless you consider how much more is probably out there.

  • Steve Janowsky

    Long out of print but if you can find it check out “Boston Does the Beatles'

  • ozarkmatt

    Who the hell had the Brady Bunch on their hard drive?

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    It's a pretty way out track…

  • http://playitandbedamned.blogspot.com/ rob

    Great list, especially RLJ doing “For No One.”

    But the two must-haves that aren't included is Siouxsie's “Dear Prudence” and Earth Wind & Fire's “Got To Get You Into My Life.” The former is a mindblowing version that comes very close to exceeding the original, while the latter (from the awful Sgt Pepper movie) gives the song the soul and funk that Macca unfortunately couldn't quite pull off.

    As much as I like Aerosmith doing “Come Together,” I much prefer Joe Cocker's version from “Across the Universe.” Indeed, the exclusion of any Cocker Beatle covers is almost criminal.

  • http://www.bullz-eye.com DavidMedsker

    How did we forget the Beastie Boys' version of “I'm Down” that was supposed to go on Licensed to Ill but Jacko said no-no? I also forgot Scritti Politti's cover of “She's a Woman.”

  • just_kap

    Wow. Some I've heard and some I haven't. Look forward to checkin 'em out. Thanks for spending all that time on the list. Very cool.

  • jamesballenger

    Hey is anyone else having an issue with the .zip file? I got an error recommending that I re-D L it. WinZip seems to be fine since I am having no problems with another music zip that I have. Just letting you all know in case it's on your side.

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    Well, that sucks. How big is the file you've downloaded? It should be about 400 MB.

  • http://imemat.blogspot.com Matt

    I'm looking forward to listening to these… Some I have already, but most I don't.Big thanks, Popdose staff!
    Now, if I can get the DL to work… After about 200MB, it has stopped. Twice. I suppose it's all my fellow PD fanatics trying to grab this one, too…
    Well, third times a charm right?

  • http://www.kenshane.com kshane

    Amazing. We gave up 100 songs and people are still writing about the ones we left out.

  • JonCummings

    Um…I didn't have this track, but I do have on my drive the “It's a Sunshine Day” comp that Rhino put out about 15 years ago. So if anybody ever needs to hear “Time to Change,” or maybe “Truckin' Back to You,” you know where to find me.

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    Dammit, that sucks. Please keep us posted…

  • http://www.jasonhare.com jasonhare

    That's how many awesome Beatles covers there are!

  • http://www.jasonhare.com jasonhare

    For people who eventually get this far into the mix, the track listed as “Track 1″ by “Unknown Artist” is actually “Eleanor Rigby” by Sacred Rite.

  • Pingback: Another Batch of Beatles Covers Including…Jeff Beck Cover of “She’s a Woman” « Rock God Cred

  • Matt

    great stuff as always, gents!

  • ozarkmatt

    That whole album (Is Nothing Sacred) is really great, I still pull it out from time to time. That band should have been huge, they were that good.

  • kmbone

    A few comments:
    1. Bobby McFerrin is a genius.
    2. I've always loved that Dionne Farris cover of “Blackbird”
    3. The Bruce Springsteen track wasn't included in the zip file, so I had to download it separately. I have to say, it was a pleasant surprise. I am completely overwhelmed with emotion after listening to it.

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    I know what you mean about the Springsteen track. I was also overcome.

  • http://imemat.blogspot.com Matt

    Well, turns out it was (I think) a problem on my end… My connection had been hinky the past couple of days at other sites. I reset my modem this morning and, so far, everything seems to be much better.
    Once again, double++ thanks, Popdosers!!!

  • jamesballenger

    yep, i guess my connection dropped. my file was 307mb, trying again. ty

  • http://imemat.blogspot.com Matt

    It nearly made me weep.

  • wayoutjunk

    Thanks for not ratting me out, Jeff! ;-)

    Hey, I put the Jimi Hendrix and Al Green ones on there too. Don't I get credit for that?

    (And the Brady Bunch one isn't that bad. Except for the fact that it's the Brady Bunch.)

  • David_E

    You suck. You all suck.

  • Bill from Illinois

    Heavenly. What/who the hell was that?

  • http://www.popdose.com jefito

    That would be the one, the only, the magnificent…Wing.

  • Bill from Illinois

    Crap! As a Mellowmas devotee, I should have figured that out for myself. Thanks, Jeff — I think.

  • http://www.ooblick.com/weblog/ arensb

    Keith Moon – When I’m Sixty-Four

    How ironic is it that he only lived to half that age?

  • http://www.ooblick.com/weblog/ arensb

    Keith Moon – When I’m Sixty-Four

    How ironic is it that he only lived to half that age?

  • Bill from Illinois

    Crap! As a Mellowmas devotee, I should have figured that out for myself. Thanks, Jeff — I think.

  • http://www.ooblick.com/weblog/ arensb

    Keith Moon – When I’m Sixty-Four

    How ironic is it that he only lived to half that age?

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