Favorite James Brown Cover of Someone Else's Song?
SoulOnIce
13,027 Posts
I'll start with "Think" which was originally a 5 Royales tune,and I also love "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" on the "Say It Loud"LP...and "A Cottage for Sale" on "Thinking About Little Willie John"I could add more, but why don't y'all throw down?
Comments
sidenote: was he mocking Kool and the Gang with the gongs on that album? you know how they start Jungle Boogie with a gong was Mr. Brown like, "fuck it i'm gonna start EVERY song with a gong"
but SPINNING WHEEL...
yup
Some of my favorite covers are:
-"Tighten Up (Live)" (Archie Bell & the Drells).
-"JB Monourail" (B.T. Express; though not admitted).
-"Spinning Wheel" (Blood, Sweat, & Tears).
-"Watermelon Man" (Herbie Hancock).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Cosign. "September Song" off that same album is niiiiice too.
But sheeyit, I like all the covers on "Gettin' Down To It" as well. His "Willow Weep For Me" is outta sight.
Good one.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I'll back "Spinning Wheel"
Sweet.
That wasn't a cover, more like an answer record (also see: "Pick Up The Pieces One By One" by AABB [Above Average Black Band], which was his response to "Pick Up The Pieces" by AWB [Average White Band]). If you'll remember, one song on the Sex Machine Today album started with him talking - not singing, but TALKING about the fact that a lot of the hitmakers of the time (1975) were ripping him off. "Monaurail" and the AABB was his way of stealin' it back.
My fave JB covers:
- "Bewildered" (Amos Milburn)
- "I Wanna Be Around" (Tony Bennett)
- "Kansas City" (Little Willie Littlefield - although its' Wilbert Harrison's version that everybody knows)
- "Jimmy Mack" (Martha & the Vandellas)
- "For Your Precious Love" (Jerry Butler & the Impressions)
Who did the OG of this? Jesse Belvin?
See my revised, re-edited post.
And to the person who wondered about the origins of "I'll Go Crazy" - I believe JB was the first to record that one.
This is easily one of my favorite JB LPs. I've been listening to JB's "Ballads" Polydor compilation recently and I remembered "Cottage For Sale" all over again. Ballads is a great comp, especially for its unreleased and promo-only strings versions of these old JB chestnuts. Well worth a pickup for completists and all-around lovemakers. Considering the circumstances, it's very hard to listen to some of these songs back-to-back without getting a tad misty. Lost Someone was powerful before, but damn.
"Never Can Say Goodbye" - did JB cut a cover of the
Clifton Davis/Jackson 5 tune? Cause the only "Never Can
Say Goodbye" I know by James is on "There It Is" and I'm
pretty sure it has nothing to do with the J5 song, and
was credited to JB...it's an amazing track, he seems to take
the approach he was bringing to funk songs at the time to
doing a ballad - works the band up, getting them into a
groove, although melancholy, still a groove, and just raps
over the horns with some freestyle impressions on the
sad pleasures of love, throwing in a couple refrains of
"What's goin' on?" for good measure.
A beautiful song, best thing on that album, but not a cover, I'm pretty sure.
James Brown on the Organ =