Sunday, June 8, 2008

Playlist: White singers, Prince songs

I was out of town yesterday, so I wasn’t able to do a post in honor of Prince turning 50.

I hereby wish Prince a belated “Happy Birthday” with this assortment of covers of “Purple Rain” songs. Click the titles below to stream the music on my Vox blog.

1. “Take Me With U” – Marshall Crenshaw

2. “When Doves Cry” – Patti Smith

3. “Darling Nikki” – Chum

4. “Purple Rain” – LeAnn Rimes

19 comments:

Doctor Memory said...

Fifty?!!

Shouldn't the man start to... y'know... age? Soon? One of these days?

bklyn6 said...

Hey! What a cool idea! The first song I thought was the obvious one: "Nothing Compare 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor. I didn't even know about these other covers. (I'm listening to LeAnn Rimes now. And I'm not big on Country music, but it works.)

All weekend VH1 Soul played Prince videos and documentaries. I saw stuff I hadn't seen in ages! They even did an hour or two of the proteges. Vanity 6 anyone? It was great!

50 years old! I've been a fan for 30 years. Man, time flies.

tamara s brown said...

Don't forget Cyndi Lauper BUTCHERED one of Prince's songs. "When You Were Mine". I was over the other day and it was reason enough to WEEP in my vodka tonic. Her 'rendition' was absolutely HORRID. Took all the fun (and the funk) out of the song. LOL.

tamara s brown said...

**my bad, I was over at a friend's house the other day and he was listening to it and... Sorry for the errors!

Jeff Vaca said...

"Raspberry Beret" by Warren Zevon (actually by the Hindu Love Gods, Zevon backed by members of R.E.M.) is well worth seeking out. It's on his "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" Rhino Anthology.

dwgs said...

True confession - I actually like Cindy Lauper's version in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Don't tell anyone.
The Derailers do a kick-ass country version of Raspberry Beret, it's a hidden track on Reverb Deluxe.
Is it weird to be a fan of both Prince and old school country?

bklyn6 said...

How could I forget Tom Jones's version of "Kiss"?

Undercover Black Man said...

^ How could I forget Tom Jones's version of "Kiss"?

Still a staple of his Vegas act. If you haven't seen Tom Jones live, you gotta change that.

quirkychick said...

I'm going to see Tom Jones on July 15th - 10th row!

Loved all these covers, but I have to say I prefer the Foo Fighters version of Nikki - I love the way Dave Grohl screams.

Anonymous said...

Ani DiFranco does a kick-ass "When Doves Cry."

Undercover Black Man said...

I'm going to see Tom Jones on July 15th - 10th row!

Cool. If you throw yer panties at him, you won't be alone.

Undercover Black Man said...

Ani DiFranco does a kick-ass "When Doves Cry."

I got a bootleg of that from the glory days of Napster. Been hoping to find some officially released high-quality version.

bklyn6 said...

I remember watching part of a Tom Jones concert on PBS, I think it was, and thought, "Yeah, I could dig seeing him live."

I taped "The Best of Soul Train" this past Saturday night. Vanity 6 was on. Wheeeee! And the Soul Train Line/Aisle song was "1999!" :cabbagepatch:

Undercover Black Man said...

"Raspberry Beret" by Warren Zevon...

Sounds tasty!

Anonymous said...

I don't know if they count since they were covers but Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls" and The Family (interracial, sure, but the two lead singers were white)'s great "Screams Of Passion" were Prince originals that were done justice to the white artists that he wrote them for.

Anonymous said...

All I can do is look at him and say: "He's as old as me? Crap - I suck."

Undercover Black Man said...

^ That's how I feel when I look at Obama.

bill said...

Check out Matt Welch and his youtube series "White boy bands play Prince covers."

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Thanks for that!